Hello!

I am the PTO President of a brand new elementary school and have no idea where to begin when it comes to making our organization official. By laws, incorporating, tax exempt status...I'm lost :confused: Is there anyone who can hold my hand and tell me the steps to get things started?

Thank you

[FONT=Tahoma]Establishing a PTO can be overwhelming. PTO Today offers some great resources to help get you started if you purchase their PLUS membership, so check out the information on this site. Membership or not, it costs nothing to be part of these Forums and folks are good about helping. There are lots of people here who will share and give advice. [/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma]There are basically two things that go on at the same time:[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]1) Establishing your programs and activities[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]2) Setting up the business infrastructure for your organization[/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma]#1 is no doubt what most of your members are focusing on. PTO = field trips, bake sales, fundraisers, Bookfair, Teacher Appreciation...(and the list continues). But the fact is that a PTO is charitable non-profit organization and needs to be run with good business practices.[/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma]That makes #2 critical. The basics steps to that part are:[/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma]** Organize your group to include strong bylaws, financial controls, and other good procedures and best practices[/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma]** Explore and begin working on those items processed at the state level.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]-- Incorporation as a non-proift[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]-- Sales tax exemption[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]-- Any local/state requirements such as registering as a non-profit fundraiser or getting a permit such as running a Bingo game[/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma]** Apply for your 501(c)(3) status as a charitable organization with the IRS/Federal government[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma]-- This is the "biggie", It requires that some pieces, like your bylaws, be done in a way the IRS will accept. And if you want incorporate (state level), you do that BEFORE this application. The application to file is not trivial but many of us have successfully done it. And the fee is $750.[/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma]You can't do everything at once. Figure out your priorities and start. Search through older postings here in the Forum and feel free to ask questions. [/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma]Welcome! We're glad to have you join us.[/FONT]

$750 for most -- but, per Form 1023:
If your gross receipts have not exceeded or will not exceed $10,000 annually over a 4-year period, the required user fee payment is $300.

I came here today to ask the same question! So not to hijack this topic, but do all PTO's have to be non-profits? Or can the funds raised be simply given to the school? I ask because we had our first fundraiser already without doing anything like having bylaws etc and just handed over the profits to the principal. So far all we have is half a dozen women who have volunteered to hold various offices. Kinda flying by the seat of our pants I know.

You don't *have* to, but I think most of us on these boards think it's a really good idea.

If you're just going to hand over all your money to the school, and you don't anticipate disagreements with the principal about how he/she spends the money, I guess that's OK. Frequently, there will be differences in priorities. Also, PTOs aren't only about fundraising; it's an avenue for communication and a group that can put together social events.

If the PTO has a good partnership with the school, I'm actually in favor of the PTO keeping its finances very small (under $5000 per year) so it doesn't need to formalize and acting more as a volunteer arm of the school - letting the school own fundraisers and deposit funds.

For example: if the goal is to raise $$$ for classroom supplies and field trips and widgets, all I care about is we make that happen. If the PTO and principal are in agreement and the parents can merely be volunteers to help achieve this, great!

But I'm not so eager as a parent or parent group leader to recruit volunteers to raise money for unclear reasons. I don't care about controlling a bank account. The less admin tasks we have, the better. But I care about results.