I agree, $20 is steep. We charge $5 per family; and each family that joins gets a small incentive. Once it was a window cling for their car; recently we had a keychain with our school logo on it. Also, we have used class incentives for classes reaching 50%, 75%, and 100% membership levels (popcorn, snowcone, and pizza parties). I'm not sure I'd recommend the class incentives, though, as we have had teachers paying for the last one or two kids in order to get a pizza party for the class (sort of defeats the purpose).
Anyone can volunteer; you do not have to be a member to volunteer at the school. We have always made it clear that joining the PFA does not obligate you do attend meetings or do anything at all if you don't want to.
Our PTA charges a $3.50 fee. We also have a section in our newsletter and bulletin board entitled "Your PTA $ at Work". This way parents can see what that money does for our school. We also try to acknowledge members as often as possible in different ways.
I tried to get our school to change the fees to zero no luck. It wasn't a good idea to everyone.
That would take care of voting issues as of who gets to vote and counting etc., etc., I think that all parents, etc., should be members automatically.
Wow, I had no idea there were groups out there that collected dues for PTO. As the vice president of our school I have to honestly say I would not attend a meeting let alone be on the board if I had to pay any amount of money.
Can I recommend another approach for you?....
Do the opposite to attract new members and also to keep current members. We do not collect any dues; however,we provide free childcare in the school gym during all meetings (high school honor society students who are trained in CPR), provide refreshments for both the children and the adults, and provide seminars on tough parenting/school issues (ie: saving for college). The seminars are the biggest incentive as we notice our attendance increases during those meetings (it is a WIN/WIN situation...we get more people to hear the PTO message and the parents/teacher gets information on a subject they are interested in).
We're PTO of a brand new middle school. We decided not charge anything this year since we need all the help we could get - which turned out to be very little. We're thinking about next year charging $5 and in return we would give the parents a membership card which would entitle them and their family one free admission to a football, wrestling, basketball game (This normally is about $3.00 per person) or even some fun event or supper. We would just hole punch their membership card when they redeemed it. Has anyone else tried this approach?
