Our PTO is starting over from years of non-activity. In the past the PTO has done well in fundraising. The By-laws state we can charge dues but no amount is listed. I have had suggestions ranging from "Free" to $10.00. Any suggestions?

I will probably get a little flack over this but I never did understand why you would want to charge someone for PTO fee's when they are volunteering their time to help your school/children. We do not charge anything to be a member and have found that it works better this way.

I imagine you'll get a variety of answers that fall within that range. We don't see membership as a fundraiser per se, but we want to encourage the act/committment of joining. Our dues are $3 per family per year. As a perk, every member gets a free copy of the school student directory when it's published. Those normally sell for $3.

During a Fall membership drive, we have a contest to see which class gets the most members. The winning class earns a snow cone party so the kids really encourage their parents to join.

We also don't want our membership dues to be treated thought of as a fundraiser so what we've done this year is to impose a $5.00 membership cost per family which entitles that family to attend all our family fun nights free of charge.
It's worked out wonderfully and has increased our membership twofold.

We do not impose any fees. As president I spoke at open houses and encouraged parents to join. I try to entice them with the fact that this (our monthly meetings) is the forum where the principal speaks openly/monthly WITH the parents. Our principal is great at answering questions and making parents feel at ease. Our montra is that as long as you have a child in the school you are a member of the PTO. All parens have the right to vote at our meetings. We try to make everyone feel welcome and appreciated. Our school has over 70 active PTO members. Not all attend meetings but are active on a committee and as homeroom parents. Most parents want to get involved with their childrens education, and if you approach people, asking for a small committment I find you can usually get it. I have worked on filling the committee positions for 3 years. I find people are more willing to share a job than to take on the whole project. I find this works well especially if you ask if they have a friend who might work with them. We try to make it fun and I think it is. We fund raise to give every family a directory and a student handbook. We also sponser the assemblies and one field trip/student. I could go on and on but I won't! Good Luck in starting the "fire".

Our organization has membership fees of $7 for a family and $5 for single parents and staff. We have people giving us $10 and wanting no change sooooo.... why a fee? Because when a person puts a little money on the table to belong to an organization they then take ownership. This brings in more people with fresh ideas that we enjoy showing them how to impliment. I see no reason not to charge a fee- any club from boy scouts, to the VFW to Sunday School usually charges a fee, it gives the purchaser ownership.