We had a parent that wanted to do a fundraiser for tastfully simple. Some people said all she wanted was to make a profit. She is very involved parent.We thought someones going to profit ,better keep it local.We debated this issue.The parent came up with an answer .She gave all the profit back to the school. She still got the sale on her buisness through her company.When people heard this they were all on board, even the pricipal.

We have that in our bylaws. Please send me your email and I will forward it to you

I'm with JHB on this one.

We have a conflict of interest policy written into our bylaws. That doesn't mean we can't use a parent. It means it must be disclosed to our board by that parent before we work with them.

If you are in a larger community and have several options and want to stay away from your parent's business, I guess that's fine. I'm on the other side of that issue though. If you have have a parent who is willing to give part of their profit to you, why not work with them, promote their business and help your budget as well?

As long as you know they aren't "upping" the price for your group any different than pricing for any other group, is there an issue? If they owned the only stating rink in the area and other elementaries were able to have skate parties and it was well run, would you not put something together simply because it was a parent at your school who owned the business? Many times the parent gives your group an even better deal because they have children at that school.

What we do is make sure that parent is NOT chairing/running the event. What we do is have that parent represent the business as the vendor. If they are a member of our PTO, they abstain on motions which involve payment/cost dealings for the event.

We want to be able to promote our school family. What better way than to use their facilities and business when possible?

If you would like to see our Conflict of Interest policy, visit (on page 7) www.orgsites.com/mi/lcepto/ByLawsPortageLakeCenter.doc

I agree that parents should not profit from a fundraiser. Our school board informed me that under no conditions can a parent run a fundraiser and split the profit with the PTO. I'm thinking about putting this information in our bylaws as well.

I don't have specific language to suggest, but you are right to be really careful about this one. And make sure you don't lock yourself in too tightly. You need a way to override.

I understand what you want to do but there are lots of pitfalls that whatever you write may have consequences beyond your intentions, especially since you aren't limiting it to officers or board members. Your school families may represent a LOT of business areas.

First - what is a "fundraiser" and what does "profit" mean? You are probably thinking the typical product sale of some type. But consider the following, especially if a parent is involved in the business in the examples.

• What would the limitation be? That the parent owned the business? What if it’s a manager or merely a worker? How do you know if the person is getting a commission or benefit for bringing in business or merely helping you get an “in” with a company?
• Could you still have a family night at local restaurant/skating rink/amusement place where the PTO gets a percentage of sales if a parent works/owns the business?
• What if a parent - truly trying to help out - offers you a great deal at cost or cost plus a small margin?
• If you hold a craft fair/bazaar/garage sale, would parents be excluded since they would make a profit for their individual booths?
• Does it stop with "parents"? What about other relatives/significant others/teachers/school staff and their spouses?
• Is it fair to exclude someone from making an offer (for a fundraiser) just because they have a child in your school? What if it's a corporation? If they simply get another rep to make the offer, then is it okay?

I understand why you might have issues, but it may be difficult to write a policy in your bylaws that does what you want and only what you want.

Hi there. Our PTO is working on adding an admendent to our Bylaws regarding Parents making money off of a school fundraiser. My question is...Does anyone have this in their bylaws and how do they word it? We have parents who have a problem with any parent in our school running a fundraiser where they may make a personal profit. For example a Tastefully Simple Rep Parent running a TS Fundraiser with our PTO and profiting off it. I hope I am stating this clearly. I realize that we may be walking a fine line and we need to state this correctly in the by laws. We are in charge of compiling it and then the PTO will be voting on it.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks