In answer to the above question. The items were given prior to signing a contract to obligate the PTO to another year of fundraising with this particular company. Our fundraising chair was also our PTO's second vice president-a position she had held for eight years and very reluctantly gave up (now we understand why she was so secretive and insisted in doing the fundraising work out of her home).We I took over as president a year ago we added term limits to our by-laws.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by venzmama:
Oh my goodness, when I posted above I had NO IDEA you were talking about major kick-backs! I was talking about a pen here and a lollipop there. I would never even think about keeping a TV or huge amounts of money! Okay, even little amounts of money! I had emailed various vendors expressing an interest and they sent samples along with their brochures. I didn't know they would do that, I just wanted information. Most of the stuff ended up in the kids treasure box, the pens the teachers used. There should definitely be rules outlining what the policy for your board is.<hr></blockquote>

I agree, small samples are fine. But the larger items should be considered inappropriate. Either not accepted, returned or made a prize or donation to the school/PTO, etc. One question, did they get these items BEFORE the decision was made to go with the companies, or AFTER?

Our fundraiser chair got a box of sample items from our catalog fundraiser and she is using them as prizes for our Fun Nights, etc. (Probably worth $150)

Lisa @ Tx

Oh my goodness, when I posted above I had NO IDEA you were talking about major kick-backs! I was talking about a pen here and a lollipop there. I would never even think about keeping a TV or huge amounts of money! Okay, even little amounts of money! I had emailed various vendors expressing an interest and they sent samples along with their brochures. I didn't know they would do that, I just wanted information. Most of the stuff ended up in the kids treasure box, the pens the teachers used. There should definitely be rules outlining what the policy for your board is.

As far as the soccer situtation - good or bad - that sounds like a paid volunteer position. The person doing the job doesn't seem to be hiding anything. Unless it was a secret arrangement between the photographer and the picture coordinator, so what? The photographer cannot afford to have that schedule managed haphazardly and is willing to pay for the service. Yes, those costs are passed on to the organization as are his other costs. Certainly these arrangement should be dislosed up front. Next year, if the organization can find a free volunteer and guarantee the effort, maybe they can work with the photographer to reduce the picture costs by that amount, or to remit the $900 back to the Soccer League.

Just a little more I have to say about this one...We did have a person who was willing to take over handling pictures because the person doing it kept telling us how very hard it was and generally complained up the wazoo...But she was would not let the woman take over the job, she stonewalled her every time the new picture coordinator asked for the information, she also would not even shop around for the best deals. Yes she did keep the $900.00 kickback a secret and only let it slip after a little too much to drink at a "working" meeting with myself. Yes I was mad probably jealous too because all of us work so hard and our league could have used that money to purchase all of our supplies for our snack bar for a season, I understand that this practice happens all of the time in big business...my neighbor was a purchasing agent for one of the "Big 3" for years and some of his kick backs included vacations, a huge boat, an addition on his house etc. But for a non profit PTO or sports league to did it is morally wrong in my honest opinion



[ 10-04-2002: Message edited by: chrystal ]</p>

I think that it is perfectly acceptable for you to keep the little things. I have spent hours on the internet or phone with different companies. They in turn send me a sample. I see nothing wrong with me keeping it since I did all the work. I got into an argument with the pres the other day about this. I had recieved a stuffed mascot in the mail. She said it was PTO property. I told her that I personally reqested the item. The principal recieved one several months ago and I don't see her volunteering to give hers up. In fact, I am the only one who knows she got it because the company told me that they sent it to her. So as far as little things like that, I don't see the harm. But as for the big ticket items, those would be best used for raffle or door prizes. Just my two cents worth.