Thank you for the reply Renee. We completed our first project which was an Orton-Gillingham phonics program to help our dyslexic and struggling readers. Our fundraising from that is somewhere around $6,500. Hopefully we'll continue to be as successful, so I guess the $5,000 mark probably won't work for us.
Do you (or anybody else) know of an on-line source with sample by-laws?
The first is to get your own EIN/TIN number from the IRS. You can get one on-line at www.irs.gov
or call and get one over the phone. Once you receive your EIN then you go to a bank and open an acct. for your PTO.
I believe if your group raises under $5000. then it doesn't have to be reported. But if your group raises more than that then you need to become a 501c3 and you would need to file taxes.
But before you become a 501c3, it's recommended to incorporate your group.
I hope this helps. I know there are other out there that are more knowledgable in this that I'm sure will chime in.
I am new to all of this and am looking for some guidance. We have new group of parents working to support educational growth in our school. We have a very small school, from Kindergarten through 12th grade. There is only about 85 kids in the entire school. We currently have a group whose funds go through the school, however they want our funds out of the school by the end of the school year. We're trying to decide whether to become a non-profit organization or whether there's already a non-profit organization we can be under. Also, if we don't go non-profit and we can't have our funds in the school, how do we operate? Any guidance would be much appreciated.