What should a PTO board do in July?

These checklists assume the most common setup — a July 1 – June 30 fiscal year and federal 501(c)(3) status. If your group runs a different year, shift the compliance dates to match.

President — July

• Sit down with the outgoing president. One long coffee over the handoff binder beats a hundred texts in September. Get the calendar, the contacts, the "here's what I wish I'd known."
• Confirm the board and committee chairs. Know your open seats now — recruiting in July is a conversation; recruiting in September is a crisis.
• Sketch the year calendar with the principal. Get the school calendar and agree on dates for the big events before rooms and staff time get claimed.
• Read the bylaws, start to finish. Twenty minutes now saves you from running an invalid election or missing a required notice later. Flag anything to amend.

Treasurer — July

• Close the books on the fiscal year. Most groups end June 30. Final reconciliation, all reimbursements resolved — late ones roll into the new budget and belong in the minutes.
• Run the year-end financial review before accepting the books. A small review committee protects the outgoing treasurer and you. Reviewers can't be bank signers or their relatives or household members.
• Change the bank signers. Bring the election minutes, a board resolution naming the new signers, the EIN letter, and both new signers to one branch visit. Remove outgoing signers the same day.
• Draft next year's budget from actuals. Start from what last year really earned and spent, not from hopes. It gets adopted in August–September.

Secretary — July

• Archive last year's minutes and records. One shared drive folder per year. If minutes live in a personal laptop, they don't exist.
• Update the officer roster everywhere. School front office, bank, insurance, state charity registration if your state requires it — everyone who lists your officers.
• Verify the paperwork binder is complete. EIN letter, IRS determination letter, bylaws, insurance policy, last 990 confirmation. If any of these are missing, July is the month to hunt them down.

Events & volunteers — July

• Book the big-ticket vendors. Fun-run companies, holiday-shop vendors, and popular venues book out months ahead. A July email gets you the good dates.
• Map events against the school calendar. Check for conflicts with picture day, testing windows, and other schools' festivals before you print anything.
• Recruit fall event chairs. Every fall event needs a named owner by August. "The board will handle it" means the president will handle it.

Deadlines in July

• State annual report / charity registration. Several states tie nonprofit filings to fiscal year end — check your state's deadline now, not when the late notice arrives.
• Insurance renewal. Many group policies renew over the summer. Confirm coverage before your first event, not after.

Start in July, needed later

• Prep the staff favorites survey. Staff goodwill peaks the week they return in August — have the link ready to send on day one.
• Draft the back-to-school table plan. Membership form, volunteer signup, and calendar handout for orientation night.