PTO Today

Three facts: First, this is about the busiest time of year for PTO and PTA leaders; second, this is the time of year when new parents first express interest in helping out at the school; and third, it takes work and patience (which are in short supply) to get a new volunteer started.

One key tip: Do not let your busyness get in the way of bringing in those new volunteers. Do whatever it takes right away to say yes to (or to find a job for) every new parent who asks to help. Connecting with them and welcoming them now is the most important thing you can do these days for the long-term health of your group.

If you delay — or worse, say no — those new parents will think you don’t want their help. Their enthusiasm will wane. The clique word will creep in even when it’s not your intention. Ugh.

I love this article about little things PTOs and PTAs do that hurt involvement. Saying “not yet” to willing volunteers is at the top of that list.

Are you involved in any kind of hunger-fighting work this fall? If you are, please take a second and connect your school with Schools Fight Hunger and the Fall 2011 Child Hunger Ends Here campaign. It’s completely free for schools and PTOs and PTAs, and you’ll get:

• One of the best program planning kits (for any kind of program!) we’ve seen. The vinyl banner alone will bring your food drive up about 6 notches.
• Info on how you can make your fall food drive so much more through what amounts to a matching donation program from ConAgra Foods. Very cool.
• The ability to make sure your school gets full, public credit in the national tally of schools doing this good work. (See the national register.)

It’s awesome for schools that already do this kind of work (makes it easier and better) and it’s a perfect start if you’ve been thinking about starting a food drive at your school. Get connected here.

Finally, if you know the student council president or the National Honor Society adviser or if you have a sister in Topeka who’s involved with a school food drive somehow, could you please forward this note? We’re pretty passionate about getting schools connected to this good work. Hope you can tell.

One of my favorite leadership maxims is also a powerful tip for growing your PTO or PTA.

If your group has success, praise and thank widely. You want as many people as possible basking in the sunlight of a hard-earned win. And yes, that applies even if you did nearly all the work and saved the event yourself. Here are some tips for appreciating and thanking volunteers.

Similarly, if your group makes a mistake or drops a ball — fess up, apologize, and refrain from pointing fingers. “We’ll do better” is 8 million times better than “Sarah’s mom shouldn’t have screwed this up.” The latter is a surefire way to lose Sarah’s mom and a whole bunch of other volunteers.

This tip goes double for dealing with your principal. Take every chance you get to publicly thank her for support or helpful efforts (even overstating it). Honey works well with nearly every principal I’ve ever worked with. (Here’s a column of mine on the care and feeding of your principal).

P.S. — Have you checked out SchoolFamily.com lately? It’s our sister site aimed at helping parents navigate the school years. Bet you’ll find some great stuff there for you and your family. Hope you enjoy and perhaps share it with the wider group of parents at your school.

A bit of a self-serving tip this week, but I still think it’s a pretty good one. Do you get ideas, helpful tools or even a bit of inspiration from PTO Today and ptotoday.com? I hope so.

If so, would you take a minute to forward this post to some fellow PTO or PTA leaders you know or work with? They can sign up for the email themselves or visit the site and hopefully find some inspiration themselves.

We know from experience that the more leaders who connect with PTO Today, the better, as nearly all of our best ideas come directly from creative leaders like you. More leaders — more ideas. And everyone wins.

Hope your school year is off to a great start. Thanks in advance for introducing PTO Today to some of your friends and fellow volunteers. It’s worth the couple of minutes.

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.