PTFA and Charity status

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Hello,

I took over as Chair of a PTFA last year and we have Charity status. I was just wondering if I could find out about some other PTFAs or PTAs and whether or not they have Charity status too. I’m specifically interested in smaller schools with around 140 pupils but either way.

Many Thanks

All PTAs have charity status as they are raising money for the school.

Our pta isn’t a charity. They only have to have charity status if they raise more than £5k a year.

Sorry I’m new to Mumsnet so I don’t know if I’m supposed to reply to the individual or just post on the thread. Thank you very much for replying. The thing is all PTAs are not automatically charities unless they apply for charitable status. If you are officially a Charity then your trustees need to vote on how the money is spent. If you are raising money as part of the School it is slightly different. So is it true that if you are raising more than £5000 you have to have charitable status?
Thank you

Why wouldn't you have charitable status?

it enables you to apply for grants.
It enables parents to apply for matched funding sometimes from their employer.

The voting on where money goes by the trustees is good practice, if the trustees are just the chair, secretary & treasurer. There shouldn't be unilateral spending by the chair anyway.

Yes I totally agree. We as a committee and trustees would rather keep it as an official Charity. I’m asking because our Headmistress mentioned that she might like us to dissolve as an official charity and still raise money for the School but pass the finances directly over to them. I just wanted to find out what PTAs are like generally. Some do not have official Charity status and some do. One of the big differences is that an official Charity has a board of trustees, your committee members, who are responsible for voting on where the money goes. Obviously you ask for School wish lists etc but the School itself isn’t in charge of the money, the committee has to vote.

I’m asking because our Headmistress mentioned that she might like us to dissolve as an official charity and still raise money for the School but pass the finances directly over to them.

I wouldn't touch this with a barge pole.

The parents raise money for extras for the school.
The parents' representatives (i.e. the PTA committee) decide on where the money goes. In conjunction with the school, yes, but the HT shouldn't get to decide unilaterally.

(PTA committee for 10 years including all 3 main roles),

Ha ha yes! Indeed. Thanks everyone for the advice. I have also been speaking to Parentkind who are immensely helpful.
Turns out legally you have to be a Charity if you raise more than £5000 in a year and Charity law stipulates that decisions on finances are made by the elected committee who are also trustees. Obviously we are all working towards a common goal anyway, one would hope, so hopefully it won’t be an issue. Thanks again.

The way our primary worked (single form entry) was that

• major spending decisions (eg 10k for Play trail) were voted for in principle at an AGM and then committee agreed actual spend when ready
• medium spending (eg £300 for sports equipment) were voted for by the committee
• minor spending (e.g. £50 for special art equipment to make volcanoes in 2 weeks) was agreed offline by the Chair/Secretary/Treasurer.

Additionally there were 2 signatures needed on all cheques.

I think it is important that the HT doesn't see it as 'their' money for their pet projects.

Thanks TeenTimesTwo that’s very helpful.

Thanks for taking the time.

No prob.

Our PTA is Registered with the Charities Commission, this gives us a Registered Charity status and a Registered Charity number which comes in handy for requesting sponsorship / prizes from businesses.

We also adopted the Constitution available from the Parentkind website, which set out very clearly what we can and can't do with funds and also - more importantly - what the School can't do with them.

We don't raise anywhere near £5K a year though!

We are a small school of 86 pupils. We applied for Charity status this year because we raised £10k and so had to as we raised over the £5k mark.