Just thought I'd put some information out there for anyone who may be in our same situation.
After a dismal year of an essentially non-exsistant PTA at our elementary school, the SIT(School Improvement Teams)committee has appointed me, and three other moms who've been active in volunteering at the school, to form a PTO for the school.
We had no idea that things were so complicated with red tape---first order of business was to open a bank account to deposit monies raised. We'd thought it would be prety straight forward-wrong.The bank told us that we had to have a business account since we needed to require at least two signatures on any check issued. We found out that this required a tax ID number which required a ficticious businees name license and also non-profit status paperwork.Thank goodness that school's out because we'll be spending most of the day at the courthouse and the bank trying to accomplish this.I think it's a shame that we have to get bogged down in all that just to get on with the business of helping at the school.
Does anyone out there have any new suggestions to make sure we cover all the details of what has to be done to be "legal" from the business side of running a volunteer organization? We've almost got the actual volunteering side covered.We've gained more parents as they've seen our enthusiasm and the support the teachers had given during the past year.