PTO fundraiser checklist for the volunteer who inherited it

You got the binder, a Facebook login, and a date on the school calendar. Nobody left a runbook. This is the two-week path that does not require a second job. It assumes a raffle or a simple donation drive, because those are what a PTO can finish. If you want a Sport-A-Thon instead, read Sport-A-Thon vs raffle first, then come back.

Schools and PTOs already have the audience: families who will tap a phone after the reminder email. You do not need a marketplace. You need a branded page, payments to the account the school or 501(c)(3) already uses, and a door or a draw that does not invent a side list. Playbook: schools and PTOs.

Day 1–2: decide the campaign

Pick one. 50/50 at the carnival. Prize raffle with a basket. Donation drive with class pages. Write the draw or end date, ticket or donation amounts, and who is allowed to buy. If your state needs raffle registration, start that paperwork the same day. Do not open sales while the registration is “someone else’s job.”

Create the organization site, connect the processor, and publish. Start free is the path. Use the name families already know. Upload a poster if you have one. Set capacity if it is a raffle with a ticket cap. Add two or three ticket types, not twelve.

Day 3–4: roster the sellers

Class parents, room reps, or board members each get a page. Send one test purchase from a personal link. Confirm it shows on that person and in a draft settlement view. If it does not, stop and fix attribution before you announce. See attribution.

Day 5–10: one message, then a reminder

Principal newsletter, class text, and the school site all get the same campaign URL plus a note that class pages exist for credit. Do not run a cash envelope in parallel unless those sales go through the same inventory. Parallel cash is how you double-sell and then argue at pickup.

Day 11–14: close, draw, settle

Close sales when you said you would. Draw with an auditable record. Export who paid, what was refunded, the winner, and the net. Attach it to minutes. That is the whole job. Payouts and reporting is what that export should look like.

• One campaign and a real end date.
• Processor you already have; no personal Venmo.
• Class or member pages for credit.
• No second cash list.
• Settlement in the binder with the minutes.

What to tell the next volunteer

Keep the same TazFund site. Archive this event. Publish the next carnival. Transfer the login with the treasurer binder. Volunteers should recognize the page next September. That continuity is worth more than a new logo on a new platform. If you are still choosing a vendor, read what to ask before you pick raffle software and the compare hub.

Inherit the date, not a second spreadsheet. Start free on TazFund or review how pricing works.