Fundraising Vent

Pretty much you write a check you are responsible for keeping track of it. How could it possibly have effected your budget? You took the money out of your balance it was gone.

You said you emailed them on October 28 a little over two weeks ago so even then you knew the money hadn't come out. It has not been two months or even close to two months.

The bigger question is when did the product come in? If the product just came in then this is exactly when payment is needed. Generally they collect the money, order the product, payment is expected when they deliver so a lot of places cash the checks then.

I really don't understand what you are complaining about. If you spent money that you knew you shouldn't that isn't their fault. Perhaps you should learn how to balance your account and not just spend what happens to be in there.

So to answer your question I expect the check to be cashed in the six months that it is considered a valid instrument.

"I get they are volunteers but if you can't keep up with the role then you shouldn't volunteer for that role. If your too busy to put the effort into the position then you shouldn't do it."

If you are too busy to balance your checkbook you shouldn't write a check even if that means not participating in the fund raiser.

Wait! then things came up? Then the "things" that came up messed up your budget not the check! Sounds like you were hoping they would hold on to it just a bit longer and they didn't so I guess your problem really is that they didn't hold onto it long enough.

If they had cashed it right away the money would have been gone. How then would you have paid for the "things" that came up?

I don't think there is a time line really, it is whenever the thing they needed the money for happens. I always make sure to make notes of all checks I write and watch for when they clear so I can make sure the funds remain in the account, so it is no real bother to me, I do the same thing for all my bills when I check my accounts.

Added after your "so what happened": If you truly think they are doing such a poor job or you think you could do it better, then you should volunteer, and then your problem will be solved. If you are not willing to put in the time then you can not get mad at them for how they do the job.

If you properly reconcile your checkbook to your bank statement, the funds should still be available. This shouldn't have been a surprise.

While it's not in good form to hang onto a check, if you were properly handling your finances it should not have affected your budget. This isn't their fault. Sorry.

ETA: I'm not sure where this 90 days thing is coming from, but it's not true. Personal checks are good for 180 days, with some variances state-to-state. Under the Uniform Commercial Code, banks in the United States are not legally obligated to pay checks older than six months.

Citations: http://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc/4

http://www.bankingquestions.com/checkingaccounts/q_checkg...

Sorry, but if you were good with money you would have seen that this hadn't cashed and knew to still keep money set aside for it. I think this is honestly on you for not tracking it well enough.

However, my daughter's dance takes a long time as well sometimes. I have a separate account for her dance, because they can take months and it is just easier for me since dance is SO expensive to have it all in it's own place.

Still, not to be mean, but manage your money better and this wouldn't have caused you to be tight right now.

That makes no sense. You decided to add money back into your account balance just because a check hadn't been cashed yet???

Most likely the people handling the fundraiser are volunteers with full time jobs and families and lives. Yes, 2 months is kind of a long time but I know when we've done Boy Scout popcorn it has taken about that long for a check to go through.

M

This is very common. Most school and sports fundraisers are notoriously slow cashing the checks.

Once you write the check, consider the money gone. If you write a $100 check in September, make sure you have that $100 in your account until the check is cashed, even if it takes until November. You have had an extra $100 more than budgeted in your account, knowing that money would be taken out sometime.

Yes, it sucks that they do it, but that's pretty much what always happens. So either plan ahead for the delay by saving the extra money or pay cash next time.

Even if you're banking online you still have to keep track of checks that haven't cleared. I still use a checkbook for this, so I always know exactly how much money I have.
You can't just spend money based on the current available balance, you MUST keep track of all your outstanding checks!

They're volunteers and they're busy. It happens. Really the only thing you can do is vow that if you're ever in that position, to do better. When I took over PTA treasury duties at one school, I found an envelope of checks that were almost a year old that had never been deposited! A year! It was half of the receipts of the fall fundraiser - how they didn't know that $4000 had not been deposited was beyond me...that would not have happened on my watch. I am a PTA treasurer now at a different school and I try to get money deposited within 24 hours of my receiving it. However, keep in mind that the treasurer may not have even had the money. I just got an envelope of membership forms in my school mailbox with forms and checks that were dated the first week in September. Yep, 2 months! No one in the office could (or would) say where that envelope had been for 2 months. Sometimes teachers stash money in their desks and don't remember to send it to the office for weeks or months too.

Within a week or two is a reasonable amount of time for this sort of thing.
A check coming from a rebate is usually good for 90 days.
But if you wrote the check it should have been covered in your accounting (in your check register or where ever you track it).
It's not like it was extra money laying around (although you may have earned interest on it if you have that kind of account).
So I'm not really understanding how you are out of budget because a check was cashed on the late side.

a responsible adult keeps a register of their accounts, your failure to do so is the problem, not their sluggishness in cashing the check. let this be a lesson learned - keep up with your finances, what if you had been in line buying groceries and your debit card wouldn't work b/c your account balance was too low? I've had checks take many months to cash, really no bother to me, I've already deducted it and move along my merry way. and as has already been mentioned, if you can do better, do it :) there were times as a PTA treasurer I was UNABLE to deposit checks b/c we had to have dual sigs on ALL forms, my business would be done, but it would be a nightmare tracking down another board member to sign forms.

