If an officer works for fundraising company or owns a business that is utilized by the PTO, is it against any rules or bylaws for this officer to profit from it?

If you are a irs recognized non profit and you didn't take bids from vendors.

It's not illegal, no. There are times when it's perfectly legal.

Both the IRS advice and -- perhaps more importantly -- the impressions/appearances advice is to be extra careful to be completely above-board and transparent with these kinds of transactions.

Guest is right that one possibility would be taking bids. If your group wanted to order t-shirts, and you took three bids (based on equal specifications.) and your VP's company had the best bid, then perfectly OK to use the best bid. I'd recommend that your VP not be involved at all in the analysis process, in a case like that.

On the impressions front, this is an area that often yields murmurs and discontent, which is why being overly open is recommended. Leave no room for questions or insinuation. My personal preference is for an officer to not take his or her own personal piece of the profit (like a sales commission) on work for his or her own PTO, but that's just me.

You're right to be asking these questions, as many a dust-up have started in this very area of PTOdom. You can do this, but it's worth doing right and carefully.

Tim

Tim, I have seen it go bad numerous times. Even if it is on the up and up, people still talk, which puts a bad light on the PTO and can sometimes hinder fundraising efforts.
Should this...could this...be something added to the bylaws so that we do not have to keep on dealing with this issue?

You could put it in the bylaws, but I'd advise against a blanket prohibition.

What if a new parent owns a fundraising company and literally wants to help organize your fundraiser and take zero commission or zero split of profit? Or what if you want to do school shirts and there's a parent who is a school shirt vendor and has the best price/quality by a couple of bucks per shirt?

I can give you a personal example. The school where I'm involved gets to use our (PTO Today's) PTO Manager program for free. Should they instead use/pay for a different volunteer management system just because I help run PTO Today?

I definitely hear you on the risks and agree these things are often lightning rods for trouble..... just offering an alternate view.

Tim