I can only imagine some of the frustration you may be going through. My group is now in the 4th year of operation. I was not around the first year of when our PTO was established, but here is what I do know and recommend. If you decide to organize your own finances and by-laws file for your non-profit and your incorporation at the same time. At the minimum develop by-Laws for your group. this will help to cover yourself and your other members. A far as depending what to spend the $ on. Talk to other parents, teachers, and staff at the school. See if the Principle will let you put a survey in the teacher boxes. My group creates a list based on the wants and needs that we are able to round up and the group prioritizes them from the most important to the least and we then go to work. Don't forget to through in some non fund raising activities throughout the year. Good Luck
JHB;147145 wrote: If the PTO has a good partnership with the school, I'm actually in favor of the PTO keeping its finances very small (under $5000 per year) so it doesn't need to formalize and acting more as a volunteer arm of the school - letting the school own fundraisers and deposit funds.
But I'm not so eager as a parent or parent group leader to recruit volunteers to raise money for unclear reasons. I don't care about controlling a bank account. The less admin tasks we have, the better. But I care about results.
I like the way you think-and speaking of unclear reasons I so far have been unable to get the principal to give us a "wish list" or goals of what she wants from the PTO. She doesn't return e-mails and is rather evasive when asked about it in meetings so far. You would think she'd be glad to have a few parents who were so gung-ho to start a PTO but I get a weird vibe from her. Oh, well! *shrugs shoulders*
If the PTO has a good partnership with the school, I'm actually in favor of the PTO keeping its finances very small (under $5000 per year) so it doesn't need to formalize and acting more as a volunteer arm of the school - letting the school own fundraisers and deposit funds.
For example: if the goal is to raise $$$ for classroom supplies and field trips and widgets, all I care about is we make that happen. If the PTO and principal are in agreement and the parents can merely be volunteers to help achieve this, great!
But I'm not so eager as a parent or parent group leader to recruit volunteers to raise money for unclear reasons. I don't care about controlling a bank account. The less admin tasks we have, the better. But I care about results.
You don't *have* to, but I think most of us on these boards think it's a really good idea.
If you're just going to hand over all your money to the school, and you don't anticipate disagreements with the principal about how he/she spends the money, I guess that's OK. Frequently, there will be differences in priorities. Also, PTOs aren't only about fundraising; it's an avenue for communication and a group that can put together social events.
I came here today to ask the same question! So not to hijack this topic, but do all PTO's have to be non-profits? Or can the funds raised be simply given to the school? I ask because we had our first fundraiser already without doing anything like having bylaws etc and just handed over the profits to the principal. So far all we have is half a dozen women who have volunteered to hold various offices. Kinda flying by the seat of our pants I know.
$750 for most -- but, per Form 1023:
If your gross receipts have not exceeded or will not exceed $10,000 annually over a 4-year period, the required user fee payment is $300.
