PTA Treasurers And/or Fundraiser Leads - How Do You Handle the $$ and Paperwork

Hi JB,

I was our PTA treasurer the past two years. This year I'm VP for committees. Our school is about the same size as yours, and we have a very active PTA with stuff going on all the time. We just finished our first fundraiser of the year in September and counted about $47,000 in two day's time.

Are you PTA or PTO? If PTA, you should have been required to go to treasurer's training before starting your official duties. PTA Money Matters (a guide that used to be given at training, but now can be downloaded from national PTA site) is a good place to start. It goes over all of the procedures for sound financial management. You may know these things, but it sounds like some of the committee chairs, or "leads" may not. Nothing against them; how would they know what the procedures are if they haven't done your job before?

If you use the Money Minder software from non-profic central, there are also guides available on their website that outline sound money-handling practices. They pretty much coincide with PTA rules. Finally, your insurance usually sends a list of "best practices" each year when you renew.

The way the money was handled in your recent fundraiser is not only a logistical nightmare, but it could put you and the rest of the board at risk. When you don't follow established policy for money-handling and counting, you may not be covered in the event of loss or theft during your events. That would be an even bigger nightmare.

As you know, PTA is not supposed to hold money. Ideally, funds collected should be deposited daily, but in practical terms, that does not always happen. However, funds should never be held for a month. That is a huge risk to take. Cash, particularly large amounts, should be deposited immediately.

As the treasurer, you are basically the one in charge of ensuring that the money is handled correctly. Even if you've got officers on the board who say, "well, we've always done it this way," you've got to know the proper procedures, introduce them to the board and committees if they're doing it incorrectly, and ensure they're followed each and every time you are handling money.

So, you may need to educate your board or committee chairs and members on the way the money must be handled. Know the rules for money-handling inside and out. If the board is not aware of these rules, you have to show them in black and white, remind them that you are ALL responsible for sound financial money management and practices and get them on board with doing it the correct way every time.

Then, prior to the next fundraiser, the president can review the procedures in the meeting and on record so that everyone knows what to do.

The practice that you described in your last paragraph is the best way to go about doing it, and that is basically how we do it. If anyone balks at this, then you have to get your president and the rest of the board and present a unified approach that is not negotiable. I also think that a month is a bit too long for this to go on. You might want to limit the time for the fundraiser. Ours was two weeks. Another thing is to stagger events, so that not a lot of other things are going on at the same time. I know membership has to get paid by September 30, but you can submit your board members' for September and that will satisfy your requirement, and then kick off the full-blown membership drive after your fundraiser is done.

Back to your fundraiser: once orders start coming in, make a schedule of days where you and a team of trusted money counters (usually your board members or the committee chairs for the event or your "leads") sit and process the forms and count the money and verify it on the appropriate forms. Deposit the money on the day it is counted.

Remember, this isn't about being a control-freak. It's about sound and proper financial management and keeping yourself and your board out of any trouble where financial matters are concerned. No one wants to assume liability for financial mismanagement.

PTAs and other similar organizations have come a long way from bake sales and bulletin boards. You are basically running a small non-profit business. With a school your size, you are probably handling large amounts of money throughout the year. You want a proper, consistent, and transparent financial operations to ensure accuracy and to maintain the trust of those parents, teachers, and families who graciously donate to your PTA.

It's great that you are taking on a position with so much responsibility and doing great things that will benefit all of the students of your school!

Message me if you have any questions or I can help with anything else. I can truly relate!

J. F.

The PTA groups I have been involved with have always had officer training. Each member of the board is required to attend a certain amount of training.

My involvement has been mostly with booster clubs for cheerleading. I was President of our High school group and our group raised monies through different venues which were held at different times, coded differently and the treasurer used an excel program. We did have an accountant to help make sure we had everything in order correctly. Our maximum funds we dealt with at one time or another was around $25,000.

