Hi Tango,
This sounds like a difficult lesson learned. This person's behavior is a little concerning, but as Red Dragon pointed out, there's not much more to do now, aside for taking care of this when school starts in September and making sure these donations are auctioned or raffled off as they were supposed to be. That will set everything straight and all should be fine. It does sound like the person who was running the show was quite up for the job and perhaps should be discouraged from being in charge again next year.
That is true about the expiration dates. Usually it is a year from the event date or if it is food items, there are perishable dates.
I was going to add that to my reply but forgot. If you save it for a later date, the expiration date may be 6 months or less then. Either way, ditto. She should not be making decisions like that at a drop of a hat all by herself.
Susan- yes, I did document what I gave her on the first and second request but not what I arrived with at the banquet. I may be able to remember most of it thought.
Fundraiser Mom- Yes, there are some that will expire that we will have to discuss over a meeting. I think it kind of cheats the supporter if gift cards are cashed in for gifts plus it's nice for the winner to pick out a prize from a wider selection. Sometimes we will add something to it like say a coffee traveling mug with a Starbucks gift card stuffed inside.
Sheesh. One question that comes to mind is to find out if you have any gift certificates for big items that expire. Do you have any kind of welcome back picnic or event in September that you can use these items for? Consider having a committee debrief with the president who did this to discuss what went well and what can be improved upon so this is out in the open. OR just have this meeting with the committee. This just doesn't make sense and she was not really authorized to make this decision on her own. Since you are the person who requested/obtained these items I'd make sure to keep up with using them as soon as possible - and after that i'd seriously think about NOT working with this person on a similar project without a way to ensure this doesn't happen again.
What do all of you think about taking some gift cards donated to a PTA fundraiser and exchanging them in those stores for items to include in raffle baskets. We had a "tiny" bit of this occur and I am uncomfortable b/c the donor wasn't asked to do this and may prefer for winners to come directly to the store. Thoughts?
I've never had to deal with that in either group I work with but have you documented all the donations received and when you gave them to her? And what has been used in the past event/ who got what/ how much money was collected?
I think that would really help and protect yourself. Good luck.
Thanks for your reply. 