B.,

I hear you!! For my son's baseball league - it took them 3 months to cash the check. One of the many reasons why I hate writing checks. I'd rather give cash or put it on my debit card.

The people who do the fundraiser are volunteers - so it's not their full time job to monitor this. I know when i was co-chairing the baseball fundraiser a few years ago - kids would turn their stuff in a few at a time - it's a pain to run to the bank every day. Especially when the bank is on the other side of town...and gas was almost $4 a gallon then...

I don't get how you could be out of budget. If you balance your checkbook monthly - you would have known and seen that the check had not cleared yet so the funds were not available for something else. So I don't know how it was "unexpected" - sorry.

Hope that seeing it from the other side helps you. I would have asked at 30 days. But that's me.

I agree, if you are ever in charge of these type of things, just remember to be on top of these things.

As a matter of fact, maybe you could volunteer to be the treasurer in the future! You seem to know how things should be handled!

I tried not to complain to the person doing their best, unless I was willing to take over the job..
Not everyone has it all together like you and me.

I agree it's annoying (I once had a check cashed 9 MONTHS after I turned it in) but this is why you should always balance your checkbook and go by the balance there, not what is showing as the current available balance online. I know it's a pain but it's better than being caught short, right?

I agree that it is annoying when it takes longer than one cycle for a check to clear. But even when that happens, it is not their fault if you didn't have the funds to cover the check, or you ran low elsewhere because you failed to note that the check hadn't cleared.

I used to work with someone (way back when there was no internet... gasp!) who called the bank weekly to see what had cleared and what her balance was. She would then write out the next week's checks. Seems kinda, well, stupid, to me. If you just write the withdrawn amounts (check, debit, whatever) into your register, then you should KNOW how much is there and you won't "double spend" the same funds.
It's really quite simple.

And the error is on you if you mess it up.

That said, it is REALLY annoying to me when I balance my checkbook, to have outstanding checks for that were written 3 months ago. REALLY annoying.

--
After reading the SWH, I would suggest that you do start keeping a "paper account" because apparently you DO write some checks. Even one is enough to mess up your banking if it doesn't clear immediately. Why not keep a record of it? Makes no sense to me not to.

I've done fundraisers many times; we've never held on to any checks more than a few days. Usually cash and checks are turned into the bank every week - definitely once, often twice. Not sure how others do it, but two months, in my opinion, is way too long.

As for your check, however, if you had it written into your checking account and subtracted, how could it mess up your budget? I'm a little confused on that one.

Good luck!!

it sounds like the Treasurer could brush up on some business skills. It is just good business to deposit checks as you get them. My experience in booster clubs as an officer was that we had a weekly bank trip for any deposits unless there was something bigger that needed to be taken care on sooner.

I don't understand how the check that cleared was a surprise to you and messed up your budget. When you wrote it, didn't you deduct it from your register so you knew where it was? Weren't you aware it had not cleared? If you reconcile online, you can see what has cleared and what has not. At the point when you write the check, consider the money gone because the check will clear and it should not effect your balance unless you used that money in the meantime.

I am very detailed on my finances. I manage all of our business accounts as well as personal accounts. I am online daily reconciling. This procedure alone allows me to view what has not yet cleared as well as incoming wires. On checks I write for our company, my checks are specifically printed in plain view above my signature.... "Valid for 90 days". That is for our corporation purposes.

I agree that waiting 2 months to cash a check is a long time but that does not automatically mean add the money back to your account just yet unless you stop payment on the check.

Good luck

ETA: as a past board President, VP and Secretary for 3 different booster clubs, we welcomed new ideas, approaches and volunteers who had any interest in helping out. Maybe you can volunteer?

If you don't like what you see, then volunteer.

Yeah, I think that the check should have been deposited earlier. However, if you wrote it down and kept track of your bank balance, I don't see how this could have screwed you up.

I know it's annoying when you're waiting for a check to clear, but you did write the check. As soon as you hand it over you should just consider that money spent. I deal mostly with my debit card too but I do write a check to the mortgage company once an month and for donations, field trips, etc. When reconciling my checkbook I'll put a check by anything that has cleared, whether it was debit or check. If it hasn't cleared the amount is deducted from the number the bank gives me. And, I think a check is stale after 6 months unless it specifically states that it must be cashed by a certain time frame.
So, yes, they should have cashed it sooner but it wasn't a stale check and shouldn't have messed up your budget.

