I agree with most here. Who cares where the parent wants the donation, which the PTO would not have received if she had not processed the paperwork at her company, to be allocated.
If she wants class field trip, then great. Assuming that you already allocate funds for that purpose, maybe you can re-allocate the existing funds to be replaced by her company's funds.
Also, if you want to keep receiving these funds each year, you may want to give her and her company credit for this large donation.
I agree that if your bylaws do not allow for this "your path is clear".. ..Make the decision. You are overthinking this issue. It sounds like the parent making the request is well liked and probably for a good reason. If the issue is explained and presented properly the parent will probably understand. If not, you have made the right decsion anyways.
dlf;146078 wrote: I kind of think you're overthinking this Guest. I don't see some nefarious issue here....if you can use the money as the giver would like, accept it. If you feel it is too much a burden for your group to distribute it as she requests, reject it.
d
Very well put - and much more concisely than my answer!!
I will encourage other parents and will demand that my donation go directly to my child's activities from this point forward. I would also like 5% to go to the janitor and 5% to the Caferteria staff.
Why organize if we can not adhere to the bylaws or moreover why have a PTO altogether ? Let each parent decide where their donation/funds should be appropriated.
Have the parent write a check directly to the company which operates the field trip, do not go through a system that has these fail safe system in place.
Actually, I'd take the opposite view. Unless your bylaws specifically prohibit this, you can do it. But that doesn't mean you must.
For any targeted donation, the PTO absolutely has the right not to accept the donation or to try to talk the giver out of the restriction. And if it's not a program they are already planning, then that takes extra consideration.
You don't want to encourage a lot of this so that it becomes a management nightmare. And you absolutely have to make sure the parent isn't using the organization to indirectly benefit their own child. (As part of a larger group, where their child gets incidental benefit, it's probably okay.)
People have special interests that they are likely to dig deeper to support. That's a way of encouraging extra donations. In my own family's case we wouldn't normally donate $500 to the general PTA fund. However, we had cut back on some other donations and had that much extra to contribute somewhere. I was interested in scholarships and the PTA was happy to expand its program to give four $500 scholarships instead of the planned three $500 scholarships. (And no, my child was not a candidate.)
Organizations often face the offer of donations they can't use or that have too many strings attached. Do what's best for your own organization.
