Here’s a question that pops up from time to time. Sometimes a PTA finds that their current financial institution isn’t serving them well, so leadership begins to consider a change. What should these leaders consider as they weigh a change?
We don’t have a set guide for picking your financial institution, so we’ll cover some of the key points in this blog post. For further reading, we recommend you go to the Leadership Guides page, where you’ll find advice on this topic in documents such as the Digital Financial Safety for PTAs and Managing Your Nonprofit PTA Handbook guides. We also cover this sort of thing in classes at August Leadership Launch (ALL) and convention.
Here’s what you should consider:
- This sounds obvious, but make sure you’re only considering reputable financial institutions that are FDIC insured.
- Ask what any prospective financial institution offers for small non-profits, e.g. no fees, easy switchover, etc.
- Ensure there are safeguards in place related to having multiple account signers, e.g. one signer should not be able to sign up for a credit/debit card on the account without another’s authorization.
- If your prospective financial institution offers online banking, ask what safeguards they offer, e.g. assign two bank account signers as admins, ability to set up alerts, allow read-only access to non-signers, easy transition procedures, etc.
- Be sure to get information from several financial institutions and then present the options to the board. Something as consequential as changing banks should not be an individual’s decision.
One additional recommendation: Reach out to other local PTAs in your area (or to your local council) and learn about how they do their banking. Are they happy with their financial institution? Word-of-mouth recommendations can be invaluable, especially given the unique financial needs of PTAs.