All of our fundraisers here have to be in money order or cash forms. There is no personal checks allowed. There has been to many instances of bouncing. If the Mom has taken money from people and not given it to school, then it is not your problem any more. She is as well as all parents are responsible for what happens with the money. I think not only is it disrespectful to the PTO but the her child.
You did the right thing. Your group set its rules and have asked all parents to accept them. We get orders every year (this is my 5th) that don't have money. We always return them with a not saying that full payment is required to process the order. 9 times out of 10 we get the money and the order is submitted. For reference, if anyone on her list contacts you, you can clearly tell them that your group never received money for the order and they need to take this up with the parent. If anything, most of our problems occur when a parent takes the money collected and writes a bad check, because we refuse to release any merchandise until it's paid for. Just think of it as taking care of the things that are within your control and not making ulcers for yourself before there is a real problem to deal with. When something does arise, get together with your group and, possibly, your principal and make a decision on how ot handle it, case by case.
The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating-in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life. --Anne Morris
Our fall fund raiser is a standard pre-pay arrangement. We have a new Kindergarten parent that turned in a $120.00 order without her money. So did others, but over the course of a week all other orders were resolved. This mother clearly stated to her daughter and teacher that she was not going to pay up front for the items. She then stopped bringing her child to school. She would not take calls from our fund raiser chair, so we copied the order and returned it to her with a note that included a deadline for payment. Well, the PTO's order has gone in and we never heard back from her.
If she did not collect the money up front, she can just tell her co-workers that the order was lost or whatever and it's done. However, if she took cash payment and kept the money it gets ugly. My husband happens to be a police officer, and he would call this fraud.
Has anyone been through this? I could use some advice.
