Good questions, InTheRed. My last team also spent all of it's funds every year. We usually raised enough to to fund projects with enough left over each June to grant school and teacher requests.

Our biggest concern was for committees who had to spend their own money and then get reimbursed later. That's a lot to ask of a volunteer! We tried to solve this problem this past June by allocating start up funds for committees that need it to function before fundraising money comes in. I've moved from the area so I'm not sure how it's working out for them. But I think the new president was more optimistic heading into the school year. Now, as long as their fundraisers continue to meet goals, they should be able to perpetuate this new cycle.

My biggest concern about your question of cutting programs would be the negative backlash from parents and teachers. Many parents like to see the money they donated being used while their children are there. Slow and steady would be my advice. If you can continue to move toward your "year ahead" plan without cutting any programs now then that is what I would recommend.

I agree that it's a good idea to revise bylaws. I just don't have a suggestion about how to word it.

Our group's budget always looks like it's in the red until final fundraising figures are in. We have three fundraisers: our major one in the Fall, another large one in February and one that is throughout the school year that brings in some each month for a pretty nice yearly total.

The thing is, we "approve" all of our projects and events at the start of the year with some of them being "subject to" reaching fundraising goals.

It makes me nervous to see a negative figure in the Available Funds column all year!

Even though it's never happened before, it would be awful to do all of the year long planning for an event only to find out too late that there's no money for it!

We've always been a "spend it the year you make it" kind of group. We'd like to transition to a system where this year's fundraisers fund next year's budget so we're always a year ahead of ourselves and have guaranteed allocations for each budget item at the start of the school year.

Based on excess funds at the end of each year, it would really take about three years to fully transition to the new system. How do we guarantee that the process we start is continued if only some or none of us are reelected in the coming years? Are there sample bylaws clauses any of you could share with us?

Also, we could speed up the process to just one year by cutting some items this year to make sure next year we have all of the money we need. Would you advise us to take the slower pace to retain projects and events that folks have come to count on, or would a 'rip the bandaid right off' approach be better?

Thanks in advance for everyone's comments and advice!