As a constituent association of Ohio PTA and National PTA, you are required to maintain certain standards of affiliation in addition to your duty to uphold the Mission and Values of PTA. These nine items are things most units are already doing, and submitting your completed checklist should simply be a formality affirming that all of these required actions have been taken.
Ohio PTA Standards of Affiliation Checklist
- List Officers and Committee Chairs in Givebacks (Due by July 15): Accurate names and contact information for all members of your PTA Board are required to be submitted to Ohio PTA per your bylaws. Having accurate contact information allows National PTA and Ohio PTA to provide units and councils with timely information and communication to help them better support their students, schools, families and community. Ohio PTA uses Givebacks to keep track of this information. New officers should be entered into Givebacks as soon as they are installed so they can receive summer communication and resources from Ohio PTA. Also, officer accounts are set to expire June 30, so if the following year’s officers aren’t registered by the end of the fiscal year, you will have to contact a member of your PTA Council or Ohio PTA to have them added manually. It’s easier to make sure your new officers are added before the end of the school year and saves everyone work trying to play catch-up later.
- IRS Form 990 (Filed by November 15): PTAs are required to file taxes by November 15 every year in order to maintain compliance as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Most units and councils with annual revenue less than $50,000 will file Form 990-N, which is incredibly simple. A few units and councils with revenue greater than $50,000 will file Form 990-EZ, which is more involved, but still not difficult. We’ve been dealing with several units who have lost their 501(c)(3) status due to not filing with the IRS. As a constituent association of Ohio PTA, you can use the File 990 service free of charge. It takes less than five minutes.
- Charitable Solicitation Act Registration (Filed with the Ohio Attorney General by November 15): All 501(c)(3) organizations who raise money in the state of Ohio are required to register with the Ohio Attorney General. This takes more than five minutes, but less than fifteen. It requires a bit more information than Form 990, so have your financial review form and year-end treasurer’s report handy. Follow this link to register.
- Membership Dues (Initial Payment by November 30): As a constituent association of Ohio PTA and National PTA, units are required to remit dues on behalf of every member to Ohio PTA and National PTA. These remissions are handled via Givebacks, which covers both state and national dues at the same time. Every unit needs to have made at least an initial dues payment to Ohio PTA by November 30. Please continue registering members all year, but remit at least some of your dues by November 30.
- Financial Review (Completed and Filed by November 30): All units and councils are required to perform a financial review at least once per year and any time a new treasurer assumes their duties. It does not necessarily need to be done by an accountant. Instructions are in the Legal and Financial Handbook.
- Bonding Insurance (Current as of November 30): All units and councils are required to carry financial fraud insurance for an amount covering the average gross receipts of the association during the year. The certificate of coverage should be kept in a unit’s or council’s treasurer’s files. Policies renew at different times, but insurance needs to be current as of November 30.
- Code of Ethics and Conflict of Interest Policy (Adopted by November 30): These are guidelines for how PTA members should conduct themselves in tricky situations. Here is a sample Code of Ethics and a sample Conflict of Interest Policy. You do not need to use that exact verbiage, but it should be close. Members of a unit or council should review these policies and vote to adopt them. Once adopted, these policies become binding and apply to all members of the unit or council. The approved documents should be signed by the unit or council president and added to the permanent file by November 30.
- Updated Bylaws (Reviewed at Least Every Three Years; Current as of November 30): Bylaws should be reviewed and updated at least every 3 years, if not more frequently. They do not necessarily need to be amended, but they do need to be reviewed by a committee and affirmed to be current by a member vote. Any reviewed bylaws should at least be revised to use the current bylaws template. Instructions for how to review and revise bylaws can be found on our Bylaws page.
- SoA Checklist (Completed and Uploaded to Givebacks by November 30): This checklist affirms that you have completed all of the Ohio PTA Standards of Affiliation. Completed checklists should be signed, scanned and uploaded to Givebacks. To upload your checklist from your Givebacks home page, on the left-hand menu, click Compliance Manager -> Enter Compliance Submissions, and click the button that says Submit next to Ohio PTA Standards of Affiliation Checklist. There is space to submit all of your compliance documents here, but at this time, Ohio PTA can only check and approve uploaded checklists.
