There are definitly two schools of thought on this subject. Certainly majority rules but it's good to have the whole team behind the process. Some folks even believe that you have to spend it all down if you're a non-profit. I used to. Now that I've "seen the light" I'm glad that my team was persistent, used data and facts to support them, and set up a responsible budget for themselves this year. Some points to consider:

1. Spending down to zero causes a lot of stress at start up. Even if your bylaws require a minimum carry over (say $1000) it doesn't usually cover beginning of year expenses.

2. Individual chairmen sometimes have to float a balance on their credit card until their committee makes money. That isn't fair to them. For example, our carnival made a net profit of $6000+ every year but the committe had to spend $4000 to earn $10000. Why not just carry over $4000 of the huge profit to make it easier to manage?

3. If you know you fund certain activities every year, such as field trips, laminating film, and teacher reimbursements, it isn't forcing next year's team to fund something that they didn't vote for. It's tradition and was going to happen anyway.

4. A line of credit costs money for interest and creates one more thing for someone to manage. I see all kinds of red flags!

5. Carrying funds over just to watch a savings account grow is against my beliefs. But allocating funds for programs you know you're going to run is a responsible thing to do. Allocating long term funds and adding to them as surpluss money is available makes big projects such as expensive A/V, sports or playground equipment possible.

The first year you transisiton to this type of allocation process is the hardest. My group was thrilled with the June 'spending' meeting each year. We loved showing the list of items we were able to buy for the school. But we dreaded the first two months of the next year before Fall Fundraiser dollars started to roll in! This past June, we didn't have the long shopping list, but we all felt the relief of leaving the meeting knowing that we have next years projects funded. Now it's just a matter of going through the cycle.

There are a variety of opinions on this. I'll give you mine.

First -- one common misconception to debunk: it's certainly legally and technically perfectly OK to carry over funds. So it's purely a "what does our group want to do" decision.

Opinion-wise, I'm with you. I think it's a best practice to carry over funds. To me, the perfect world is to carry over enough money so that the beginning of your school year doesn't have to be one big fundraisingpalooza.

We all talk about wanting to attract more parents and yet -- what's the first impression parents get of many groups at back-to-school time? A huge fundraising push. If you're a group that doesn't carry over, that's a necessity. But it's a killer in terms of the reputation of your group. You get the "they're all about fundraising" tag early, and it's tough to shake.

Better, in my opinion, to carry over enough funds to make the first month or so of school all about service and family/welcoming events and creating community. The side benefit? Your fundraiser will actually be supported more if folks have all the warm fuzzies about your group before you hit parents up.

Tim

Our board was going over this year's budget and a heated discussion evolved pertaining to "carryover" dollars. Some members feel that all dollars raised during the year should be spent during the same year. While most members agreed that this was fair how do you start a year with zero dollars on the books? Many of our dollars are spent before the first fundraiser?? Most members feel that a line of credit is a bad idea. Any ideas?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.