Why is your group hoping to charge for membership?
If you have 300 families, then you may get $200 or $300 from membership (at your $1 pricepoint), right?
I just don't see much upside for your group in that at all.
You'll add another "hit" on parents' pocketbooks (further enhancing a common perception that "the parent group is always/only after our dollars."). You'll add another fairly significant piece of work for your group (publicizing the member drive, collecting the funds, tracking members). And -- worst of all -- you'll increase a perception of them (those who pay) vs us (those who don't).
As you can tell, I'm a big proponent of the involvement benefits associated with a no-dues policy. "We're all members. We're all in this together for the kids." those are the messages i think a no-dues policy send. And in the long run, I think an engaged, involved school community will yield you far more dollars (by supporting your existing efforts more) than will the $1 per family dues system.
we also have a no due policy. We are set up that anyone is a "member" that includes grandparents as well. we try to stress alot that we are an open "family". Im not keen on the "group" wording!it does make a difference, alot of parents use to pay pta dues but never were involved at all.
"When you stop learning you stop growing."
Two years ago, we did away with our $10/family dues. For your dues, you would get the school directory and a note-to-school pad. So, instead, we just set dues to zero and sold the directories outright to make about the same amount of money.
By eliminating "dues" we are acknowledging ALL the contributions of time and effort our parents make, whether or not they ever perceived themselves as a "PTO member". We have always had a very strong group, but for some reason, some parents have an averion to being a part of PTO, even though they volunteer at school. I don't get it, cause we really don't demand anything of our "members" - oh well, I guess it's just a perception.
It's only our 2nd year with no dues, so the perception is still evolving, but I'm glad we no longer have a distinction between members and non-members.
Our parents group charges "at least $20" membership dues. No wonder we have a very small group! It is sad that our group is controlled by parents from the well to do suburbs, while struggling families from the sticks, mine included, are mostly priced out of this group and many of its activities. I'm so glad to read and learn here about other groups with better ideas, maybe someday our group can change for the better.
We have $5 per familiy for dues. We raised it from $1 last year.
We make magnets with all the family events, fundraisers, no-school days, emergecy contact info, etc on them that the parents really like to have for their fridge. They are "free" with the membership. We've had people ask to buy them but not become members and we're happy to for $5.
When people ask about what it does, we have a long list of things that the due are for that we can advise them on. I actually have not said anything about voting - but keep it focused on what it does for the students and the families (e.g. we raised $32,000 last year, membership brings in about $1,200 of that. We provide funding for field trips, after school reading program, class room indoor reccess games, and other stuff. Advise on the family events that we put on at no profit but to break even. etc.) Ususally by the time we get to the 5th or 6th thing, people are "wow' ok, I'll sign up.
We have broken our membership into 2 levels (with an initial third level)
We have regular members - all families that have children that attend the school
Voting members - To have voting rights you must pay Dues of $2 per year. Our dues fund will go to paying administrative costs such as paying for our web site and paying Insurance, NPN membership, ect. We are presenting paying Dues so that we will not have to take as much money from fund raising to pay for such expences (Billing it as more fund raising moneys will go directly to the students) Also you must be a Voting member to run for office (we do have a hardship clause in our bylaws. this clause is "required" by law)
We are also holding a "Charter member" drive - Families that are willing to donate $20 or more will be considered Charter members. They will have Voting privlage as long as their children go to our school (Basicly a one time Dues payment with the understanding that if Dues rate goes up in the future they will not be required to pay more to keep their voting ability)
As charter members they also get their name listed on our web site and in our printed "flyer" along with a dedication or words of wisdom from them.
We are running the Charter membership drive until Oct 31. It is proving to be a great sucess and we may actualy be able to cover administrative costs for quite a few years totaly. The one major benifit of the "Charter" option is that every 5 years or so the PTO can run another Charter Drive to get a boost in the administrative cost account (The old Charter members children move on the the next level of schooling)
