Was going to suggest what LIW did... figure the percentage of children moving over from the school. They worked hard on raising the funds and should reap the benefits.
So if 10% are moving over then giving 10% is very reasonable.
We had a new school built and made a cash donation to the new PTO. Since 10% of our students were going to the new school we gave 10% of our cash on hand (not flagged for special projects) at the end of the year.
We actually have a tradition of giving a cash donation to help start-up PTAs of new schools that have an impact on our students. In the time that I've been at our school, I believe that one new elementary school and two new middle schools have been built; the elementary school pulled some kids from our school, and our school will feed the two new middle schools, so we have provided them with a cash donation to help them with start up, as this money will go to help "our" kids sooner or later.
Again, it is something that should be taken to the general membership. Before you go the the membership, decide on one or two different fair ways to calculate the amount so that the membership has an informed choice.
If time has run out to take this to the group, then get both the old and new boards together to come to an agreement on what is fair. Use your previously decided upon choices of how to calculate the fair amount. They would not want to be greedy in light of the fact that a fair calculation would be amicable all the way around.
We do feel like a cash donation is appropriate as the children going to the new school help raise the current funds as well as the children staying. The new PTO/PTA will need money to get going and we really do want to help, we just feel that since they will mostly be attending the new school it is a little biased for them to set the amount, that's all.
Thanks for your response, I'm sure I'll be posting a lot since most of the incoming board has never even served before.
A donation would be a nice thing to do. Groups in your situation do it regularly and willingly. If you feel strongly against a cash donation, donate start-up stuff instead. The new group is going to need paper to send home flyers. They are going to need a a dessert and coffee at their first meeting. File folders. Stuff like that.
Your group should vote on what to do. The board alone should not make the decision, unless the board member were the only ones who ponied up the money from/for the previous fundraisers. If any other student sold something or did something to garner funds, then take it to the membership for the amount, either cash or goods.
Ethics are not an issue in the way you think. Look at the other side of the coin. One way to look at it is the children who will be attending the new school helped raise the funds and are entitled to some of it. Another way to look at it is that the funds were raised to help ALL of the children, and the children who are leaving didn't ask to leave their school. A fair way to make the division of funds would be to take the money made from the last fundraiser, divide the profit by how many students were in the school, and then 'donate' what would have been spent on each of the leaving students.
