November 19, 2010
Compliance Committee Meeting Notes
Attended: Sarah Naperala, Mike Novik, and Karin Cooney
1.
Sarah asked the committee to review the draft purpose statement to help the committee members understand what it is we have been tasked to do. The purpose statement was supported by the committee members and is as follows: a.
The purpose of the committee is to review and evaluate the Eastern Elementary PTO policies, procedures, and practices and make recommendations to the Board that will support the expectations set forth by 501(c)(3) status.
The Committee Members are Sarah Naperala (Chair), Karin Cooney, Mike Novik, and Scott Harvey
2.
Next the committee reviewed the list of possible policies, processes, and practices to review or create.
A final list is provided below and additional ones may be added as the committee works through the list.
1.
Donation Process
2.
Financial Controls
3.
Fundraising/Event Procedures
4.
Purchases
5.
Define the Board and voting process
6.
Conflict of Interest process
7.
Recordkeeping Process
8.
Budget Process
9.
Taxes
10.
Best Practices
3.
It was agreed that the committee would start to work through each of the topics above starting with the
Donation Process. A draft process was provided by Sarah Naperala prior to the meeting. Overall the committee thought the process was complete and the format easy to read. Suggested changes included the removal of text suggesting that the PTO define the fair market value in an acknowledgement letter and leave this decision to the donor. There was additional discussion on when to send an acknowledgment letter for cash donations, given that written acknowledgement of $250 and higher is necessary for donor records. Sarah will modify the section about cash donation to suggest that the PTO will make an effort to substantiate all cash gifts and make it flexible as some events, like the jogathon, have large volumes of donations and acknowledgement letters may be difficult to complete. The recommended donation process as of November 2010 is attached to these committee notes.
4.
A sample acknowledgement letter prepared by Kristin Harnish, PTO Treasurer, was provided to the committee and at this time, it is recommended that we begin using the letter as indicated in the donation process.
5.
A sample donor log was shared as well and time was not available for comment on the document.
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6.
The committee also discussed the need for the PTO Board Officer positions to have access to information as processes are created. Karin suggested providing binders with dividers to all Officer
Positions with important documents. Sarah will work with the Board Officers to implement. Sarah also informed the committee that Kristin, the current PTO Treasurer, recently created a PTO website and documents can be stored for anyone to view anytime. Sarah also suggested a copy of the binder be placed in the school library for any parent to access at anytime, as not all members of the Eastern
Elementary school community have a computer in their home.
7.
Sarah informed the committee that Willow Hill Elementary school has 501(c)(3) status and she is planning to meet with a few of their Officers so that the Eastern PTO does not reinvent the wheel.
8.
Sarah also informed the committee of the website PTO Today, which is a great resource to help us with the purpose and plan of this committee.
9.
We briefly discussed the topic of purchases: a.
Paying sales tax. Sarah will ask Kristin to review our books to get a better understanding if we sell more than $5000 worth of goods. b.
Supplies. Sarah informed the committee that Kristin was reviewing the books to see where PTO usually shops and then will investigate how we can “get on file” so that we receive tax-exempt status when we make purchases on behalf of the PTO and then we will communicate with the
PTO members.
10.
The next topic for discussion is Financial Controls. Mike will work with Kristin to prepare some draft over-arching controls. Mike suggested that each event may need more detailed controls as they can be different in nature (jogathon, trash to treasure, silent auction).
11.
We all agreed that as new processes are created it will be important to ask for feedback on the process so that we can understand if the practice is working well and what might need to be modified. We also need to continue to communicate whey we need to implement these procedures and how they can impact our 501(c)(3) status.
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