As CSB has grown to 160+ Booster and PTO member groups, so has the challenge to manage financial governance. Until recently, the Boosters and PTOs operated with a “decentralized” model, allowing each individual organization to manage their bank accounts, finances and year-end reports. To serve each of our member groups now and in the future, a systemic makeover is necessary. Here is a detailed outline of what we are doing to help make YOUR position as a PTO/booster volunteer easier.
Imagine for a moment you owned 5 McDonalds and each of these McDonalds rolled-up into your holding company called Mega Company. Except you do not have control over each franchise, no access or oversight of the individual bank accounts and their accounting practices, and at the end of the year, they send you an Excel spreadsheet. Meanwhile, if the manager of one of the McDonalds quits, and does not transfer the bank account to you, you have no means to access your account or money. This is very similar to CSB’s relationship with the Boosters and PTOs, and this is not a viable model moving forward.
The #1 headache new PTO and Booster board members comes to us with is trying to manage finances when the previous board walked away. Too many hours are wasted by volunteers trying to get the right people on their bank accounts, find money that that was misused, figure out how the previous treasurer was doing their bookkeeping, and simply get things squared away just to begin your school year. We are here to clear away these unnecessary obstacles so you can make the most of the time you are volunteering for the kids in our schools.
Starting the 2021-2022 school year, CSB’s relationship with the Boosters and PTOs will operate as a “hybrid-centralized” model that will help you create more time to connect with your community, less time doing non-core competence stuff, and will reduce inefficiency, improve accuracy, and add security.
CSB is standardizing our banking and accounting platforms to provide you with the tools and processes to easily manage your finances. No longer will you have to figure out how to remove a former board member on a checking account, wonder if you are entering your transactions properly, or do your end-of-year report in Excel.
CSB has centralized actions.
Boosters and PTOs have de-centralized actions.
The combination of both equals hybrid-centralized.
In the bigger picture, CSB has the responsibility to demonstrate good stewardship and governance to CUSD and all of its Member Groups. As part of this commitment and requirement, the standardization initiative is truly Building a Foundation for Growth. With these tools implemented, we can better execute on our roles and responsibilities outlined below.
Chandler Unified School District (CUSD) Roles and Responsibilities
- Recognizes CSB as the only authorized 501c3 to operate on CUSD properties.
- Provides advisory roles to assist with mission and vision of both CUSD and CSB.
- CUSD, at no cost to CSB, provides legal and liability coverages for CSB.
- CUSD, from time-to-time may provide resources to augment administrative needs
Chandler School Booster, Inc. (CSB) Roles and Responsibilities
- The governance and tax reporting to the state of Arizona and the IRS and CSB registered dbas (also referred to as Boosters and PTOs or Member Groups)
- Standardization of banking & accounting platforms, and accounting processes.
- Oversight of banking, bookkeeping, and financial reporting of all dbas.
- Administrator of bank accounts, spending parameters, accounting platform
Member Groups (Boosters and PTOs) Roles and Responsibilities
- Member Groups solicit funds and manage the funds received by their Donors.
- Manage budget, forecasting, reporting P&L, balance sheet, end of fiscal year data to CSB
- Manage banking reconciliation and transactions.
These tasks will be a breeze for you with the hybrid-centralized accounting and we are always here to answer your questions and help you in any way you need. Reach out to us using the link at the top of each weekly email or any of the board and staff emails below.
