Our sister site, SchoolFamily.com has launched a fun, new community! This is a great place to ask questions or share ideas about ways to help your kids succeed in school. Why not head over and join the conversation?

What do you think is the right amount of screen time, each day, for your kids over the summer?
Join the “How much time to let your kids play on computer, xbox, etc.” group.

Do you have some suggestions on how to keep your children learning over the summer?

Would you like share some ideas on how to keep your middle school kids busy this summer?

These are just a few highlights to get you started. You’ll find LOTS more groups, discussions, and Questions and Answers once you jump in. Most importantly, you’ll connect with parents with similar situations. Once you’re in our community be sure to look for me, Lisa Gundlach, and add me as your “friend”. Look forward to seeing you online at the SchoolFamily.com community!

Last week we posted about a couple who stole from their parent group. Today I came across yet another embezzlement story. Why post another story about this you ask? Because this article is also about a dedicated PTA group in FL that pulled together to recoup more than $43,000 stolen from the PTA.

Kudos to this school community for not letting one person’s indiscretion get in the way of working together for the benefit of their children.

The annual national PTA convention, which ends today in Florida, is always a good marker for tracking financial performance of the well-known national non-profit for past year.

From my reading of various public documents, a few key items:

Membership - 5.16 million in 23,094 units.  Membership year earlier = approx. 5.4 million.

Revenue of national PTA = $12.5 million.  Revenue year earlier = $13.2 million. 

Expenses of national PTA = 13.2 million. Expenses year earlier = $13.1 million.

Net realized and unrealized loss on PTA investments (fancy term for stock market losses) in past year = $3.6 million.   (I think everyone who has a 401k knows that pain this past year. Ouch.)  Still a good chunk of assets ($14 million) as safety net even after that loss.

National PTA Employee Count 2009 = 81.  2008 = 73. 

My reading:  Expenses and employee count going up is going to be a tough mix with membership still going down.  It’s been several years now since last national dues increase.  Next increase has to at least be under consideration.  Was surprised that there seemed to be little if any questions re: these financials at the national meeting.

It’s a tough time for many private schools, given the state of the economy. We’ve heard from many parent groups that they are jumping in to help market their schools — with great results.

Just came across this article about a school in Dallas, Texas whose PTG formed a subcommittee charged with marketing their school. With several successful programs under their belt and a great attitude, the Gate of Heaven Roman Catholic School has increased enrollment. The group has more great ideas about to keep their school thriving. It just goes to show that hard work and a positive attitude can make all the difference in the world.

This time the stealing from the PTA was done by a couple! Ugh. When the parents at Erdenheim Elementary School in Erdenheim, PA, decided to switch from a PTA to PTO an audit was done and numbers just weren’t adding up… to the tune of $17,000! Ouch. Unfortunately, this group learned the hard way about the importance of fiscal controls in PTOs and PTAs.

Have you been to our clip art gallery recently? Worth a visit — we’ve added lots of new colorful images so you can jazz up your flyers and newsletters.You can download any or all of these high-resolution image files, then resize, crop, or edit them in any way that works for your group’s needs. They’re free for parent group use in print, online, or anywhere else.

When it comes to managing your PTO’s reputation, you can either proactively set the tone yourself or have your parents choose the default description, thinking of your group as “that fundraising group that’s always hitting us up for money.” I obviously prefer the first option.

Being known as just a fundraising group is far from warm and fuzzy. And it’s really hard to get new volunteers to excitedly sign up to be fundraisers. The opposite is true if you can become known for all your good work and for parent involvement and for your welcoming, fun, supportive atmosphere.

The key to changing that reputation is, first, actually earning the change. You’re doing lots of good work beyond fundraising and you’re welcoming, fun and supportive, right? If so, the rest is just marketing. Are you letting parents know about your good work? All the time? When you donate something to the school, do you publicize that? You could even put a small “proudly donated by the parents of the XYZ PTO” plaque on the item. That’s not bragging — that’s good marketing, and it’s part of your leadership challenge.

We have a great article on effectively marketing your parent group with more tips such as these. Like the companies that put their names on sports arenas, you want your PTO or PTA’s name associated with good work and fun events and results. And you want that association to last all year long.

For those of you who have been involved with a playground fundraising effort, you know that it’s an ambitious and rewarding project. Just look at the faces of the children at a new playground grand opening and all your efforts are instantly rewarded.

The tenacity of the elementary school PTA featured in this recent article is admirable. To date they have raised 37K and secured matching grant funding.But what makes it even better is that they are holding a barbecue and silent auction to raise even more money. Why? To replace the gravel on the playground with compressed wood chips — a wheelchair-friendly product that will let their special-needs preschoolers enjoy the playground. That’s going to be one awesome playground.

We hear it a lot this time of year: “I am so excited to be the new PTO president… but I’m also nervous!” Or, “I had a great year this year, but I am already thinking of ways to improve the board for the next school year.” Well, whether you’re new to the job or an old pro, our FREE New Leader Kit will be your new best friend. The insider tips will give you the tools you need to lead with confidence — so you can relax a little this summer.

The parent groups we talk to are a constant source of inspiration. This newly formed PTSA group from Arizona is no different. Motivated by state budget cuts, they are working tirelessly through the summer to raise money for their school and to “have some fun activities for the kids.” A softball tournament and poker run are two of the ways they are building community and raising money. Very Impressive.