Running your PTA
We
' ve been raising funds for school play equipment for several years now. We advertised that when we held the events, but now the school have changed their mind and don’ t want to refurbish the playground. Can we reallocate this money to something else that they do want?
We’ d like to set up our own email address independent of the school – is this okay?
If you’ ve been raising funds for a specific purpose and clearly communicated this, then these are called‘ designated funds’ and in theory should only be spent on this cause. When people have attended events or donated to the PTA, they believe this is where their money is going. However, priorities do change sometimes. In this case, what you’ d need to do is inform your members and any major donors that, due to school no longer needing‘ X’, the money will now be re-allocated to‘ Y’. It’ s always best to be clear about how the money will be re-allocated, and if anyone who made a donation to the original cause wants their money refunded, then you’ ll have to comply with this. Hopefully no one will, as long as they’ re fully aware of how the money is being spent and how this will benefit the children.
Absolutely! Having your own generic PTA email address for committee members to use is a great way to communicate with your members. With your generic email address, you don’ t need to wait for school to pass an email on, you don’ t have to use committee members’ personal email addresses to share information, and your members have one clear, simple communication channel. You can also use it when you apply for licences and charity registration, when working with partners and even add it to your Parentkind account. We love a generic PTA email – if your key contacts ever go out of date, it means we can still get hold of you if we need to. You can add your generic PTA email in the‘ My PTA Account’ section of our website.
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