I am a first time PTA president. With the previous administration there were no volunteer procedures in place and there had been total chaos particularly with respect to how money was handled. So, one of the first things I did as a new president was to research other PTAs' policies for volunteer procedures. I settled on a set of procedures as a starting point, knowing that it would be a work in progress. My volunteer coordinator put it together and it was implemented for the first time at our annual Winter Breakfast, being run by our own Vice President. As things turned out, she did not stringently follow the procedure manual, but at the end of the day, she achieved what she needed to. Since then, we have had two more events, with successful outcomes despite the fact that the chairpersons had questions. I am a very hands-on person, and if people have questions, I make sure they get answered as quickly as possible. It didn't even occur to me to tell her to refer to her manual if she had questions. Right before our latest event held just last week, I received a critically worded e-mail from my volunteer coordinator stating that I need to "lay down the law and make them follow your procedures". I received a less critical but similarly worded e-mail the same day from my secretary. These e-mails came after a number of e-mails had been exchanged between myself, my treasurer (we were keeping everyone on the board "in the loop" because I had also received criticism that I wasn't keeping them informed), and a chairperson who had the manual in her possession but was choosing to e-mail questions to us instead of looking at her manual. There was no evidence that she was not following our procedures, she was just getting the information via e-mail rather than reading the manual. By the way, 2 out of the three events were being run by first time chair people.

I want people to follow our procedures, and especially with respect to money, we need to make sure we are in accordance with our bylaws. That said, these people are volunteers and at the end of the day, the board is ultimately responsible for making sure things are done properly, even if the chairpersons are not crossing every "T" and dotting every "i". We are having the same problems a lot of PTA/PTO's are having with respect to not getting enough volunteers especially to chair events, and I don't want to scare them away! It seems to me that if a chairperson has been handed a manual and still chooses to ask questions, even if the answers are in the manual, we still need to be helpful. What do you think - am I being too nice? If so, how far should the "rule following" be pushed? Your insight and helpful suggestions are much appreciated!

Personally, I would respond with a polite return email directing them to the correct section in the manual where the answer to their question can be found; do that often enough and maybe they'll get the hint to look there first.

For example: "In regards to your question regarding proper funds handling, the answer can be found in Section 2, Article B (or however you have it set up) of your manual. Please let me know if you need further clarification. Thank you."

Hi Kristi--I guess I'm more like you. If I get a volunteer, I try to coddle them enough to keep them around. I too would explain the process and then probably end with something like - "we packed a lot of great info in the handbook...if you get a chance check it out...".

I know it is a bit of handholding but I'd hate to put someone off by just referring them to the manual. In fact I know that even on these boards most of us will retype information as opposed to sending the person to a search vehicle. It just doesn't seem as welcoming and supportive to say "do a search on how to run a bingo" even though the threads are very good and very informative.

So don't feel alone in your approach. Good luck.

I appreciate you both taking the time to give me your objective opinions - I'll probably use both pieces of advice. I agree, dlf, I would rather do a bit of handholding if it means keeping my volunteers happy, which is a small price to pay compared to doing all the work myself!

I would also be apt to go with the handholding. I don't think that it's possible to be too nice to volunteers. Something else that you might consider, and that we're going to give a try this year, is to hold a training before school starts in the fall for all of your committee chairs. Use this time to go over the manual and answer any questions that they might have. We're also going to use it as a way to let the people who are our biggest participants have a voice in our goals for the upcoming year, and help brainstorm possible ideas for meeting them.

On a slightly related note, would you be willing to share a copy of your manual, either through the file exchange or via email? It's something I've been thinking about putting together, but have never seen done and am not really sure where to start. My email address is tlcbragg AT verizon DOT net.

Thanks!

This is a great idea. I am hoping that next year we'll have better luck getting our volunteers into position before the year starts. This year, our board has ended up chairing most of our events and both of our fundraisers. We have a large number of parent volunteers in the classroom, but they do not see the importance of helping out the PTA! Very frustrating and it has really taken the wind out of our sails, but we'll keep on keepin' on as they say! I have told our board that if we don't get better participation next year, I am not opposed to canceling a few events. The parents will either step up, in which case we will have accomplished our goal, or they won't, in which case we will heed the message that perhaps less is more. I will e-mail you the PDF file of our manual, which I believe needs some tweaking. Thanks for your input!