I see all sides of this. Travel, including food, is a legitimate expense for a non-profit organization. Your officers are traveling for business, not personal, reasons. The cost of sending delegates to a conference would reasonably include registration costs, hotel, travel, and food. Whether the volunteers have fun or not, they are giving up valuable family time, perhaps even taking vacation time from work or missing income by being out of town.

For myself, I’d probably absorb the costs personally. However, as far as policy goes, I’d worry that by not making reimbursement part of the package, someone who couldn’t afford the expense would be denied a chance at participation. You don’t want the PTO/PTA to become an elitist group, even accidentally. (And you really don’t want to set it up the opposite way, where people have to identify themselves as a hardship case and you make an exception to pay just for them.)

If the group can afford to cover these costs, I’d suggest a plan like Kathie Lasky’s group. Establish a moderate per diem that can be claimed. Then, verbally remind people – just like when they buy things for PTO activities – if they choose not to ask for reimbursement, they should remember to keep their receipts and claim those expenses at tax time for charitable contributions and volunteer expenses.

If the group can’t afford to cover the costs, then those attending are basically donating the funds by paying their own way. In that case, I think it’s perfectly fair to explain you’d like to have delegates, but there just aren’t any organizational funds or that the funds are limited. (In my mind, this is different than saying the funds are available, it’s just not appropriate to use them.)

As far as the lady who buys food for the 3 groups, I think this is fine if coordinated in advance and all participants agree. She should be billing you for your share. That’s your documentation.

I agree that State Leadership Conferences are valuable. My PTA has it in their budget as a line item. It is also in our standing rules as to who has first refusal to go.
When our budget is passed- it is outlined (in detail) to the general membership (what the conference is, how many will go- why it is valuable for us to go). Nobody has ever objected to our sending 2 people to the conference. (a cost of about 400.00- including travel).

Everybody learns valuable things (at conference) we then bring back to the school (last year it was an innovative reading program parents can do at home). Also it gives valuable training to new members of the board. It is in everybody's interest that our officers be well trained and motivated. It is also a valuable Bonding and learning time with other PTAs around the state. You get LOTS of ideas from what other people are doing, what their problems are, and how to solve them (kind of like this forum- but live).

Many people from our county go to the cconference and we save money on travel by carpooling.
We do offer a per diem to each person attending (10.00 for each meal excluding the meals that are already a part of the conference - a luncheon and a county hospitality dinner.). For out first day- (a travel day-) it is 20.00 because everybody should eat breakfast at home- the next day it is 30.00,(3 meals) the the 3rd day it is 10.00 because a luncheon and a dinner are paid for- and the last day is 20.00- breakfast and lunch only- home in time for dinner). Total- $80.00 per diem.
As a treasurer- I have sometimes asked people to forego their per diem (if money is tight- and usually everybody is happy to do it).
We always share rooms with other PTAs attending- also to save money.

I applaud you for wanting to bring this up to your board. it should be outlined in the rules- what your PTA will and will not pay for. It should also be clear, that anybody attending is expected to bring back information and be prepared to present it to your board and your general membership (that way- it is clear it is not play time- though I am sure you all enjoy the experience.).
The member of the board (spending all the money on food) should be made aware of your concerns, and really should not mind your bringing this up.
Hopefully you will get it strightened out, before your budget is finalized.

KayCee,

One of the things that bothers me is that last year, when it was presented to the membership to add as a budget item, the woman who I am talking about presented it as costing just the fee for attending, about $130 per person. She did not tell people that we would actually attend for free and pay for the hotel and some food instead. On our budget, the line item just reads "Convention and classes."

We do not have a provision in our bylaws to skip voting, although the board has the power to reallocate up to $200 if the need arises. Oh, and the convention budget represents almost 10% of total expenditures for the year. Now, this year only half was used, and next year it has been reduced.

The more I talk (type) about this, the more upset I become. Maybe I was wrong to decide to give her another chance before bringing it up at a meeting. Maybe I should bring it up at the first meeting of the year. I have already spoken to her one-on-one and she says she sees my point, but I am not sure that she means it.

Any suggestions?

Laurib,

I think you and I are on the same page. This convention is a valuable resource and I think it is very important for the local units to attend. There are many classes offered each day, and we also conduct state PTA business, such as determining the state PTA's stance on certain legislative issues. All of the attendees from our units actually volunteer to work a few hours a day at the convention, and get to go free. However, that money we save is then used to pay for the hotel rooms, sleeping 4 to a room.

One of the points I brought up at the lunch was that if the audit committee sees all of these extra expenses, they will not be happy. She looked around the table and said, "That's ok, because the audit committee is all here." (By the way, I did not order anything for lunch) I also pointed out that the parents at the general membership meetings would not be happy to hear how the money was spent. And now, I am one of those parents. I decided to give her a chance to change her ways before bringing it up at a general membership meeting. I told her that next year we needed to work something out because it is hard to raise money, and it should not go just to the benefit of our little group at convention.

I would like to hear from others about this, though. Are there groups who actually pay for food from their budget?

RoboMom

P.S. I made sure I was on the budget committee to ensure the budget for this event was decreased for next year.

Where in the budget does this money come from? Our budget is line-itemed pretty thoroughly, with about 10% of the total "non-designated" so we can purchase things as the need arises. Is that where your money came from? Maybe next year's budget can address how those purchases are made.

Also, our by-laws state that any expenditure under a certain amount do not have to be voted on by the parents, but at a threshold amount ($250?), the purchase must be approved by a vote. So maybe your by-laws would be a place to turn for insight into how much is too much and at what point you need approval for what you're spending. I guess I'm also wondering how much the entire trip cost and what percentage of your PTO's budget it represented.

Regardless of whether or not it violated your by-laws or was a large percentage of your budget is a separate problem, though, from the manner in which the money was spent. The easy breezy-ness would be the part that would bother me the most in your shoes.

I hope you find a way to address this before next year's conference. Good luck!

Let me start by stating that I am not part of a PTA, so maybe there is something in your bylaws that requires you, as a board member to attend these conferences, but I look at it is you are choosing to attend. My husband, for example attends many trade shows and a lot of races for his work. If his company requires him to attend, they reimburse him for tickets and he is allowed x amount per day for food, taxi rides, etc. But if he decided to attend a race that is not required by his company, I pack him lunches, snacks and drinks. I am looking at a PTA convention as something not required by the non-profit organization I belong to.

We have never attended a conference because our budget has not allowed for the expense of conference tickets, (too many other things being cut out of the state budgets these days), but we have discussed the someday when we get to go senerio and it was agreed that we would individually pay for our own accomidation and food.

My question to you would be...what would the parents at your childs school think? Do they know that they are paying for you and others to attend the conference (which I think is perfectly ok to have the organization pay for the conference tickets and even a banquet dinner one night), hotel rooms and food?

If I were a parent at a school and found out that some of the money (probably not a small portion either), that could have been spent on the kids, was being spent on meals and snack food for the board members I wouldn't be too happy. I understand you probably budget money for the conference, but are the parents really aware of what is being paid for with the money?