Venmo does not allow non-profit usage so that should not be used at all.

You are 100% wrong. Shriners Children's -- one of the largest nonprofits in the U.S. -- accepts Venmo (scroll down to the bottom of the page where you can see the payment options)
https://donate.lovetotherescue.org/give/119312/#!/donation/checkout

Tons of nonprofits accept Venmo.

I have collected funds for the PTA in the past as a volunteer. No one showed me how to do it, it figured it out myself and guess what? It's hard enough to get people to give so I offered Venmo as an option after several people asked for it. Thankfully, it sounds like there may be more resources options and now. Still, instead of being critical if things seem sketchy, people should step up and volunteer to help the PTA get its house in order. I think that very few if any people are volunteering on the PTA to run to embezzle parent contributions.

Anonymous wrote:All the PTSAs should be using Memberhub, which can accept a variety of donations and leaves a paper trail. We have a "general donation" button in our PTSA store. We direct people there for special types of contributions outside of membership. https://www.memberhub.com/

Students, parents and staff find the MemberHub interface confusing and end up not donating. They prefer platforms that are more familiar and that they don't have to set up new sign-ups for.

When you fundraise, you want to provide frictionless experiences. So using a personal Venmo/CashApp and then transferring it to the PTA bank account is a reasonable thing to do since you otherwise might lose the donation.

All the PTSAs should be using Memberhub, which can accept a variety of donations and leaves a paper trail. We have a "general donation" button in our PTSA store. We direct people there for special types of contributions outside of membership. https://www.memberhub.com/

Anonymous wrote:Yes, this is an option at our school. I know and trust the person collecting funds.

Its 100% wrong.

Yes, this is an option at our school. I know and trust the person collecting funds.

Anonymous wrote:If you have concerns you should join the PTA and volunteer as treasurer and set up a non-profit account. We did this at our school and it took many weeks of research to do it properly and have all the paperwork in order.

The PTA should have a bank account. That's standard. But, some banks like Sandy Spring, don't have a payment system so you need to use another source but there are plenty of them outside venmo. So, this is very shady.

If you have concerns you should join the PTA and volunteer as treasurer and set up a non-profit account. We did this at our school and it took many weeks of research to do it properly and have all the paperwork in order.

Anonymous wrote:I have. It’s tricky to set up a business Venmo sometimes, so I know our board has done it.

It is legal. But dicey because it requires trust, which can be in short supply in some school communities.

You don't use Venmo. You use PayPal, Square, go fund me or other ones.

I really appreciate the PTA volunteers who collect money because it's a pain and it opens you up to these kinds of unfounded allegations.

Unless you have a concrete reason to suspect something wrong I would give it a rest OP.
It's very normal and you will encounter it again and again.

Absolutely not. You can set up a PayPal, square, go fund me or other service.

Venmo does not allow non-profit usage so that should not be used at all.

Very shady.

Yes, because PTAs are volunteer organizations that no one wants to take the time to put effort and sweat into but is ready to criticize at every turn as they sit on the sidelines.

I have. It’s tricky to set up a business Venmo sometimes, so I know our board has done it.

It is legal. But dicey because it requires trust, which can be in short supply in some school communities.

Has anyone heard of a PTA president using their own personal Venmo for donations? Sounds fishy...who is tracking where they are using their funds? Is this legal?