I can understand exactly what you are going through; my school is a very small(130 students) and last year a parent came to me to help get a PTO started and then she became to busy with her work and left everything to me. I was able to organize some fun activities but since we are a smaller school and lack parent involvement we have no by laws or really guidance. People think I am crazy for wanting to set something up and to have a guide to follow But being new I changed things like our Breakfast with Santa - I changed it to Pizza with Santa and did it on a friday night...shock it was a great success-- but people never planned things on fridays for some reason. I feel lost - I get lots of great ideas from this website but don't know how to get it communicated we are lucky to have 15 parents come to meetings. Sorry to complain but just wanted to let you know you are not alone. Good Luck! [img]smile.gif[/img]

What should be some basic by-laws we should start with? If anyone has suggestions, I'd take them. Can they be revised as we see fit to add new ones? I thought maybe there are certain ones we should definetly have at first and then we can add as time goes by. Thanks for the info.!
GRGS Pres03'

Thanks so much for the reply!! Any info I can get, I'll use. That's one of the things I don't know about our organization...if it's tax exempt or what. That probably sounds pretty stupid on my part. There are things that need to be known and there are a lot of things that nobody has been given ANY information on.

Any advice you have will be graciously taken. Any time you feel like typing and throwing info my way, would be GREAT!. Especialy legal info that I'm sure I don't know and that I'm sure affects our organization more than anybody knows!
Thanks again! Keep the info coming. GRGS New Pres03'

If you are tax exempt the IRS requires you to have by-laws and report any changes made. So there's your argument, it's the law.

So maybe it's not broke now, but who knows what the future holds. If you have a good group I think by-laws will keep it that way. If they are done fairly. So start your committee, I am sure everything will fall into place.

My advice: Keep the info flowing. Make sure you cover all your events and activities through your newsletter, website, bulletin board, word of mouth,etc. Enquiring minds want to know and those not enquiring may get motivated.

Be organized at your meetings. Make agendas and let people voice their concerns, questions, comments. (This is a recent issue at our school, I hear)

I could go on and on too, it sounds like you know what your doing. Best of luck.

Hi everyone, I am not completely new to this site, but I am new to it as far as being the new president for out PTO. I am very eager to get started and have some ideas to help make things run more smooth for our organization. Last year I helped our PTO write a mission statement. It went well, and so I decided to get even more involved and before I knew, I was President. LOL This year I would like to begin work and on by-laws. Yes, our organization does not have by-laws and it is definately in need of them. I am sure I will run into apprehension from members. You know, "Why fix something if it's not broke", I'm not saying anything is broke, but it could use some organization to run a little bit smoother. I could go on forever, but and advice anyone can give would be greatly appreciated. I'll stay in touch as the year goes on! Thanks a million.