Sixkidsplustwo: Please don't think I'm without sympathy for your plight. But as we give advice we all need to remember that there are a lot of different flavors of parent groups. Not all PTOs were set up to be independant organizations. It's sounding like yours may be an internal group if it's reporting to the parish finance committee. If that's true, advice for helping your gain your independence probably isn't the answer. You aren't going to be any more independent that the youth group or the building & grounds committee.
Either you have to find a way to negotiate what you want within your system or you need to enlist support to change the setup. But I don't think you'll be successful simply declaring your group's independance by starting to file various paperwork.
On the SSN, no you shouldn't use your own. While that was commonly done for years and years, it's not a good idea.
What does your Bylaws indicate regarding this "Finance Committee"?
In addition, what does your Bylaws indicate about control of the group, updating Bylaws, etc.? The reason I ask is that you might want to make changes to your Bylaws in the coming months that would define the various things that you are worried about. Create a Bylaws committee and meet. Discuss the changes and then update your Bylaws. Done deal at that point.
The bank account issue is a worry. Having the Principal on there is a big concern. Also why you had to have your SS on there is a big question. I would recommend changing both as soon as you can. If you need to change banks then so be it. Only the Treasurers and the President should be on the account, and you should not be required to use your own SS#.
Yes his name is on the account and they also had me put my name and social security number on the same paper. Does anyone know why I had to put my ss on account? That makes me nervous. When I checked the bylaws it states that any amount over $250.00 that we spend we have to seek finance commitee approval. Sounds like we are going to be SOL...thanks for all your help
You don't have to have 501c3--get incorporated and get the EIN, which doesn't take so much to do. You need bylaws to say what happens if the school closes. Update bylaws you have or make your own. Then no one can shut you down, but they can shut you out of the school.
Make sure his name is not on the account. You should have signers for your account.
It may be one piece, but unfortunately, simply having your own EIN doesn't make you an independent organization. Anyone can get a new EIN with a phone call. It's going to depend more on your mission and how you are set up to operate. Your originating documents (constitution, bylaws, charter, etc.) are a key factor. But also the policies under which you operate.
If you have your own EIN, formation documents that support your independence and are a 501(c)(3) in place -that's very strong evidence you "should" be an independent organization. However - even then other factors come in to play, because it's not like there's some magical enforcement police out there who will tell the diocese you are right and they are wrong. This is going to be seen as an internal issue that you must solve yourselves.
You are not without power if you have the support of the parents, but it's unlikely to be a black and white situation.
sixkidsplustwo;144767 wrote: We have our own checkbook separate from the school. I am not sure about the 501c(3) with an EIN number, but I will check on that. Is that something the bank would be able to tell me?
The bank can tell you want EIN/tax id number was used to open the account. In some cases, a PTO officer used his/her own SSN (bad idea!). If not, then you can ask the IRS whose EIN it is; hopefully, it is a number assigned to your PTO, not one for the diocese.
You may or may not have 501c3 tax-exempt status for that EIN, but that's probably not important for this discussion (whether you should have filed to request 501c3 and/or filed non-profit tax returns for the last few years is a separate question).
