one more quick note in reply to a post, yes our school has a very very small program to help families in need. This has always been handled by the staff and only happens at xmas. we do not have any sort of program set up, but there are alot of agencies in our city to help. although the need for them have greatly increased leaving some families without.
hi..thanks for the responses. I still feel a little(okay a lot) under pressure with this. We as a group run alot of service projects, we just finished a food drive, kicking off our 3rd annual game and book drive , and our annual mitten/hat drive.We also setupprojects for a local nursing home and meals on wheels.Our mission statement is all about the school and kids and our bylaws state that no one should benifit directly from the group.I think since our startup 9/2001) we have always concentrated on the kids and doing things that everyone benifits from. I feel bad about this , yet know that the principal had already told the people in charge we would fund it.That makes it harder...one of her best friends is in charge of it...from reading the post it seems that most of you have this type of project but that your school community knows about it way ahead of time. I guess for this year we need to look like the bad guys and discuss what we want to do about it another year.
Every year our PTO adopts families. One year we adopted a Women and Children's Shelter. We do not directly give PTO funds, instead we distribute the lists that the families have compiled and ask for donations. At our Holiday Gathering who ever brings in a gift or a canned food item gets their picture taken with Santa for free. We also have a Walk-A-Thon every spring and all of the proceeds go the a children's charity.
There are many ways a PTO can be a catalyst in helping people without donating funds. It has always been our stance that any time we can teach the children about compassion and generosity through helping others it empowers their own feelings of importance and proves to them that they do have the power to make a difference.
Our group doesn't directly donate money to other charitable groups, but we do sponsor a few community outreach activities. We have three food drives a year, with the food given to our town's food pantry. Next week we have our "Gift Box" drive, where families can donate new gloves, hats, socks, and underwear, that is given to an organization in town that distributes them. We also have a used book drive in the spring. The books are sorted and donated needy places in the area.
We spend pretty much nothing on these community outreach activities. Paper for notices, I guess, and for the Gift Box we wrap huge boxes for the entranceways with dollar store wrap.
In the case of the original post, you might want to have something seperate to benefit these families instead of just donating $ from your budget. A giving tree, perhaps, with gift suggestions for these families. People who would like to participate could choose one and donate the item. This way it's not PTO dollars.
We've had a program run by the PTA for several years now to benefit the families in our school. We collect donations of food from the students and ask businesses to help too; this is all in our budget for each year. The kids who need help are identified by the school and only a very few people are "in the know" as to who the packages are going to, so no one needs to be embarassed. We've only had one problem that I'm aware of and it has been taken care of.
We look at our school as being a family and we try to take care of our own as much as possible. I don't think we would support a program that didn't benefit our school and students directly.
Generally in a PTO's bylaws it states that any money raised is for the enrichment of the school/students. The PTO is not a charitable organization, per se. I wouldn't be happy if I gave money for a school project to find out later it was given to a charity project instead...not that I wouldn't open up my wallet again to donate for the charity. Couldn't your school sponsor a fundraiser with the funds earmarked for this charity project? The PTO could certainly host it, but not neccessarily "own" it. Our student groups do many community service projects that the PTO helps out with. Maybe one of your student groups could take this on.
