Question: Planning a PTA Vision

On Monday we are having a PTA meeting of Room Parents, officers and the Board. I am the President Elect and was asked to lead the group in a discussion of our PTA vission, mission, goals, etc. I am totally overwhelmed. I'm not sure where to start or how to lead us in a group discussion and stay focused. In the end our goal is to come up with a vision for where we want our PTA to be in 2 or 3 years - we've been sort of rolling along from event to event the past few years. We also want to be able to have a list of goals or objectives describing what we do as a PTA to present to businesses when we ask for them to sponsor us. I'm in desperate need of some advice. help:)

Asked by hbingham

Answers:

Community Advice

CPerry writes:
Wow! That's an ambitious meeting you are having. Well the first question to ask is do you have a long term fund raising goal, such as updating the playground equipment, putting in an outdoor classroom, fixing the parking lot or purchasing a new sign for the school? If yes, then establish how much of your yearly budget will go toward that. Next, you perhaps want to figure out the list of things you would like to do annually. For example, we'd like to have five family evening events, fund three field trips, a puppet show, a traveling zoo, a fun fair and back to school picnic every year. Thirdly, you will want to establish fundraising goals, such as two catalog sales, box tops, labels 4 education, restaurant share nights, raffles, auctions, etc. At then end you should say that in 2 to 3 years, you want to have this sized budget, with these events, fundraisers and be 'this' close to or have accomplished our long term goal... If you guys can have an outline with those parameters, you will be doing better than most. We are in our first year and have only briefly touched on a long term goals such as this, so good luck and I hope your meeting goes well.

Advice from PTO Today

Rose H writes:
CPerry, that is a great answer! I like how you start with the very big picture and then break it down into more manageable chunks. Here are some articles that may be helpful to you: How to Create A Mission Statement ; Creating a Long Term Plan; and A Sample PTO Strategic Plan