PTO Today

This may sound strange, but I believe “the kids’ money” is the most damaging phrase uttered at PTO and PTA meetings. Seriously, no three words have led to more bad decisions for school parent groups.

Usually, the phrase is used to shut down debate on what may be a very good idea. Training for new officers? Volunteer appreciation? A professional DJ for the big school dance (instead of the volunteer dad with his iPod and speakers)? All of these things get shot down with “We can’t spend our dollars on that because it’s the kids’ money.”

The implication is that PTO or PTA dollars can only be spent on items tangible to the students (a field trip, a whiteboard, classroom supplies, a playground), and that is short-sighted thinking.

Your dollars should be spent (wisely and with the long term in mind) on things that will help you reach your goals. If your goals are to increase involvement and make your school a great community, then officer training, involvement tools, volunteer appreciation, and even that DJ who costs a bit more all can be terrific investments.

You should definitely be careful stewards of your group’s funds. But the best groups understand that investing in your group in ways the kids can’t touch — making your leaders better, making your events better, making your whole school a great place for families and volunteers and teachers and kids — is the best way to make sure your group’s dollars benefit the kids in the long run.

Agree or disagree? I’d love to continue this discussion/debate over on the message boards.

Gearing up for a fall fundraising auction? If yes, then you’re likely in “acquisition mode,” where your volunteers are scrambling for donations that you can auction off. That’s fine, and I totally see the value in getting $20 for the dry cleaning gift card you got for free. But if you want a really successful, memorable auction, focus more on what I call “stuff you can’t get at Target.”

The best memories and your best profits will come from truly one-of-a-kind items. The good news is that these don’t have to cost your group much at all, if anything. My mom, a 1st grade teacher, used to offer two hours of after-school computer time and an ice-cream trip. That item went for big bucks each year. Her cost: $3.99. At my children’s school, the ride home in a police car, Principal for a Day, and naming rights for the school cafeteria (David’s Deli, Rachel’s Restaurant) are the big ticket items.

Not only do these items turn nice profits, they also generate the kind of buzz that helps you grow your auction year after year. Frankly, dry cleaning gift cards or a $50 restaurant trip for $42 just aren’t all that buzzworthy. For long-term success, buzz matters.

We have a ton of auction info on the site. Check out these links:

• Auction Gold: Student Art Projects
• Auction Planning FAQs
• School Auctions Resources Page

Recently a lot of people have been searching ptotoday.com for information on carnivals and fall fairs. A fall carnival is a great event to create excitement among kids. It’s also a terrific way to get parents involved and create camaraderie, since you’ll need a lot of volunteers but the jobs are mostly fun.

Here are my top tips for running a carnival:

• Keep volunteer shifts short so parents can spend time with their children. If you need extra volunteers, tap high school service clubs or sports teams.
• If you plan to charge, take money in just one place and issue tickets. It’s important to limit the number of people handling cash. Consider selling wristbands so kids can enjoy all the games without worrying about how much each one costs.
• Fun game idea: Create your own mini golf course. Even one hole will be popular, and it’s a good project to get creative dads involved — you might even find a crafty person to build a windmill for your course.

Here are three links with great resources for planning your carnival. Have fun!

• School Carnival Planning Basics
• Classic Carnival Activities
• Carnival File Exchange: Flyers, feedback forms, supply lists, and more

We get this question a lot, and my answer is, probably fewer than you typically run.

For my full explanation, you can check out my column “The Fundraising Myth.” But three key factors make the case for running fewer fundraisers (but running your remaining fundraisers better):

First, groups that fundraise less (but better) actually make more money from their fundraisers in the long run. Parents who are connected and served by a group that isn’t all about fundraising typically open their wallets wider when it is time to support the group.

Secondly, volunteers and their volunteer time are precious. If you’re having trouble recruiting help, it could be because so many of your jobs are and so much of your focus is around fundraising. Volunteers aren’t clamoring to hit up their friends for cash.

Finally, your parents will appreciate your group more if you carefully choose a few great-fit options and run those few very, very well. Better promotion, better prizes, better products and prices. Asking parents to support two or three really well-run fundraisers is way better than reaching into parents’ pockets every month for nine straight months.

We don’t exist to fundraise. We fundraise (hopefully well) to support the great work that we do in schools and for kids. Make this the year your group decides to get a bit smarter about how often you ask parents for dollars.

If your parent group or school (or even the student council or National Honor Society at your school) does any sort of hunger-fighting work, you’re going to love the fall 2011 offerings from Schools Fight Hunger.

Does your school run a food drive in the fall semester sometime? If so, you have to connect with Schools Fight Hunger and the 2011 Child Hunger Ends Here program. And if not, this is a great year to get started. Tens of thousands of schools already do this.

This year, the folks at ConAgra Foods are helping make traditional food drives even more fun and more effective. There’s a very cool free planning toolkit for food drives (we’ve seen the banners — awesome!); there’s the chance for participating schools to win very nice prizes (ultimate field trip, anyone?); and — best of all — ConAgra is making a big extra donation to Feeding America based on your hunger-fighting work at your school.