At the Sr High School level, the booster clubs worked along with the PTA. EACH booster club has a specific code and fundraiser went through the PTA even if the funds were only used for the specific booster club. Our cheer booster club funds were usually around $75,000 and we had to leave plenty of funds for the next group behind us as well as scholarship money back to the school which left the new group with about $15,000 to start their year.

The overall booster club dealt with funds in excess of $200,000. I do know that QuickBooks is used a lot and accountants are the treasurers of the larger clubs in order to make sure everything is in order.

Each club was audited at the end of the season before we transferred the books. ALL deposits with each club were signed off with 2 signatures. ALL checks over $500 were signed by 2 officers.

Hope that helps.

I handled the fundraising for our very small school - 200 kids - And I did everything. And even then it was critical to double check and note the money on the return envelope right away. The way I would do it would be that the "leads" document the payment received on the hard copy of the envelope or order form (if appropriate) and hand off the money to you right away. That money should be in a safe in your house or the school's right away. The leads must understand that if they have the money they are responsible for it - if it's lost they replace it. Nobody wants that responsibility. I would have two spreadsheets - one that can only be edited by you and indicates if money has been received; the second for distribution and ordering purposes. You could use it as 2 stages: the leads confirm that Jane Smith ordered XYZ and it is paid. The money comes to the treasurer as Jane Smith, $100. You don't really need to know what it is paying for unless it requires a acknowledgment or matching gift form.

Re: your proposed solution - it's good but it is helpful to have two sets of eyes look over the paper work. And it's helpful for the leads to see the order with the money. I had a fair amount of orders come it with incomplete money so it can be helpful to have copies of the checks and/or cash with the supporting documentation. Then the lead can go back to the donor and say, "You ordered 50 bulbs but only included $45". A lot of it depends on the type of fundraiser and whether kids are selling to other people or if it's just to the family.

I would also suggest that you remember who was a "good" (organized) lead and invite them back. Some people are good at the schmoozing but can not handle the details - and fundraising is all about the details...

I have a lot of bookkeeping experience and some fund raising experience. I was a PTA treasurer for about 2 weeks and had to resign because my job requires me to be bonded and I quickly discovered money was missing and the books were a mess. The books should be audited on a regular basis, which hadn't been done in years and I also noticed they didn't file their tax forms.

Rule #1 for any organization, a parents club, a church, a small business or a multi million $ company.... the money gets deposited into the bank immediately. You should never, never, never, have money (checks or cash) laying around. I cringe at the way some organizations especially school groups and the actual schools themselves handle finances.

As a PTA treasurer, you should have the books from the National PTA that give you guidelines on how to handle the financial matters.

It sounds like you've done a great job in setting up some controls. Here are some basics that I've found helpful ....

Whenever there are order forms involved, it's always a great idea to verify the totals and to initial at the bottom that all the funds have been accounted for.

Spreadsheets are a great way of tracking things. Like you mentioned, many of the volunteers are not familiar with spreadsheets. It helps if you create a spreadsheet for them. Set up all the formulas and lock those cells so data can't be deleted or changed.

Keep money separate. Unless your bank is charging you fees for each separate deposit, make separate deposits for each type of income. A deposit for membership fees, another deposit for the coupon books, another for the bulb sales, etc.

Whenever cash is involved, there should always be receipts. A copy should go to the person giving you the cash, a copy to the Chairman of the Committee, and a permanent copy for the treasurer's records.

If possible, when money is being collected, it should be done by you, a PTA board member, or the Committee Chairperson. The fewer people handling funds the better.

If you're having a fund raiser that involves turning in forms and money, it's best if you can avoid the middleman (teacher, office, students). If possible, maybe you have parents deliver the envelopes directly to the PTA. This could be done before school, or after school during drop off and pickup or at a PTA meeting.

Good luck.

The National PTA requires that all PTA officers attend training. Your city PTA Council should have held these trainings. Find out if they can send you with all of the info.

Or contact the National Council. They are very helpful and organized.