PTO Today

Here are the highlights of the featured articles for this week. Hope you’ll find something that sparks an idea– big or small– for an upcoming event or program.

• Batter up! This PTO has about 2,500 people attend their pancake breakfast. Wow. That’s a whole lot of pancakes. More importantly, that’s whole lot of school and community spirit!
• Now here’s an idea: offer a $5,000 jack pot to get parents to come to your fundraiser. The only catch is that event tickets are $100 per couple. A night out with other parents and a chance at $5k — sounds worth it to me.
• Speaking of prizes, this school is enticing parents of  freshman to come to their information night with a free chili dinner and a chance to win one of four Kindles. Nice.
• We always say that family nights are a terrific way to build community at your school. This PTO has the right idea… they are running a “Minute to Win It”  family challenge, followed by a family movie night.  Sounds like a fun night!
• Like the twist that this PTO put on their school auction:  the auction items are re-gifts.  Re-use, recycle and raise money for the school. Genius.
• Kudos to this school for hosting an environmental fair before green was hip! Really like that more 120 kids are involved in their 15th annual school environmental fair.

Don’t forget to let us know if your PTO or PTA event gets press! We’d love to include your story in our round-ups. Email me at lgundlach@ptotoday.com.

Here is this week’s  featured question and answer from our Ask a Question section.

Marcia asks:

How long should the PTO keep financial records? And which records should be kept? Should all paperwork relating to the budget be stored, such as deposit forms, check/cash requests? or just monthly bank statements, monthly budget reports and annual 990s?

Craig writes:

Keep monthly treasurer reports for three years. Keep bank statements, canceled checks, check registers, and Form 990s for seven years. Keep incorporation papers, Form 1023, IRS determination letter for 501c3, meeting minutes, end-of-year treasurer reports, and annual reports permanently. You can download a checklist with this information from the File Exchange. Items like deposit forms and check requests can be discarded after you’ve done your end-of-year audit.

Related links:

http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/400-what-every-treasurer-should-know

http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/423-taxes-ptos-and-the-irs

http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/171-can-i-deduct-that

http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/396-annual-audit-how-and-why

Looking for a way to promote fitness and raise a few bucks at the same time? Parent groups across the country hosted 5K runs in fall 2010, drawing local fitness fanatics and casual joggers alike. Many groups work with race promoters or running clubs that help with event logistics. Here are some of the ways PTOs made their events stand apart from the pack of other charity runs.

Clever Names

A catchy name can go a long way in marketing an event. Many parent groups find inspiration from their school mascots. The Roaring Lion Run, held in Adamstown, Md., benefited the Carroll Manor Elementary PTA and featured an appearance by the lion mascot. A Sunbury, Ohio, race called the Big Nut Strut raised money for three PTOs in the Big Walnut Local School District. Texas runners could join the Cougar Prowl, organized by the Running Brushy Middle School PTA in Cedar Park, or the Hexter Howl, benefiting Hexter Elementary in Dallas.

Student Runners

It also helps to offer students some incentives to participate. A smoothie company sponsored the Roaring Lion Run at Carroll Manor Elementary. The PTA leveraged this sponsorship to encourage student involvement: The class with the highest rate of participation in the event won a free smoothie party.

The Wake County, N.C., PTA Council offered grants to PTAs at schools with the highest participation in its race, the Healthy Lifestyles 5K. It also gave away scholarships from a tutoring company that sponsored the event.

Interested in planning your own run/walk fundraiser? Read “Organizing a Fun Run” for tips.

You work hard to raise money for your kids’ school, so when disputes about how to spend that money arise, it’s extremely disconcerting. Pop over to the Teachers/Principal Forum on our message boards and you’ll see that it’s also pretty common for parent groups and principals to disagree. In this video blog, Tim offers some advice on what to do when money fights with your principal arise.

Here are some helpful links that relate to Tim’s talk:

http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/209-make-the-principal-your-partner

http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/167-whose-rules-school-or-pto

http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/176-negotiating-with-the-principal

http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/111-get-the-principal-on-your-side

http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/382-make-peace-with-the-principal

http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/184-dealing-with-disagreements

This news round-up can be summed up into two categories; parent groups thinking outside the box and parent groups doing good. Hope you’ll find a nugget of inspiration somewhere.

Parent groups thinking outside the box:

- LA School may seek corporate sponsorships as a way to get money into budget-restricted schools.

- Parent groups get creative in addressing lack of funds and a busier-than-ever volunteer pool. Read carefully:  you’ll find some great words of wisdom in here from PTO Today community member, Gary Parkes.

Parent groups doing good:

- PTA gives school library a makeover.

- School community comes together to spruce up playground.

- PTO kicks off winter break by hosting a winter wonderland breakfast for teachers and staff.

- Kudos to this school for being one of the first to be recognized for making healthy changes.

- Georgia school wins nation-wide coat drive. I end with this link and a line from the article I think you’ll all enjoy:

There is nothing more convincing than a PTO mom on a mission. I’ve seen them in action. They work a little like The Godfather; they’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse!

Here’s to all the PTO & PTA moms & dads making a difference. Wishing you a weekend of holiday happiness with your family and no parent group to-dos!

Treasurer’s reports, meeting minutes, fundraising results, bank statements… how much should you make public to your parent group and the school? The question of transparency comes up a lot! In this week’s video blog Tim answers the question, “just how transparent should our parent group be?”

How open is your group with information? How do you share your records so that there are no misconceptions? We’d love to hear from you.

The Alex-Bradley PTO in Alex, Okla., sponsored a noodling tournament fundraiser last June. More than 50 competitors wrestled giant catfish, which they caught by hand from the Washita River. The largest fish caught weighed 57 pounds!

Quick tip this week, but I’m hopeful it can make you extra hundreds or thousands at your next school auction. I call it the “quickie live auction” — and it’s a great way to make sure you maximize your dollars from your silent auction. (You can find a whole slew of additional auction tips and ideas on our dedicated PTO and PTA auctions resources page.)

If your auction is like the ones at most schools, then you put your most exciting offerings in the live auction and push the likely less competitive items into the silent auction. This is a smart model and a good way to make sure your live auction doesn’t last five hours.

But what about when you’re wrong and a few of your silent auction items get competitive? You’ve seen it — two or three parents boxing out around a bid sheet trying to be the last bid down before the deadline. And if those parents want to get a final bid down on a few different items, then they have to be Olympic sprinters. The result is that you don’t get as much money as you could for those donated items.

The solution: the quickie live auction. Mention right in your program that you reserve the right to turn any silent item into a live auction item if there is heavy interest at the deadline. Then, at deadline time, have a small step stool (nice, but not a required touch) for your bid sheet collectors and allow them to run a quick live auction (literally one or two minutes) for any competitive item. If two dads want to bid the baseball tickets up to $400, that’s how your auction maximizes its profits. The winning bidder and the price can go right down on the bid sheet, and all your processing and billing can proceed just like the rest of your silent items. Voila.

It’s definitely a switch from what parents are used to, but there’s no rule that says silent auction items should be won by the parent with the best ability to box out other parents. It’s a fundraising auction, and the quickie live format helps raise more funds.

Well it’s officially autumn now! Happy Friday to all our hard-working friends. Just did a scan of the news this week and a few headlines caught my eye. Perhaps these parent group stories will inspire new events or ideas for your group.

Walk-a-thon raises $12,179

2,500 volunteers get things done on Day of Caring

PTO car show growing in popularity

Fun fest brings families together

Kamp-out in Redlands offered stars, tents and s’mores

Have a fabulous first weekend of fall! As always, if your PTO or PTA is in the news let us know.