We are having the same thing in Janaury 2008 and we are asking the teachers to send in items for one big basket to be auctioned off. The theme that we gave them "My favorite snowy day things" with ideas of cocoa mix and cups, cookie mix and cutters, dvds, games etc. Since it is right after the holidays we are asking the teachers to donate one item to make a large basket. We also explained how excited the children get to see that they took the time to help make this event special.

I have done 5 auctions for Charity and the internet is the way to get the word out. Since you have until April, my suggestion would be to create a website and offer any donor to be listed on your website as a thank you for their donation. This works great for community businesses. I used the #1 website hosting company in the world to built a site and they are highly rated and have great service 24/7. They provide 1 free domain and the cost is only $3.99 month. They provide all the software including templates. If you have anyone who knows a little about computers they could build the site easily. My suggestion once you get the site up is to utilize free internet advertising such as Craiglist. Here is their link 1&1 Internet Inc. - Web Hosting Services and Domain Name Registration Good Luck!!!

Kard-your Promethean boards are $8000?!? Our school is slowly but surely buying these too, but I thought ours were only $1000. Are there different kinds do you know? Thanks!

We just had our 3rd live auction and we raised nearly $13,000. Keep in mind that our school enrollment is 99 students Pre-K through grade 6.
This year we are purchasing a Promethean Interactive White Board at the cost of nearly $8,000.
Is the auction alot of work? You bet! Bur definately worth it! Our auctioneer volunteers his time and its a great day for all!

We were always lucky enough to get the principal's support on our annual Carnival/Spring Fling.

PTO never expected excessive participation from the teachers in the various events it hosted or by attending meetings. Mostly we needed them to support us in the classroom helping get information out and forms/money collected. (And - of course - to focus on teaching!)

But the annual Carnival/Spring Fling was consider THE big school/PTO event and the principal cheerfully but firmly expected EVERY single staff member to sign up to help. We rarely had any reluctant teachers since it was just the one obligation per year.

We had sign up sheets in the staff workroom. Anyone who truly couldn't be there to work cleared it with the principal and then offered to help with advance prep work or do something like write thank you notes afterword.

Each class also has a theme basket. We supply all the flyers and encourage the teacher to rally support for filling the basket. Some are more willing than others to make the effort. But overall, we end up with a lot of nice baskets.

I recently held a raffle with our school children. To encourage the teachers to remember to push raffle ticket sales I offered the class that sells the most raffle tickets a breakfast provided by the committee and the TEACHER of that class got to come to work 2 hours late that day and I served her a beautiful lunch...3 classes ended up tieing!!! I had to provide breakfast for 67 kids and 3 teachers got to come to work late! They loved it!