PTO Today

Help!!! Iv'e been everywhere on the internet trying to find out how to start up a new PTO at our school. There apparently used to be one years ago but was disbanded. Now I've been asked to start one up again and I'm at a loss. I know some basics by reading up on PTO's like I'll need insurance, a tax ID number, and surely I'll need volunteers, but can anyone give me some step by step instructions on how to get this ball rolling? I would surely appreciate any information anyone can give me on this topic.

I began by asking parents that picked up or dropped off their children if they were interested in being in a PTO. I then went to the superintendant and told her that we had lots of interested parents and could we start a PTO at the school. She agreed to the idea and gave me some guidelines. I went back to the parents and we used the PTO website to get going. We are currently in our fifth month and everything is a learning experience.

Good Luck

There's a start-up guide on this site that's probably worth buying. (We got it free with our "Plus" membership, but it might be a hard sell to spend your group's first $200 on a membership like that.)

I would first recommend talking with the school's Principal. Hopefully she'll be 100% supportive...

Next would be to approach at least a couple of people and see if they would be willing. Once you have a team then you can start moving forward.

Go to your town hall and see if they have any information from the previous group on file. If not you might be able to approach another group in the town, or just use what is on the site here.

You can form prior to obtaining your non-profit status, but you'll want to file that right away.

IMO, for the first year, your focus should be on raising funds, creating a set of Bylaws, obtaining your non-profit status (501(C)3), and talking with the parent/staff and Principal about what can be improved. I would recommend against tackling any major project, such as a new playground, in your first year. There's just so many other areas that need to be focused on first. Next would be membership. You'll want to start promoting the group and communication is the way. A website, newsletter, flyers about the new group, etc., should all be used to get the word out.

Then, once you have all this done this year you might want to end the year on a high note. Possibly take on a big event, such as Field Day. This might be your first event, but it will show the parents that the group will make a difference. Then come next year, with funds in place, a basic budget, priorities for the year, elections having been properly held, etc.; you can start the new year off with a bang, maybe a back to school event.

Good luck,
PresidentJim

Thanks for all your help. I have a few more questions. If we raise less than $5000 a year do we still need non-profit status? And should I hold elections? Or am I just automatically considered President? And can anyone tell me the quickest and easiest fundraiser to get us started. Again thanks for all your help.

Even if you raise less than $5000, you want non-profit status so you don't have to pay sales taxes on stuff you buy or sell nor business income tax. If you really do bring in less than $5k, you may be able to file the e-postcard (990-N) instead of 990-EZ for your annual tax return. But note this is gross revenue, so if you bring in $4k by selling $8k of giftwrap with a 50% cut to you, the IRS considers $8k your gross revenue.

You should hold elections -- but you can certainly be sure to invite your friends to the election.

Thank you!!!!

The IRS has a good summary of the life cycle of a public charity. This goes through the formal steps of organizing. Be sure to look at the graphical depiction also.

Life Cycle of a Public Charity

In regards to a good starting fundraiser, I would suggest one of the types that could go home before the holidays and could allow the parents an opportunity to purchase a present for someone. We use Yankee Candle and I feel it is one of the easiest and more profitable fundraisers. 40% profit and the orders all come in boxed with the person's name who ordered, as well as the teacher's name, to make it easier to separate and disperse.

For a school of about 500 we usually bring in about $9000.

Many schools use the magazine subscriptions, or things like that.

One thing that I would recommend staying away from would be the ones where the kids would need to go door to door. Buying from family and friends should be enough.

Other than that you might want to look into local company programs. For example, we run three roller-skating nights throughout the year and usually profit about $1000 total, we also use Friendly's and Papa Gino's, where we get a certain % of ALL sales for a certain evening.

Good luck,
PresidentJim

Thank You!!!!