A couple of notes:

1. If any group at your school has already done hunger-fighting work, make sure your school gets credit on the national honor roll at www.schoolsfighthunger.org/schools.html.
2. Please take a minute to forward this note to your principal or club director or anyone at your school who does this kind of work. There’s no doubt in my mind that their work will be easier and more effective this year if they take advantage of all the free tools and offers. That link for the fall 2011 free kit is www.schoolsfighthunger.org/requestkit.html.

Supporting Schools Fight Hunger and celebrating the work of PTOs and PTAs who get involved is just about our favorite work here at PTO Today. Thanks in advance for all you do for this important cause.

Simple note this week as we move into August. I’ve written more than 70 columns for PTO Today magazine these past 12 years. Here are my 3 favorites, where I have a point of view that may surprise you.

A Tale of Two Volunteers: Bridging the newbie-veteran gap.

Let Teachers Teach: What do you really want, and what should you expect, from the “T” in PTO?

The Truth About Cliques: If people say your group is a clique, it is. In this case, perception matters.

Very excited to announce to you today the launch of our newest service for parents and teachers and PTOs and PTAs: TeacherWishList.com.

If your teachers and school are like most, then 1) teachers are spending nearly $500 of their own money each year on classroom supplies, and 2) parents try to help out where they can.

That’s why we developed TeacherWishList.com — we’re taking the old-fashioned printed wish list and making it a lot more new-fashioned using the web and email tools and even social media. Teachers can load their lists (or parents or your PTO can load the lists for them) and then share and update the lists and basically get the help they deserve.

My advice: Check out Teacher Wish List yourself (and recommend it to your teacher friends). For PTOs and PTAs, we’ve also put together a free kit to help your parent group introduce Teacher Wish List to the whole school. It has posters for the teachers’ lounge, letters to teachers and parents, and more. Get a kit for your school at TeacherWishList.com/freekit.

For a limited time, there are also some great giveaways with Teacher Wish List. Each week, our partners at Bounty are giving 10 teachers $462 (the amount they spend on average out of their own pockets), and participating schools will be entered to win a $25,000 creative classroom makeover, as well. It’s great stuff! And we here at PTO Today have added a bit to the pot with $462 grants for PTOs and PTAs that get their whole school involved (start by ordering the free kit).

Look for more updates on Teacher Wish List in the weeks and months ahead. We’d love your feedback on how we can make it an even better solution for your teachers, your parents, and your school.

My fourth and youngest child enters kindergarten next month. While she knows a lot of the teachers and kids at her new school (thanks to her brothers), she’ll also get a warm welcome at our school’s sixth annual welcome party for incoming kindergartners.

The students love it; parents love it; and it’s been really good for our parent group, too. Even better, it’s really simple to execute.

The recipe is basically: 1) a two-hour window at our local playground’s covered picnic area; 2) an invitation to each new student and family; 3) about five big buckets of ice cream; 4) some napkins, name tags, and water; and 5) a bunch of crossed fingers for sun.

The kids show up and play with their soon-to-be new buddies on the playground. Everyone gets a name tag. All the parents cautiously and politely mingle. We usually have 10 to 15 veteran families there to welcome and answer questions from nervous newbies. The welcome speech is maybe three to four minutes tops. The focus is on ice cream and fun and community.

The end result: We have a nice crop of new students and families whose first interaction with our school is very positive and warm. It’s also been a great way to informally introduce our parent involvement opportunities to these new parents. Very cool.

I hope you can create a tradition of your own at your school. We have a ton of good content on welcoming new families:

• Open Doors, Lots of Them
• Make New Families Feel Welcome
• Community Night Helps Families Find Resources

Is your group extensively using email yet? If not, you simply have to make it part of your 2011-12 plans. Now’s the time to set the stage.

Why email? When compared with traditional PTO and PTA printed flyers, email is less expensive, more green, and far easier. Most important, email is more effective (reaches parents more easily) and is preferred by your target audience of parents.

The first step is getting the email addresses and the back-to-school forms are the easiest place to start. Work now to get the forms right to collect email addresses and permission from all of your parents this fall. Here’s a sample email opt-in form.

And how do you send the email? There are multiple options, but I think you’ll really like our Parent Express Email tool. It’s free and easy, and — with our tech guys working hard all the time — it’s getting better every month. Whether you’re new to emailing parents or you’ve been doing it another way (like your personal Outlook account), I think you’ll find Parent Express (PEX) to be your best option. Give it a try.

No tip this week. Fourth of July week should be the apex of PTO and PTA relaxation. One year done. Another year still over the horizon. Enjoy!

If you’re looking for some light reading, here are three of my favorite “fun” PTO features from this past year:

• Workouts for PTO leaders
• How many PTOers does it take to change a light bulb?
• Fantastic vacation spots just for PTO and PTA leaders

Good stuff!