Thanks to all for your thoughts. I agree with all of them. My preference is to only carry over what is needed to pay for early year expenses (before fundraising begins) plus a little more in case our fundraising falls short of budget.
Mrs. - is that IRS insider scoop? I've never seen anything that would suggest any type of "red flag" threshhold.
pmspto - it really depends on your plans. As a parent, I wouldn't want to see a big chunk of PTO change being set aside unless it was for something specific. When it comes right down to it, what constitutes a PTO emergency?
if you're a 501c3 then anything more than half your budget (or 3 year average budget) will possibly flag your 990 at the IRS. Anything less is OK with them if it's ok with your membership.
This is kind of hard to answer with out a start figure of what you make. We maintain 3000 dollars as a carryover because we need to purchase spirit ware and pay for the reading program before the profits from our first fundraiser are realized. Our last spiritware revamp came in at 3200 in stock so we can meet the needs of the first orientation nights....so I guess my advice is look what your earliest events are, be able to pay for those in the event of a bad fundraising year.
I should say all of our dues go into our facilities fund (we call it our "Sun Fund) so that no one year ever has to pay for remulching, reflowering etc. We have about 3200 in that fund as well but will spend this year on new mulch for around the playground and the school.
Does anyone have a recommendation for the amount of money or percentage of annual budget that that should be set aside for rainy day or emergency use? My initial thought is 15%. Thanks for any and all responses.
