ours carries over quite a lot every year, in the many 10's of thousands. It actually makes fundraisers LESS successful becuase people say, we have so much in reserve, whats the point of raising more money when no specific purpose is earmarked.
So it seems mght be better to have a nominal amount to keep for a rainy day (unless you have a big ticket item like playground in mind), and make the use of the money for the school and kids, while the parents who donated the monies, are still there. WHen pepole see thier money goes to good use, they will keep on fundrainsing. IF its just sits in a bank account for 'whenever', pepole lose interest.

Is there a suggested percentage of operating expenses a PTO with 501c3 status keep as reserve in a rainy day fund? Our PTO had a nice windfall last year, in addition to a reserve of an amount equal to our annual budget, (75%earmarked for specific shortfalls, and about 25% from rollover accumulation). We decided to spend the amount tied to our last-year's windfall, but there were many who wanted to just add it to our accumulating reserve for a rainy day. I'm of the mind that parents want to see their money spent in the year they donate it. As districts are having to cut further, there is always the unknown year ahead, but how much is too much to save? I come from a PTA background and we were always being told by the PTA organization that we shouldn't keep so much in reserve.....Any insights would be helpful!