PTO Today

This year is my first year on the PTO board. In fact the entire board is made up of people that have never been on before so we are going to have to try and learn a lot quickly. My first question is...are we limited to the amount of fundraisers we can do? We wanted to start the year out with a raffle at our back to school night. But if we are only allowed a certain amount then we would want to be choosey. We will be getting NO help from the this years past board members as there was big drama -hence the reason for all the new blood taking over this year- so we will get no advice. I did see the treasurers report and we had like $9000.00 they spent $7000.00 and were going to leave the rest for the next year. Is this a common amount? We are an average size school. Thanks for any advice!!!

How many fundraisers are dictated by 1) any school or district policy you must follow and 2) what your group decides the right balance is.

Also, be prepared to discuss what a "fundraiser" is. Many PTOs hold events where some money changes hand. The event might break even, might collect money to defray only some of the costs, maybe more than break even, maybe make a huge profit. Which are "fundraisers" versus programs versus family events? There's no right answer, but we go by what the main purpose is.

Very clearly, when you sell the cookie dough, candles, giftwrap, catalog stuff - those are fundraisers. Our elementary school had a policy of only two of those per year, no matter who owned them. But school supplies, T-shirts, family events, etc. didn't count as one of the two even if admission was charged or funds were collected. We did a big fall catalog sale then a smaller spring one.

You want to fund your projects without driving everyone crazy. So it's your call on how many, what, and how often.

On the balance you are holding, we used to leave about $2000 free and clear for fall start up. Again it depends on your plans, but it's very good to have a nest egg to kick off the year.

We are down to 3 fundraisers a year. We did this because we burned parents out with too many one year. The school runs the auction in October, the parent club does the carnival in February and the student council does a walkathon in May. A classroom may choose to hold a small catalog fundraiser for a large field trip but that would be run by the teacher/parents of that classroom.