Mission-Driven Fundraising

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Mission-Driven Fundraising

As PTAs work to move their mission forward and serve the children in our schools, they often find that dues are not sufficient to achieve their mission to make every child's potential a reality.

Fundraising is a necessary component to provide the means, yet it can be challenging.

Key points to remember:

All PTA fundraising should support PTA's mission, in both how the funds are raised and how they are spent.
Adults should raise PTA funds. PTAs are strongly encouraged to avoid activities that require children to sell to strangers.
Transparency is key. The ways in which funds are raised and spent should be communicated clearly to members and the school community as a whole.
All funds generated by a PTA, including the local portion of dues, should be budgeted for purposes that advance PTA work, such as enhancing student success or improving the school.
Fundraising activities themselves should be conducted in alignment with the PTA mission.

Every PTA activity, including fundraising, should be focused on our mission: to make every child's potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children.

This means:

Begin each year with specific, mission-driven goals in mind.

Identify strategies for reaching those goals before determining the dollar amount needed from fundraising events. They should raise only the funds necessary to meet the needs of the year's activities and projects, as outlined in the PTA's budget. In keeping with our mission, National PTA encourages local PTAs to utilize fundraisers in which only adults, not children, are active as fundraisers.

Know the laws.

Your PTA must follow federal and state laws to maintain your tax-exempt status with the IRS. Review the legal implications of fundraising. For example, your PTA should not provide financial assistance to an individual or family in the case of a catastrophic event, such as a fire or other disaster. While these efforts are well-intentioned, it could result in losing your PTA's tax-exempt status.

Transparency is key.

The ways in which funds are raised and spent should be communicated clearly to members and the school community as a whole regularly and in multiple ways.