I am in awe of the groups out there who have increased their membership! We are facing another year of fighting to stay alive. I pray that we have some new folks coming on board who feel as strongly as we do about supporting our kids' education and will actively participate. We have lots of parents who will help out when we need it, but no one who will take on leadership roles. My goal this year is to find a whole other slate of officers, as several of us have children who will be graduating. We have done a lot of great things and are moving in a very positive direction, but the majority of parents at our school don't want to be Boosters, even though they support us at all our events. We usually only have 2 or 3 people attend our meetings (counting board members!) even though we've worked to make the meetings short and sweet. We sent home surveys at the end of the school year and got lots of great feedback and offers of help. The analogy is that there are a lot of oars in the water and people manning them, but no one wants to take the helm and steer the boat. Has anyone else faced this? I can't think of any other way to disperse our funds and set up events except through our group, but we may have to disband at the end of the year without new leaders.

I would like to find some novel ways of conducting meetings that have worked to bring new members into your group and nurture them into leadership roles.

Membership can be such a tough nut. On the PTA Discussion Boards specifically on membership. It would take you some browsing around but there are many many helpful information go to connect.familyeducation.com/webx/webx.dl...T1aClgkfh^5@.ee8b853 and some general membership information on our council site http://www.myschoolonline.com/folder/0,1...653-41-36007,00.html (Membership developement calendar, business memberships, theme ideas,[mind you some of the info is specific to our units, but still may be helpful]) Bring kids to the meetings and their parents will come. Have the choir, orchestra or band perform (at the end of your short meeting)offer token raffle prizes donated by local businesses, have the principal speak at each meeting, mention in your newsletter in brief what happened at the last meeting and what is planned for the next, Bring in a speaker to a couple of meetings a year. Just some ideas.

thanks so much, those are great ideas! We have a board meeting next week and I will take your message and the other resources to them.

I know some of you have mentioned a PTO presentation at open house. I'm not big for speaking in front of a large group, but if it will help folks understand who we are and what they can do to help our school, then I'll give it a try. What things did you say to the audience, how long did you talk, etc.? Thanks in advance for your replies, Liz

Well I've never spoken at the open house before but I will this year. I plan to let the parents know about the parent volunteer incentive program we are going to initiate and tell them of all the different ways they can help the school and give them an invite to the PTO meetings (Not that they need an invite but going to do so anyway) I also plan to have sign up sheets in every class so the parents can tell us in what areas they want to help. I'm also going to "try" to get a packet of papers for the parents including a log for their donated time and dates of activities and meetings so they will realize how much we want them involved.

I guess I better get busy school is just around the corner.

newtothis - I'd love to see your volunteer incentive ideas! Have you talked with the teachers about having "room parents"? I wondered about doing this - except that I hate to put the teachers in the role of selecting one person. Some teachers have so many volunteers, others have none. I worry that if there's a list, it will spawn more hard feelings. I do like the idea of having a sign up sheet in the room, though, some parents just bustle right to the room and skip talking with us at our booth. Thanks!

DolphinBooster,
I know just what you mean about having a reasonable amount of people to help out with activities, but having LOTS of trouble getting people to take the leadership positions. (In fact, I guess that's why I'm president this year!!)

To remedy that problem, we're trying to break committees into subcommittees, so people can see that the comm. chair is basically a coordinator, not the only person doing the work. Each subcomm. also has a "chair" & they recruit people to help them. We also try to get co-chairs when possible. We also try to have anyone in their second year chairing a comm. find someone new to co-chair, so they can train them.

We are also going to make a greater effort this year to be sure we contact EVERYONE who signs up to be on a committee. I've heard complaints from people who say they were never contacted (of course, I've also heard complaints from comm. chairs saying noone calls them back...)

As far as Open House, the past couple years we've had the parents go directly to their child's class. Then the principal & PTO pres. speak briefly over the intercom. I plan to just give a brief overview of what we do & mention that we can always use ANY volunteers for ANY amount of time they can give. Then I'll refer them to our membership table in the lobby & the area in the cafeteria where we'll have spirit items for sale & Market Day & fundraiser samples. We also plan to have a big display in the lobby showing all the wonderful things PTO has sponsored.

As far as Room Parents, we're going to have that as a volunteer option on our PTO membership form (along with various committees, etc..). We have 2 Room Parent Coordinators who will assign room parents & get the info to them. This way the teachers do not have to choose. This year we're thinking of having a meeting with them at the beginning of the school year to "coach" them on making phone calls & let them know that their role is to contact parents for help (at the teacher's direction), and NOT to do everything themselves.

Plw did a great job talking about meetings, so I'll pass on that one. Besides, I've rambled enough, so it's time to stop.

Newtothis, I am also curious about your parent volunteer incentive program. Someone else on this forum also referred to it, but I'm not sure how you organize it and what you offer as an incentive.

Take Care,
Jo