Julie - don't let anyone tell you that a PTO isn't "allowed" to save money from year to year. It's ok, perfectly legal, and like SilverFox said, sound fund management. The most important consideration is what your members want to do, to benefit the kids. I agree with SilverFox - make a conscious decision to spend down the balance. As a parent, I would not support a new fundraisier if I knew our PTO had a large unallocated on-hand balance. Whatever you do, be open about the situation and the amount. I was involved in a PTO years ago that decided to be hush-hush about the amount of money in a savings account. Not good policy and a sure way to turn off your members!
Hi Julie!
Being that you organization is non-profit it is just that non-profit. Having funds carry over to kick start the next year is sound fund management. While you don't want to have 'something' just to spend what you have above and beyond it is understandable why parents would question why the funds they worked so hard with their children this fiscal year to raise were not used in the same year. Perhaps a note/survey home to families asking them their ideas about a goal for either the remainder of the year or for next year would help guide the board with some decision making. If you are able to come up with a sizeable goal for next year make a motion to save a mojority of this years funding for next years goal. If all else fails motion to save the funds for next year and decrease your fundraising activitities accordingly. If the financial planners are correct next year could be a hard fundraising year based on current economic conditions.
<font size=""1"">We must overcome the notion that we must be regular...it robs you of the chance to be extraordinary and leads you to do the mediocre."</font> (Uta Hagen)</font></font><br /><br> <br /><br>"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments...
At our school, we currently have a great problem in that we have more in the PTO account than we need to cover our budget. Traditionally, we have kept a certain amount at the end of the year for the next year's PTO board. Is there a hard and fast rule about the % that a PTO should keep in their savings above the amount needed to make the budget each year?
We want to be fiscally responsible as a board, but we also have many parents who are asking 1) why we currently have so much money in savings and 2) shouldn't that money be spent on the kids? Does anyone have an answer for how we balance this?
