Why talk about theft?
School fundraising is a $4.5 billion business, but it's not an ordinary business. School parent teacher organizations and high school booster clubs are managed by parent volunteers on a part-time basis and must deal with nearly 100% turnover each year. These dedicated parent boosters are the heroes behind most of the extracurricular activities that make childhood great, but they need simple solutions to help them manage the money raised.
It happens because the trust level is high, and there is little help for parent boosters on how to operate these groups. We provide the tools and training schools and their volunteers need, including our theft prevention program, an easy-to-implement, simple way to stop school fundraising theft. We partnered with Amy Luebbe, a mom and school volunteer to develop our school theft prevention program. Amy was convicted of stealing from the high school spirit store where she volunteered. She stole from the store for nearly two years before being caught. She had no prior record, a good paying job, and a devoted husband and daughter. Now she’s giving back by telling her story and helping us provide this simple theft prevention solution. Says Amy, "I want something good to come out of this."
Follow these key steps.
School fundraising organizations are not your ordinary small business. These groups are run by a small teams of dedicated volunteers; volunteers that need easy-to-use solutions to track and report on funds raised, and keep the money safe. Implementing PBUSA’s simple three-step program, however, will significantly reduce the opportunity for people to steal school organization funds.
TWO to count cash
Never count cash alone! If you do nothing else... never count cash alone!
At least two unrelated people should count cash. Cash should be counted onsite, where it is collected, on a daily basis. The cash counters should write down the day’s income on a cash tally sheet and sign the sheet. The funds should then be deposited immediately into the group's bank account. Both the tally sheet and the deposit slip should be kept with the organization's financial records and used when reconciling the bank account.
TWO to sign checks
Requiring two unrelated people to sign each check significantly reduces risk of theft. The two signature rule should be included in your group's bylaws, and also should be imprinted on the checks. Never pre-sign checks.
To reduce the burden of obtaining the needed signatures, some groups have the check signers meet regularly at the school, such as once a week, before or after school to handle the check writing.
TWO to reconcile
Bank statements should be reconciled within 30 days of the date the statement is issued. It is best to separate duties and have someone without check signing authority or cash counting duties reconcile the bank account. If this is not possible, a non-signer should review the monthly bank statements, reconciliation report, cash tally sheets and deposit slips.
Simply requiring all these documents to be available at meetings is a huge deterrent to theft... and if the documents are never available, this is big red flag that something may be wrong.