PTO Today

We were told at a presentation the the PTA has more members than Kiwanis, Lions and Rotary combined.

Is this true? Are they really that big?
How big is PTO?

Hey poppa -

Yeah, that likely is technically true. PTA has roughly 5.5 million members these days.

Huge difference, though, in how the PTA gets its members, as opposed to those other organizations.

I'd venture to say that all or nearly all of the members of the Rotary Club join that club understanding the commitment they are making to the club (meeting attendance, service, etc.) and there's also often a trial period/application/approval process for entering those clubs. Safe to say that a very high percentage of the members of the Rotary are very involved with Rotary, could identify Rotary's mission, etc.

On the other hand, the vast majority of PTA members pay $4 or $10 to be a member of the parent group of their kids' school. It's almost rote. In a group of 240 members (the average PTA unit-size), maybe 10-20 are highly involved, another 10-30 help occasionally... and 200 or so of the members only connect by paying that $10 or eating some ice cream at a PTA social.

There's nothing wrong with that (it's exactly the same for PTOs), but comparing Kiwanis membership numbers to PTA membership numbers is like comparing apples and bicycles.

There is no exact measurement of PTO numbers, because: 1) PTOs are independent and don't have to report in globally to a national group; and 2) many PTOs don't charge dues and include "all parents at XYZ school" as members (I suppose that could count as 800 members, if it mattered.). That said, if measured the same way as PTA measures ("number of parents who belong to a PTO at their local school"), my best conservative guess would be:

Roughly 55,000-60,000 PTOs.
Roughly 175-250 members per PTO.
Total = 11 million plus PTOers.

Tim

Hi Tim;

I do know that many if not most members join the Local Lions club, or Rotary for the work they do in the local community. Just as parents join the school's PTA (or PTO) for the work they do at their local school level.

I think the point is that as a Lion or Rotarian you also get access to the benifits provided by a national organization. No matter if you use them or not, just like joining PTA.
I think the analogy is acurate.

Tim,
I am new to this website and also a new board member on my son's elementary school PTO. We had a discussion today at our board meeting about whether our membership was good our not. We have about 900+ students in the school - not sure how many families that translates to. Anyway, we have about 340 PTO members. We charge $15 to be a member, which includes a free student directory. I see from your above posting that you would estimate 175- 250 members per PTO. Based on this figure, I would say we are doing very well membership-wise. What are your opinions based on how large our school is? In short, I think our membership numbers are very good and I would like to reassure other board members of this as well. Since there are no "global" reports for PTOs, I'm hoping you can give me some insight. Thanks so much. Kelly

I wanna school with 175+ members-- never seen that even in PTA -- I know its an average based on total #'s

300+ at $15 a 'pop- I think would be Phenominal-

Do you have a sister or relative that teaches 1st grade at an LAUSD school?

Hi Kelly -

Sounds like your 340 members all kicking in $15 is great. Really great. Tons of people here will be jealous of that $5000+ from membership.

I'd say you're well above-average. PTA's nationally (where you can glean the numbers pretty easily) average about 240 paid members (and their charge is typically less than $15), so by that measure you're doing very well.

That sais, I think your paid membership count is a fairly ineffective measure of involvement. To me, a $15 membership count is more akin to a fundraiser. So your 340 paid memberships is like 340 people buying a roll of gift wrap or a tub of cookie dough. Still a good number, but more reflective of simple $$ support than involvement.

When measuring involvement (especially on the parent group level), I prefer to look at things like: numbers attending school/family events; numbers volunteering in some way over course of the year; numbers interacting with teachers and school admins meaningfully.

The 340 paying for membership is a great sign that you're probably ahead of the game. But if that was all that was happening (ie. vast majority of those 340 did virtually nothing else), then you'd have big issues. On the other hand, if 250 of those 340 are also connecting with school, attending events, volunteering, etc. -- then wow!

Tim

I have a sister that teaches first grade in LAUSD. She's in Northridge.

We miss Calahan
and the wonderful staff