Don't do it! It sounds harsh, I know. But if you contribute to this event you'll be asked to contribute to any charitable organization affecting your families at your school. It would never end, and soon you are doing fundraising for everybody's non-profits but your own.

How about telling your family, "I'm sorry, our by laws (or our IRS paperwork) state that we can't contribute to a specific cause other than PTO. But, I agree that the Avon Walk is a wonderful event. Can I personally contribute or can our PTO place a blurb about the event in its next newsletter?"

In other words, don't say no without thinking about what you CAN do.

Hi
Thanks for your comments. Keep in mind - the money would not go to the individual but directly to the Avon Breast Cancer Foundation, no to the individual.

As a 501(c)(3) you really aren't supposed to provide a benefit to a specific individual outside your mission. If your organization was some sort of service group that financially helped folks with catastophic illness and this was an objective case (everyone had equal opportnity to apply for your services) - then fine.

Raising funds for an ill person isn't within the scope of a typical PTO's mission - beyond perhaps a token gift to the family like a get well plant (and even that gets into policy issues - where do you draw line; who do send to / who not?).

I'd stay away from any financial involvement from the PTO. But as parents, you could organize an informal group willing to pledge/solicit donations (not going through the PTO bank account) or you could organize volunteers for an activity like a bake sale or penny war.

As caring people - I think there are ways you can find to accomplish what you want. But I'd strongly suggest keeping the PTO out of it.

You may also want to contact an organization like American Cancer Society and see if they have suggestions for how you might effectively and legally help raise fimds for an individual. I'm sure they are faced with this question all the time and may have information.

This is a tricky one. If you 'endorse', becasue that is what the PTO would be doing, the Avon Walk or this family with some type of fundraiser for a cancer org - how many other types of orgs or specific families are you willing to endorse when they come calling? How do you say no to one and yes to another? My first response would be check your bylaws. The answer might actually be there for your group. Many other PTO's can not (due to bylaws) endorse other organizations; however, they would not have any problems with the school or allowing individual classes/grades to run fundraisers/drives for causes dear to the students. IMHO this approach will save you some headaches down the road but still allow individuals to support other causes outside of PTO.

Hi All

We recently filed the paperwork to become a non profit PTO.
I'm interesting in hearing how you've handled requests such as-

We have a mother of a child at the school who has Cancer. A couple of parents are walking in the Avon for Walk in support of the parent.

Parents are asking if
1- PTO Funds could be used as a direct contribution for sponsorship.
or
2 - Could we do a penny saving jar- have the kids bring in money and then the PTO matches it?

Any thoughts?

Thanks