So do the parents at your school think your parent group is fun? What does your board do to make volunteering fun? Tell us what you do to keep it light and fun.

Don't think your group is fun enough? Let's brainstorm some ideas on how to make it more fun!

I don't think that making the volunteer experience "fun" should be a specific objective of the PTO/PTA.

A pleasant volunteering environment should be an objective, but there's something about the expectation that a PTO/PTA is responsible for making the parent volunteer experience "fun" that rubs me the wrong way. Assuming that the volunteers are all adults and parents, having an entertaining experience in everything we do for our school/children isn't realistic or (in my opinion) necessary.

"Fun" may be a side effect of the volunteer experience for a well organized activity, but I would be very disappointed in our PTO if much time is spent devising how to make a volunteer experience fun.

I have to agree that 'fun' as a volunteer would be a side effect of a groups organization and focus. If a group knows specifically what their mission is and what their goals are, the environment will be less stressful and scattered.

If it is clear who does what by when and what is specifically expected, I believe volunteers will naturally have more fun.

We definitely have fun during our events. However it is very stressful during the planning phases because our meetings rarely if ever have more than 8 persons attending. (Out of approximately 800 students) That leaves all of the work on the few members who attend regularly enough to help with the planning. We are busy in our meetings planning for the next event. We do offer a light dinner or snack with our meetings to intice new comers. Ours is a high school PTO and getting parent volunteers is practically IMPOSSIBLE. I am open for ideas.

We often have volunteers doing menial tasks like stuffing envelopes or sorting paperwork - which isn't fun no matter how you slice it. What is helpful is to get to know your volunteers well enough to know what kind of jobs they would enjoy and feel comfortable with. The real trick, to my mind, is to match the job to the person - which will foster a feeling of real contribution which will up your chances that the volunteers will be willing to say "yes" again and again!

Hello NaDine:
We have always found it helpful to break down a large planning and organizing of the event into small pieces and then ask specific people (or 2 friends) to take on the responsibility. People have a hard to time showing up to a general call for help, but will show up when asked specifically by someone who also knows why they would be a great asset to the cause. Work you contacts, hard!