It was nice of you to participate in the fundraiser and I'm sure you're frustrated but I don't think there's a time line. 2 months isn't all that long either. I keep track of what checks have cleared and which haven't so while I do like to check them off and be done, it doens't really matter when something clears if I know it's going to at some point. That money is out of my checking account in my mind no matter if they've deposited it or not. All checks should work like that in your budget. So you're annoyed and frustrated but I think you'll have to remember when you feel better that it's really your fault. The check should have been listed in your checkbook as an outstanding item and when you budgeted, it shouldn't have been included as available funds... And yes, all these people are volunteers that are as busy or busier than you so I see checks for this type of stuff taking a very long time sometimes. Never makes me mad.

Depending upon how the organization is run and the fundraiser runs, there is a chance that the monies are held until all monies are collected then deposited at once. I was apart of one group where all cash was converted to Money Orders upon receipt but those and checks were not deposited until everything was collected. This was done b/c it was the easiest way for the treasurer to keep track of everything.

You might want to look into a program like Quicken to keep track of your outstanding checks so that when something doesn't clear within a day or two you can followup with them.

I agree with Christie Lee and Michelle. It should have had absolutely no impact on your finances.

I would watch the complaining on the people who volunteered to do the job unless you want to step up and do it yourself.

And yes-three months is standard, as Kimberly pointed out. Get some duplicate checks and then you will know if one is outstanding or keep a list so you don't hit this issue again.

Laurie A receives ANSWER OF THE DAY!!

Best to do it yourself next time so no one has to wait for checks to clear.

Not sure how a cashed check is ever a surprise. Late, delaying balancing your check book, irritating maybe yes. But you wrote the check so I don't get the surprise part.

I had a similar experience when I initially enrolled my kids in soccer. It took the same amount of time for them to cash the check. I had somewhat forgotten about it. When I remembered and checked it had not been cashed. It is annoying. I have also paid for things (pictures) with cash and had to chase the product down after being told I didn't pay. So, I would take it as a lesson learned. Fundraising money cash, products checks?
As far as the suggestion of volunteering. I did. And working with all of the low participation/unorganized parents is even more frustrating!

this is pretty typical, even with school fundraisers. Hell, I paid for my son's laptop user fee in August & it's still not posted to his account!

it's not their fault that you forgot to account for this not clearing....thereby screwing up your budget. My sis has been hanging onto my check (for her son's bd) since August!

I completely agree with you. I personally think there is absolutely no reason what so ever that a check for fundraising can't be cashed within 30 days.

I read SWH and I handle my finances much like you, I write less than 10 checks a year so I don't record them.

Our school was doing a fundraiser with BJ's, if you took out a new membership or renewed your membership thru the school, the school got a small %, but you made out the check to BJ's. This happened in Sept. In Nov we closed our checking account. In January I get a nasty letter from BJ's about my membership and I have fees because I wrote a bad check. Luckily I got the fees waived, because the school was at fault for holding the check for such a long period.

I also had Girls Scouts cash a check that was 18 months old. You would think the leader would have called first.

Checks are good for 90 days after the date on the check.

It bothers me too when others don't cash their checks in a timely manner. Timely meaning at least 1 week after receiving it but I don't touch that money because I know it isn't mine. If someone held onto a check for 89 days from my account it would still be good for cashing because that is how on top of things I am because things are just that tight..

Reconciling your account regularly would clearly let you know what things are still outstanding in your account as far as checks and deposits.

I'd vent too because of the lack of urgency with cashing the check for a fundraiser. It's not respectful of the people who supported your group in exchange for the candy. It's also unprofessional. Perhaps next time this same group of people will think twice about supporting your cause because of the lack of communication. At bare minimum the organization should have gotten the word out that the process would take 2 months or more. It's all about managing expectations.

I understand it is a vent. I get upset when anyone waits forever to cash a check.

As someone that always tries to deposit checks promptly, it annoys me when I have outstanding checks that are weeks or months old. The reason why it bothers me is because I keep good household accounting records and I can see the check is outstanding. (I use a program called You Need A Budget, which does both budgeting and account registers.)

I've been on the other side of this too. I am the PTO Treasurer. When we had our fall fundraiser I deposited the checks within two days of turn-in. The fundraising period was just over three weeks. The kids could have collected checks at the very start making them almost a month old by the time they hit their respective bank accounts.

One of the checks was returned for Account Closed. The person griped at me when I asked for a new payment as if it was my fault. She should not have closed the account with an outstanding check written on it, regardless of being written three weeks before.

I have another returned check for Insufficient Funds (and another bank fee) that I'm trying to collect on.

So as you can see, it is important to both sides that people who write checks keep written/typed records that are independent of their bank.

As the Treasurer, I keep a paper checkbook with the checks and I also make an Excel spreadsheet so I can make a printout for the end-of-year financial report. I check the statements from the bank monthly and make sure everything checks out.