I wanted to reiterate what Rocket said about being ready to handle volunteers BEFORE you solicit them. At our school we've found nothing discourages parent participation more than sending out a volunteer flyer, receiving responses, and then failing to ever give those people the chance to actually do what they volunteered to do. I know that sounds simple, but I've seen the same thing happen with other (non-school) organizations and with the same results.

Have a system in place, with someone designated to contact each and every volunteer, before you even send out the flyers. If you have to contact some people to say, "Sorry, we got even more volunteers than we needed for this function so we won't be able to use you this time, but how about this or this or this," that's okay. They know their offer was appreciated, and they'll probably be willing to do something else. But if no one bothers to follow up on their offer, those parents won't bother to offer again.

Here are a couple of great ways to raise extra bucks with little effort: Collect BoxTops for Education, you receive 10 cents per Box Top (we raise more than $700 per school year/400 students at our school); check with your local grocery store if they have a rebate program that parents can join and when they shop, your school PTO will receive a rebate 2% or so (It adds up to nearly $2,000 for us per school year); Ask local business to be a PTO sponsor for $50-$100 and list them in your newsletter, website, etc. Also, we get business sponsors at $300 for all of our events. We ask them to provide a banner for the event and we hang it, thank them, give them a plaque at the event, etc. Do some of the easy, no brainer things because they really add up with little effort. We raise nearly $8,000 per year just in no brainer ways! In addition, we do a fall catalog with Innisbrook and raise $15,000 profit.

A great parent involvement idea is a program called Three for Me. Check it out at www.three4me.com. You'll get hundreds of parent volunteers, so you better be ready to coordinate them before you kick it off at your school.

.....or....give yourself a little more time and celebrate Thanksgiving in a very big way! Make it a harvest party and let the kids come in pilgrim and indian outfits made in class.

Welcome aboard! Like I was told once, this will be the hardest job you will love and be amazed with yourself and your strength!

Hi Z, I am a new PTO prez this year too, and we are neighbors. I am down near the beaches in RI. I have become so obsessed with the PTO my hubby is consulting a divorce lawyer(just kidding). I spend hours online, calling people, writing, planning, creating fliers, etc...I have a briefcase size dayplanner that is attatched to me at all times and I am in the school every morning before I go to work. I have busted my butt this year and it is starting to pay off. I f you want to talk I am on aol, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or you e-mail me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Good luck to you and I hope your principal is more cooperative than mine.

Hi Zuleika & welcome!

This is how we get volunteers...we create a flyer that lists all the events during the year that will need volunteers. We send them home with the kids and the parents fill them out and send them back. Our secretary then compiles a list for each event that can be given to each chairperson so that they know who to call to help them. We get our chairpersons at our actual PTO meeting. We pass it around at the end of the year and the beginning of the new year and let people sign up to chair the various events. Since this is your first year, I would suggest that your chairpersons create a folder for each event with all the details, particulars, and how they ran it, prices, etc. Then in future years that folder can be handed over to the new chairperson to help them.

It is not too late to plan a Halloween party for the kids, but you would have to get to work on it right away. Things can be harder to do when you have less time to plan them, but if you are motivated then you can get it done.

As for fundraisers...there are many. Our School does a lot of them, some schools only do a couple of them. Here are some of the more successful ones.

Fall Catalog...this is probably too late for you guys right now, but this brings in good money and it is a good way to kick off the year. Some folks also do a spring catalog, we actually do Yankee Candles in the Spring as opposed to a catalog. There are many catalog companies. You can look here on PTO TODAY in the fundraising Yellow pages.

Scholastic.com Scholastic Book Fairs, we do 2 of these a year, one in the fall and one in the spring. They are very successful for us. The kids love it, the parents love it, & the teachers love it.

Walk a thons are becoming a big thing now & they too bring in good money.

You can sell everything from Pizza, coffee, to cookie dough. Browse through the Fundraising yellow pages here and check them all out. If you are interestd in particular things it will be easier for people to give you feedback.

Good Luck!

[ 10-03-2004, 05:59 PM: Message edited by: Serendipity ]