Any officer whose role can change the calendar
Put an event on the calendar
One calendar carries both jobs: the events your PTO runs, and the filing deadlines it has to meet. Add an event, decide whether families see it, and read the next twelve things in one place.
When you are done
Your event is on the calendar with its date, time and place, it appears on your public website if you chose to publish it, and it is in the list of the next twelve things alongside your volunteer shifts and filing deadlines.
Who else you need
Nobody else is needed to add an event. Whether your role may is a setting your board controls — see the guide on changing what a role can do. A role that can see the calendar but not change it is told so: "Your role can see the calendar but not change it."
Add an event
Open Calendar in the left sidebar.
Give the event a Name.
PTO HQ refuses a blank one: "Give the event a name."
Set when it Starts, and tick all-day if it has no particular hour.
"Give the date it starts." if it is blank. An end before the start is refused: "It cannot finish before it starts."
Set Where it is.
Choose a Committee, if the event belongs to one.
That is what lets the committee report answer what the hospitality committee has run this year.
Set How many people you need, if you are taking signups.
A whole number, or blank for no limit. "A limit has to be a whole number, or left blank."
Decide whether families should see it on your website.
That is the one setting that makes an event public. Nothing on the calendar reaches parents unless you tick it and your site carries an events section.
Read the next twelve things
The top of the calendar lists what is coming, drawn from three places at once rather than three screens.
| Kind | Comes from |
|---|---|
| Events | The calendar itself |
| Volunteer shifts | The Volunteers page |
| Filing deadlines | Computed from your fiscal year end |
Read the filing deadlines it computes
The compliance side of the calendar works the annual return date out from your own fiscal year end rather than asking you for it.
- Form 990 is due the 15th day of the 5th month after the fiscal year ends, so a June 30 year end means November 15 (source: IRS).
- Which form you file turns on gross receipts: normally $50,000 or less files the 990-N; over $50,000 but under $200,000 with assets under $500,000 files the 990-EZ; $200,000 or more in receipts, or $500,000 or more in assets, files the full 990 (source: IRS).
- Three consecutive missed required filings revoke exempt status automatically (source: IRS).
- State deadlines are not computed. Your state PTA and your state's charity registrar set their own, PTO HQ does not know them, and it will not remind you of a date it was never told. Add them yourself under Add a deadline below the list.
Record a filing
The annual return stays on the list, counting up the days it is overdue, until somebody records that it went in.
Open Calendar in the left sidebar and choose the Deadlines tab.
Find the deadline and set the date beside it to the day it was filed.
It starts on today. A return filed in May and recorded in September takes the May date — this list is what proves when the obligation was met. A future date is refused: "That date is in the future. Record it once it is filed."
Press Mark filed.
- Press Reopen on a deadline you marked filed by mistake.
- PTO HQ does not e-file. It tells you the date and keeps the record.
Add a state or insurer deadline
Affiliation, charity registration, the corporate report, insurance renewal, the annual financial review and the bylaws cycle each run on a clock PTO HQ cannot work out, so it asks for the date rather than guessing one.
Open Add a deadline below the list on the Deadlines tab.
Choose the Kind and give it a Name.
Set Due to the date your source gives you, and Owner to the officer responsible.
Fill in Where this date came from.
Required. "Texas PTA — standards of affiliation", "Secretary of State", the policy your insurer issued. The treasurer who inherits this in June has to be able to check it.
Press Add deadline.
| Deadline | Ask |
|---|---|
| State PTA affiliation | Your state PTA |
| Charitable solicitation registration | Your state attorney general's office |
| State nonprofit corporation report | Your Secretary of State |
| Insurance and fidelity bond renewal | Your insurer or broker |
| Annual financial review | Your insurer, for the window the bond requires |
| Bylaws review | Your own bylaws |
Publish events to your website
Tick the public setting on each event families should see.
Add an events section to a page in the site builder, and publish that page.
See the documents and website guide. An event marked public with no events section on any published page reaches nobody.
- Only the name, date, time and place are published. The Details box and the committee stay internal.
How to check it worked
- The event appears on the month grid on its date.
- It appears in the list of the next twelve things, if it is within reach of today.
- A public event appears on your site once a published page carries an events section.
- A deadline you marked filed shows Done with your name and the date you gave.
- A deadline you added appears on the Deadlines tab with its source under it.
If it did not work
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| "Your role can see the calendar but not change it." | Your role holds the Events permission at View only or lower. | Ask whoever manages your board's permissions to raise Events for your role, or ask them to add the event. See the guide on changing what a role can do. |
| "It cannot finish before it starts." | The end is earlier than the start. | Check the date as well as the time — an event running past midnight ends on the following day. |
| "Choose one of your own committees." | The committee submitted is not one your organization holds. | Add the committee first, or leave the box empty. |
| The event is marked public and parents cannot see it. | No published page on your site carries an events section. | Open Website, add an events section to a page, save it, then publish that page. |
| A state filing deadline is not on the calendar. | PTO HQ computes the federal return date from your fiscal year end and computes nothing else. | Get the date from your state PTA, your state's charity registrar or your insurer, then add it under Add a deadline on the Deadlines tab. |
| "Say where this date came from — your state PTA, your insurer, the Secretary of State. The next treasurer has to be able to check it." | Where this date came from was left blank. | Name the source. A deadline nobody can check is one the next treasurer will not trust. |
| "The IRS return is already on your calendar, worked out from your fiscal year end. Mark that one filed rather than adding another." | The annual return is computed and rolled forward each year, so a second one would show the same filing twice. | Find the one already on the list and mark it filed. |
| "This one is worked out from your fiscal year end and comes back every year. Mark it filed rather than removing it." | Remove only clears deadlines your board added. The annual return is computed. | Mark it filed instead. |
This isn't legal, tax, or insurance advice. Confirm filing dates, bonding conditions, and your state's requirements with your CPA, your state PTA, and your insurer.