Speaking as a treasurer...there is absolutely no way I would even allow anyone to write a check to ME if it involved PTO funds. That doesn't even make sense to me, not even for convenience sake.

I'm with dlf, no way on having checks written to an individual! You have no way to be certain what comes in and goes out and even if the IRS didn't see it, a parent at your school could certainly raise a big stink. No group needs that nightmare!

No,no,no,no,no. Bad ju ju...this isn't about the person involved in this year's event. This is about the standard operating procedure for your PTO. Writing checks to an individual sends and incredibly dubious signal to parents and automatically offers an opportunity for misuse of funds. Again, not that anyone on your board would do it on purpose, but there are folks out there that will. THAT is whom you are guarding against. It also effects your IRS tax report, and as you mentioned as far as auditing purposes...well "it just doesn't brief well".

Besides--you all live within proximity of one another. That's why your children go to the same school. It cannot be too inconvenient to link up over the summer. Seriously--I see no upside to any other approach than to have the checks made out to the PTO.
d

Can anyone offer some advice. Our PTO has a checking account therefore parents have always made checks payable to our PTO organization. We are in the process of organizing a new fundraiser but the chairperson would like checks made out directly to her. She could then purchase all the necessities for the event and turn the profit over to the PTO upon completion. The thought process is that most of this will happen over the summer and therefore be easier for one person to handle. I am confident in this person's ability and integrity to produce adequate receipts but I still feel, at least for perception pursoses, that all checks should be made out to the PTO and the funds managed via the PTO bank account and Treasurer. I feel that any deviation from the norm could send out the wrong signal to other parents and could be an audit nightmare. Does anyone have any advice or experience regarding a similar situation? Thank you for your time!