Thank you for your input. I am going to set up a meeting with the principal to discuss setting some goals for our excess funds. Your suggestions really helped. All I can do is try. If the staff and principal still do not come up with a plan, I'm afraid the money will just be spent a little here a little there as it has in the past.
When our PTO was carrying over a substantial amount of money...close to $30,000, before I was President it did get very dicey. They had no clear cut plan as to how the money should be spent, and acted as if it was their own personal account where saving is a good thing. When I became President, we drop our fundraisers to one per year and used the surplus wisely to purchase badly needed things for the students and teachers.
We also helped another PTO finacially at our one and only middle school get started...this being that that the kids who raised this surplus of money, were now at the middle school and never got to take full advantage of the money they earned.
Have you thought about giving the parents a break for a year on fundraising?
Our PTO has a tradition of spending as much as possible each year, unless we have a specific long-term project in mind and then a set amount would be carried over allocated to that project (ex: a new school sign, for example). A large balance like you describe can be a luxury or a burden. Personally, I would not participate in a fundraiser for a PTO with such a large fund balance. Burden. PTO is not a bank. Our money can do good things only if it is spent.
We had a surprisingly successful auction a few years ago. Our profit exceeded our budget two fold. Luxury. The PTO board asked the principal to develop wish lists with the staff, supplemented by surveys submitted from parents. The auction chair and PTO board worked behind the scenes with the principal to prepare a comprehensive spending plan based on actual needs and wishes priortized by the principal. When the right smart people (principal, staff, chair, and officers) were done, we had a sound spending proposal that could be presented to the members. While it was extremely important to get the approval of the PTO membership, it was just as important to take careful time to develop a spending proposal ahead of time that couldn't be nit-picked in the meeting. Nothing worse than allowing a whole room full of women to figure out how to spend $20,000. We would still be discussing it today! [img]smile.gif[/img]
Was there criticism that the members didn't really have much say in spending the money? Some, but why would joe average member have better knowledge about the needs of the school than the principal? And it wasn't just the principal's say-so. This was one of those situations where the people had to trust the leaders who worked hard to make the right decision for the betterment of the school.
P.S. Set up a budget for the rest of your money. If you send me an email, I'll share some tips on creating a budget.
We were in that situation a few years ago. We mentioned it at a PTA meeting to create discussion and get ideas. We also sent a memo out to the teachers to see if there were any big ticket items (i.e. weather station for 5th grade) that they would want. Nothing promised, mind you, but they quickly came up with enough items and we brought those back to the membership. I think it's important to spend what you raise.
My son is in his last year at our elementary and I'd rather see new playground things in the back then know that there's money in the bank.
There is not enough information here to give anything but general advice. For instance I do not know if your by laws restrict the board on authorizing expenses if it takes general membership vote to do this. Or, do your by laws require money be spent on budget only?
So many systems out there.
We (and I can only speak for what we do) simplified our spending process a long time ago. Our board has complete control over all finances. We make monthly reports to the general membership and anyone can propose a project or an expense. But it is up to the board to determine how our funds will be spent (within legal limits). We then use an allocated budget process to fund long term projects - what this means generally is money is set aside for projects that are going to take a while to complete into their own account (not bank account - just an accounting account). Therefore we may have $5000 in our general fund - whereas we have $30,000 in various accounts supporting various projects. The 5K we could spend at one time, a little at a time or choose to let it sit. We also do something else. With our budget process we have several long term projects pending so we put that money into money markets and other investment interest bearing accounts.
So unless your rules say you cant you all can figure out where that money will do the most good.
How do you deal with extra PTO funds. When a fundraiser does better than expected. How much is too much to carry over in reserves from year to year. Our school has over $13,000 from last year, our fundraisers are doing better than budgeted, and we have no clear idea on how this money should be spent. I know this sounds like a good problem to have, but I'm afraid people will begin to wonder why we fundraise if we do not have a concrete goal on what to do with the money. HELP!
