We did a last-minute campaign last year to raise money for our Odyssey of the Mind team to make the trip to the state competition. We had to state outright that all money was going directly to these families and not into our PTO accounts.
It technically fit within our purpose and was OK'd at a meeting.
We actually had one parent not accept their share and another complain that we were not paying for more.
When you go outside of the box, it can get tricky.
I would not do it for a specific individual. It seems like a recipe for disaster.
-Clichedad
If you don't expect too much from me, you might not be let down. <img src=images/smilies/smile.gif>
I agree with luv, mention it but that should be the end of it. By doing so it could really open up a can of worms and you may find people coming out of the woodworks. It may be hard but you need to say no for your future piece of mind!
"When you stop learning you stop growing."
We have had similar situations and we always decided to spread the news at a meeting but not get involved directly with any fundraising. We had one situation where the parent got angry, but doing it for one would mean having to do it for everyone or at the very least developing some sort of criteria to go by and then having a meeting to discuss what's appropriate, etc. What PTO needs that extra work?
We always saved these kind of things for the last part of the meeting where we discuss "other" issues. We would even allow the parties to have info on a table that people could pick up or provide contact info if someone was interested in helping.
Our school secretary has the opportunity to go to Europe with her church choir and needs financial assistance. She does so much for the school and the PTO that I would like to help her. Obviously PTO funds cannot be used for this, so I am looking for an ethical and appropriate way to help her raise money.
Is it appropriate for the PTO to organize a fundraiser for her, making sure parents know it is for her and not for the school? The drawback there is this could open the door for all kinds of people asking us to help them raise money for whatever cause.
Is it appropriate for me as the pres to bring this up at our next meeting--for PTO to be involved at all??
I know some of you have dealt with similar situations and I would appreciate any advice you have. We are in the process of writing bylaws, so we have no rules governing this kind of situation.
