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Hi! We are starting our PTO from scratch this year. The last PTO president did not involve any of the volunteers, supposedly closed out the bank account, & we have no idea where any of the money supposedly went, not even what it was spent on. As the new President, I want to re-start PTO so that it is truly a benefit to our school. Where do you get the by-laws to run your PTO? What all do I need to know to make this run correctly? Any help that any of you may give will be greatly appreciated! If you can think of anything that I should know, but did not ask, feel free to post it!

I, too, would like to know where the by laws come from. We are in the process of disbanning the PTA and starting a PTO and I am totally confused about bylaws.

PTA's bylaws are in another language as far as I am concerned. Too hard to understand.

Michelep

Your best bet is to get sample by-laws from organizations in your state that are already 501(c)(3). That way you'll be sure they have the boiler plate pieces the IRS wants.

You never, ever want to write these from scratch. Look for groups with good, solid processes and use theirs as a starting point - customizing as needed for your group.

Aside from the obvious, like organization name, things that may be different for you are:

• Purpose


• Names/duties of officer position


• Who exactly is a member


• Whether or not dues are collected


• Officer terms, term limits


• Fiscal year


• Requirements on number or timing of general meetings and activities like nominations

Before you start writing the bylaws, you also probably want to figure out what type of organization you will be. If you plan to incorporate, your "organizing instrument" will be the articles of incorporation. If not you might have a constitution or articles of association, then the bylaws that define how your group operates. However, more and more groups (that aren't incorporated) are using a hybrid document that they call bylaws but actually has the basic organizational info (name, purpose, fiscal year, dissolution clause) PLUS the rules of operation.

The point is, you generally don't want to duplicate major sections. If you DO have two documents, put things one place or the other.

Post your website and schools can share theirs with you.

Are there any PTOs from Iowa out there on this board? If so I would really like to contact you regarding bylaws and perhaps sharing the information you run on. We are just starting up and have yet to address this topic!

Here's an old post where I explained how to search for PTO's that area already 501(c)(3).
http://www.ptotoday.com/boards/showthread.php?t=11972&highlight=Guidestar

Note the 501's are a good starting point, but don't just assume the organization's perfect. You really do have to READ the bylaws and think about what they mean. It's a fairly boing job, I'm afraid - but an important one.

Note - the IRS is in the process of providing sample bylaws, but I don't have any idea when they will be available. And they may be too generic.

Lastly, there have been many links to bylaws posted in the past. Here's one: http://www.ptotoday.com/boards/showthread.php?t=8654&highlight=sample+bylaws

Good luck!