I believe that, legally, if your organization has a 501c status, that it is totlly against the bylaws for any officer to profit from the group in any way shape or form.
501c orgs should have accountants that can tell you the do's and the don'ts, if not, it should be written down in the Articles of Incorporation.
Personally, I don't think that it looks good for anyone in a non-profit to profit...questions will be asked and rumors will spead giving your group a bad rep.
or.. I have been the "go to" person or contact person on our PTO Board for our fundraisers. As the contact person, it made life easier and a bit more organized when issues would arise (order corrections- handling the bill- etc).
Do you mean the person is a representative of a fundraising company by profession?
This gets into a tricky area. You want to avoid all conflicts of interest and even the perception of conflict of interest. But that being said, it's not a straight "no". It depends on the situation and the relationships.
What is the office held and what are the cirumstances?
For instance, if your president works for XZY Cookie Dough company and just gets the business without any research or bidding, that's obviously a problem. (Actually, it would be hard to justify that type relationship under any circumstances.)
What if you volunteer coordinator's husband owns a screen printing shop and he wants the opportunity to bid on T-shirts this year? What if, because she's an officer, they offer to do them at cost? That's a little different. Maybe yes, maybe no.
What if your PTO secretary works for ABC restaurant and that restaurant traditionally does the family nights with area charitable groups where get X% of the sales on a designated night. Would it be a problem for YOUR group to have a family night there?
Don't go one extreme or the other. You need to be fair in your selection of vendors and open about the process. Tell us more about the circumstances and we'll try to help.
