When working with schools similar in size as yours, it has been my experience that the school wlll have a fundraising committee who reports back to one of the officers, such as a VP of Fundraising. This person usually turns over the monies to the treasurer. In your case, seems as though time is of the essence. So, I would contact a few parents who consistently support your activities and try to recruit them as volunteers to ease your burden.
[ 02-02-2004, 04:49 PM: Message edited by: Rockne ]
At the risk of being redundant. The treasurer handles the money. not only does the title back her/him up but they are the ones who are held responsible for any errors.
A good example would be in an office situation. If you are a sales person, do you handle the collection of payment when it goes bad or is it handed over to the department- accounting, inside collections etc. It is their job to account for the funds and it is the job of the treasurer to do the same. In using the business analogy, it can sometimes be requested by the owner or CEO, or in your case, the President, if the treasurer continues to have trouble collecting. Think responsible parties.
Hope that helps.
The treasurer has the "power" of the title behind her when trying to collect on bad checks, so the letter comes from her. Plus, it's the treasurer who finds out the check bounced when the NSF notice arrives from the bank.
However, if it's just a shortfall on the order payment, I let the fundraising chair followup first. Usually those problems are simple misunderstandings or math errors that can be handled with a quick phone call or short note on the same day we count/verify the orders. If the shortfall hasn't been corrected by the time the merchandise is ordered (yes, we'll go ahead and place the order IF the shortfall is a small amount, otherwise we hold the whole order), then we hold the merchandise. If the fundraising chair continues to have trouble collecting, she'll turn it over to the treasurer to collect. Once in a while, we have to just write off a small bad debt, but that's the decision of the Executive Board, not the fundraising chair.
Our treasurer handles all money aspects. She prefers if only 1 person handles it...and I'm on the same page. I do the fundraising and help her out but as far as counting its all her. Its much easier, we think, if only 1 person touches the money.
When you have bad checks for a fundraiser who follows up on collecting them, the Treasurer or the fundraising chairperson, and what is the rationale behind your answer? We seem to have a difference of opinion and I'm trying to see how other groups handle it. Thanks.
