Utah PTA Volunteer Compensation Policy
A volunteer is defined as a person who serves an association without being paid. In accordance with the IRS Rules of Compliance governing non-profit organizations, volunteers should not expect gifts or discounts from vendors, parents, or school administration for volunteering. PTA shall not advertise that volunteers will receive gifts or discounts for volunteering. In working with outside vendors in providing services for the students and their families in the school, volunteers should not receive coupons, discounts, or gift cards from PTA in payment for their hours of volunteering at an event.
Post-Secondary Scholarship Guidelines for Subordinate Units of Utah PTA
Awarding scholarships to a few high school students each year does not fit within the scope of the Utah PTA mission “To make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children.” It is also a conflict of interest when a high percentage of scholarships are awarded to the children of PTA leaders. For these reasons, Utah PTA strongly discourages its subordinate units from the practice of awarding scholarships to students.
While it is strongly discouraged, Utah PTA realizes that the leaders and membership of some local units desire to provide this opportunity for the students in their schools.
Local PTSA units may approve a scholarship program ONLY if the following procedures are followed:
- The PTA unit must have the Scholarship Program as an approved policy in its Standing Rules. This policy must include details about the funding mechanism, application process, clear criteria, judging rubric, possible conflicts of interest, etc.
- The scholarship program must be widely advertised to the entire school community.
- Scholarship recipients must be a PTSA member before applying for the scholarship.
- Scholarships may only be awarded to graduating students.
- Scholarship criteria should be based on the merit of the student, not the parent’s involvement in PTA.
- Scholarships may be funded in the following ways:
- PTSA General Fund – Scholarships must be listed as a separate line item in the budget as presented to the general membership for budget approval.
- Sponsorship Fund – Scholarships may be funded annually through a sponsorship. The receipt of the sponsored funds (income) and the award of the scholarships (expenditures) must both be listed as separate line items in the budget as presented to the general membership for budget approval.
- PTSAs awarding scholarships may NOT assess a fee to or accept donations from their feeder schools to fund their scholarship program.