Upon dissolution of this organization, after paying or adequately providing for the debts and obligations of this PTO, the remaining assets shall be distributed to {org name -probably the school you support}. If {org name, again probably the school} ceases to exist, remaining PTO assets shall be distributed for one or more exempt purposes within the meaning of section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future federal tax code, or shall be distributed to the federal government, or to a state or local government, for a public purpose.
A common mistake is to have only something like the first sentence. You need to the second half. If your school ceases to exist, then it's like the PTO ends, so what then.
Thanks so much for this topic, I am re-writing the by-laws for our school and really needed help. I spent a lot of time going through all the different info here this morning and there was a topic that had a thread addressing inserting a "Dissolution" article in your by-laws and I didn't print it out. Any idea where it was? We are facing a possible major change to our school next year and this may be important to add to our update.
And Tim is right - I wanted to get the idea before others like me that can use a charter, there are states besides my own that this is a good idea to do, that is why I started the thread and then expanded on the initial idea some.
But which ever way the organizationgoes always check with a lawyer - many will volunteer the time needed to help out too. All are required to do Pro Bono work and if you work it right you can get all sorts of services that will help to keep you all out of trouble [img]smile.gif[/img]
What Dave's describing is a suggestion that seems to work for him. It's not gospel.
I've seen far more groups operate well with well-written bylaws. Making major decisions -- like what your dues will be -- by vote of the group is not necessarily a bad thing. And bylaws *are required* in some instances/some places.
First, a disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer. But I'm married to one, which makes me twice as dangerous!
Before everyone goes jumping on the charter bandwagon, I just wanted to point out that usually, a charter is another name for the articles of incorporation. In some states, if you file articles or incorporation, or a charter, you are required to also have/file bylaws. DaveP, looks like you're from Louisiana, which is a state where a lot of things are done differently--I'm pretty sure that's the one state in the country where the Uniform Commercial Code doesn't apply, and I seem to recall having some experience that a lot of other things there were done a little differently as well. So--especially if you're a PTO that's incorporated, everyone needs to make sure they check with their appropriate state office to make sure that they get the requirements correct.
