I am new to this PTO thing. But what I have found is that most likely your county board has already been incorporated and they made provisions for schools the the district. I had a brain freeze when it came to the bylaws, I typed in Bylaws on the web, read a few, printed a few then typed my based on what I read.
Tell your exe. board that the John Deer plant down the road might consider donating a tractor for a silent/live auction Or maybe some company can donate a golf cart. But they need to know you are nonprofit--the jest of this, is try and get across to them how much you can get done by being tax-exempt and incorp. nonprofit.
I was new to this site just a few weeks ago. And I keep finding great information everyday.
Our county merged two smaller schools into one school which opened this fall. Our PTO met for the organizational meeting last week. I was elected treasurer (an office that I usually end up with since I am a CPA). I am fairly certain that the PTOs from the closed schools weren't incorporated or had by-laws or had too much organization about them. With my professional background, I know that we should incorporate, establish by-laws, apply for tax-exempt status etc.
The question is...how do I present this to the executive board, principal and the director of schools in an informational manner that they will accept? Are there listings of Pros/Cons of incorporating a PTO?
Also, how do you deal with the "We've always done it that way" mentality??
Our school is in TN.
