Either way I would be careful supporting anything like this. You need to ask is this something that my group, every member 110% for. I have seen where school groups start something like this only for it to cause hard problems among members which in return hurts your group. Just be careful, your group is a representation of your school.
I have no idea what an override committe is or what their yes campaign is. However, the way it works is as a 501c3 the only thing you cannot do is support a political party or a political candidate. So you can if you choose support budgets, referendums and the like. Things that are not specific to a political pary or candidate.
Normally if there is something the group has (like a referendum) on the table to support, a vote should be held by the general membership to determine whether or not the group favors supporting it.
So if this is something your group has the right to support but does not want to then the best way to handle it is to let them know you held a vote and the membership was not in favor of supporting it.
Hey there Massachusetts, I'm up here in Mass. as well. As it sounds with you Bylaws, the ones that we have are very vague and never cover everything that comes up. But, there is always some generality within the Bylaws that you could probably use. As per the Bylaws that we use it states that only the officers can vote and that only the President can bring a vote to a motion.
Not sure if that helps, but looking at you post I think we all need some more information. When you say your town's override committee, what exactly is their purpose, who do they report to, work for, who's on it, etc.? Being that you are a PTO I'm guessing that you are independant, so overall they likely can't make you do anything you guys don't want to.
As far as your 501c3, I would recommend making a quick visit to your City Hall and asking them to provide you with information. Also I have our copy of 501c3, and we're in Mass., so if there's something specific you're looking for post it here and I'll check it out.
Help!!! - our PTO is being pressured by our town's override committe to fund and endorse their "Yes" campaign. We feel strongly that our mission is to serve as a non-partisan organization for the benefit of all our members.
Our PTO Bylaws provide no specific guidelines or protection on this matter, so I'm looking for support, particularly as other town-wide PTOs have endorsed the "Yes" platform.
Does anyone have helpful precedent, 501c3 data, support or other info/data that would be useful in making the right decision for our membership. Anything with a Massachusetts focus is especially helpful.
