Our PTO just went thru the deliberation about whether to be a 501c3 organization.
We are a very small school so the cost of making this decision was significant to us. However, through much dialogue we determined that forming a 501c3 was really the best way for us to proceed.
Advantages of 501c3:
*Donations to the PTO are tax deductible
*We have a legal identity (many PTOs including ours are in a limbo status whoich affords oficers no protection and can in fact make them more personally liable in event of an accident.)
*we can get PTO insurance (our past status made this a problem)
*We can raise money over multiple years
* We can contol the money raised (not the school)
Our school board attorney advised that it was really not strictly proper (possibly not legal) to operate using the schools id number, but maybe that is different in your state.
* We can do things that school cannot do (e.g. we are planning to offer first aid and CPR training to parents, which if the school pays for, is technically a gift of state funds and is illegal per se.)

We are fortunate in that we had parents, a lawyer and an accountant, donate time to help us file the paperwork so we simply had to pay the filing fees, which after the first year are nominal. I would be happy to discuss the process further if you are interested.
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Another option is to be a committee of the school, operating under the school's tax exempt status. As such, your finances and decision-making fall under the leadership of the school, which could have its drawbacks, but many parent groups operate succesfully using this approach. It may be best suited for very new or very small parent groups, or one where the school will have it no other way.

Our parent committee is questioning what type of organization would be appropriate for us to become? We realize most of it depends on our goals as to whether we want to be a private foundation, a charitable organization what are the advantages? Should we apply for tax-exempt status? Will this benefit our organization?
If there is training or a booklet or anyone who has information can you let me know! This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.