Judges' Choice: Building Community Ties
This parent group's strong presence in its community earned it the Judges’ Choice Award in PTO Today’s 2012 Parent Group of the Year search.

National Runner-up: Focus on Families and Service
Support of enrichment programs and volunteer opportunities helped set apart the 2009 Parent Group of the Year national runner-up.

National Winner: Creating a New Sense of Pride
Faced with challenges, leaders focused on building school spirit, and they tripled volunteer hours while maintaining a full calendar of family events. These accomplishments earned them recognition as the 2008 Parent Group of the Year.

Public Speaking: Overcome the Jitters
Some advance preparation and a few best practices will help your next presentation go smoothly despite any butterflies.

Service Groups Lend a Hand
Lions, Kiwanis, Rotary, and other community organizations can provide a lot of help to parent groups.

PTO Goes Green at School
It's Earth Day every day for a group of students, teachers, parents, and administrators in Dover, Mass.

Create a School Tradition
Ambitious events build excitement and involvement. They make your PTO look great, too.

Principals Do the Darndest Things
Crazy principal antics to encourage student involvement in a PTO fundraiser just might get your school featured in the local newspaper.

Fundraising Help From Local Businesses
Partnering with neighborhood businesses for donations, discounts, or manpower can increase fundraising resources—and build a connection between the parent group and the community.

16 Ideas for Quick and Easy Events
With a little creativity, you can plan activities that strengthen the school community without breaking the bank or exhausting your volunteers.

Do More With Fewer Resources
Parent group leaders share tips for making do when money is tight and volunteers are scarce.

A New Focus on Communication
How one group repaired its image by reaching out to parents.

Send a Powerful Message
You can use communications to improve your group's image and boost involvement. Just put the focus in the right place.

National Winner: Embracing Change Makes PTO a Winner
Rezoning and a significant shift in school demographics energized rather than paralyzed PTO Today's 2007 Parent Group of the Year.

Parochial School: Challenging Year Ends With Growth
PTO Today's 2007 Outstanding Parent Group at a Private School began its summer with a large financial burden, low morale, no board, and an uncertain future; with an emphasis on efficient planning and making involvement fun, leaders met those challenges and thrived.

Create an Effective Survey
Gathering feedback from parents and teachers can help build support for your programs. These tips will help you create a survey and evaluate the results.

Set and Reach Group Goals
How you go about setting objectives—and how you communicate them once they're set—plays a key role in your chances for success.

Succeeding in a Crowded Sales Marketplace
How to maximize your profits at a time when more organizations are fundraising more frequently than ever.

Dad in Charge of the PTO
Single father Rich Linden wants everyone who gets involved with the parent group to have fun.

Get Dads Involved
You can get dads connected and volunteering. It just takes a concerted effort and a different approach than you use for moms.

Becoming a Great Leader
Even if you have no experience, you can be an effective leader. Just play to your strengths.

The Leadership Skills That Matter
Making your parent group the best it can be takes an ability to listen, to gain others' trust, and to know which leadership approach is best for each situation.

National Winner: Fun Factor Pays Off
Emphasizing fun for its events and activities created excitement and helped an inner-city school build tremendous involvement. That helped make them PTO Today's 2006 Parent Group of the Year.

Cookie Dough Raises Sweet Profit
How an Ohio school raised $20,000 on its annual cookie dough sale.

Help Build Student Achievement
An expert challenges PTOs to increase parent involvement in ways that are connected to the curriculum.

Make Your Playground Project a Success
7 keys to planning any playground build or renovation.

Troubled Times, Proactive PTO
With their school getting media exposure for all the wrong reasons, the leaders of PTO Today's 2005 Southern Region Parent Group of the Year stepped in to help administrators and students.

Playground for the Hearing-Impaired
Careful design makes this a special space for all children, including the school's 45 deaf students.

Build That Playground Yourself
Community-built playgrounds take time and effort, but with help you can do the construction yourself and save a lot of money.

Classes in Parent Involvement
Two moms who wanted to move beyond traditional involvement roles learned how through parent involvement education programs, which range from monthly workshops to in-depth, yearlong curricula.

Kids Add Fun to Playground Design
Letting kids share their vision will help you create a playground that’s more fun and better used.

A Plan for Playground Games
The Peaceful Playgrounds program reduces discipline problems and promotes development of social and motor skills.

PTOs Helping PTOs
Some parent groups are sharing their resources with less-fortunate schools and PTOs. In the end, both schools benefit.

Sniper Crisis: PTSO Steps Forward
When a sniper shot a student at Benjamin Tasker Middle School, the PTSO played a crucial role for safety and communications.