If your members are uncomfortable with a direct donation to your Chess Club, would they be willing to co-sponsor a small fundraiser that is announced as specifically supporting the Chess Club? In other words, instead of taking a chunk of $ out of your existing budget for the Chess Club, could PTO member(s) run a special fundraiser - anything raised above what the Chess Club needs goes to PTO. It might open a can of worms as other clubs come out of the woodwork, but it's just a different idea to consider. A student club might not have the skills, time or clout to run even a small fundraiser, but the PTO is full of that kind of talent.
We are a K-12 school and have been able to help establish the National Honor Society with a $130 (or so) and we have helped with graduation, prom and any other little unexpected expenses brought to us by the student council. I'm interested to see how long we do this as our pres has had children in high school with her last a Senior this year.
We also give to a math club, called academic games. Students go and compete against different schools. We only gave $200-300 once. Some of the board members were against it cause it didn't benefit the whole school but our principal was really apprecitive that we supported them.
We had a similar situation where a wonderful math club in our school requested assistance. It was a great program, but only involved about 25 kids out of our 600. We approved the first request during the year ($150-$200) with little conflict as they were representing our school at a regional event.
However, when they came back to the PTO for additional funds ($200) towards the end of the year, I saw it as non-equitable. It's a wonderful group, and I would have made a personal donation, but I felt for the PTO to help such a small group twice was too much.
As it turned out, the majority of the Board was in favor of the request, so they got the funds. As far as I was concerned, that's the point of a democratic process and I shouldn't expect my viewpoint would always win.
Generally, we try to support activities that benefit the whole school, or at least a majority of students. But, yes, we do sometimes consider requests from special groups. If something similiar came up again, we'd consider all the relevant facts - how many children are involved, overall benefit to the school, what our funds situation is, how long will the investment last (is it for entrance fees or for materials that can be used for years), etc. Based on that, we'd make a case by case decision.
What does your PTA/PTO spend money on (elementary schools)? Do you spend money on clubs that exist within the school? If so, how much? We have a club that has requested several hundred dollars for some very specific equipment, and our board has opted to not support this particular request. The club is open to all students, but serves about 70, of a population of 680 students. The club (a chess club, to be exact) has been very successful, with several nationally ranked children, and has gotten wonderful publicity for the school. I know that the board as a whole makes the decisions, but I personally (as president) am torn over how to think about this. Any insight or thoughts regarding the support of clubs within schools would be appreciated. :confused:
