Can't open a bank account for a school volunteer group
Organizers get stuck in limbo when the IRS has not yet populated the group's EIN, which prevents them from accessing the bank's website. Without an account, the volunteer group cannot raise funds or cover event expenses. Resolving the delay is exceptionally difficult because the IRS is completely unresponsive to phone calls.
Core Friction Pattern
Analysis of 2 peer accounts across online developer and community forums reveals that “Can't open a bank account for a school volunteer group” repeatedly surfaces due to edge-case mismatches between standard defaults and real-world environments. Standard troubleshooting frequently falls short, compelling practitioners to develop custom workarounds.
+5 alternative community-tested workarounds cataloged below.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- People have been saying this in most months since September 2026.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
Can't open a bank account for a school volunteer group
- 1Waiting for the IRS phone lines to respondDid this help you?
- 2Waiting for the EIN to populate in the IRS systemDid this help you?
- 3Keep daily checking/local branch accounts at a traditional bank or credit union while keeping emergency savings/HYSA at a separate high-yield online bankDid this help you?
- 4Use a credit union for customer service and main banking, accepting occasional foreign ATM feesDid this help you?
- 5Pair a brick-and-mortar national bank (like Chase or Bank of America) with an online bank for app convenience and ATM accessDid this help you?
- 6Park idle cash in a brokerage account money market fund (e.g., Fidelity SPAXX) to function as an HYSA in one placeDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I’m attempting to open a bank account for my son’s school’s volunteer group (PTO) to raise funds and cover event expenses.”source ↗
“Consequently, I’m currently stuck in a limbo situation because the EIN hasn’t been populated by the IRS yet, preventing me from accessing the website. On the other hand, the IRS is not responding to phone.”source ↗
“My partner and i are trying to get with the same banks and get a joint account... We both use ally, but we've dont the joint acfount filing 2x and both times it failed due to system issues.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 2What do I do after opening a child custodial account?