I like your "welcome to our PTO" letter. But what is your "friend finder"?

I don't send out a 'welcome to our pto' letter.
As a perk, all families who are members get a school directory with class rosters, names, addresses, phone, e-mail information.
Here is my membership letter.
It is the front cover of a packet I send home on the first friday in September. Feel free to clone it or take parts of it. It should be copied on school letter head.


Welcome / Welcome Back to All [school name] Families.
September is an exciting time and we are looking forward to another great year!
As the [school name pto] we would like to introduce ourselves and give you some idea of what we do “behind the scenes”. The [school name pto]provides services that enhance our children’s everyday educational experience and strives to give parents a more direct voice in what happens at our school. We coordinate many programs that all the students enjoy, such as assemblies, fund class parties as well as coordinate family activities including pumpkin carving night, holiday gift shop and our annual fun fair. We are able to do all these things through our fundraising activities throughout the year which are primarily membership dues, fall fundraiser and our spring basket auction.
The success of [school name pto] is dependant upon people who are enthusiastic about volunteering at our school. We have many committees that are active at different times of the year and require various levels of commitment. Parents who work with computers might help by doing electronic committee work,(e.g. e-mails, faxes, copying) while parents with time during the day might come to the school to help out with a committee( e.g. School Store, Life Skills.) Our tricky tray, which takes place in the spring, is by far the largest event we sponsor and needs many volunteers. Whatever your own level of flexibility, [school name pto]always appreciates their parent volunteers, as do our teachers and staff. Keep in mind that by volunteering, you will get to enjoy interacting with the kids, become friends with other parents, and accomplish things that truly make a difference.
Attached are the [school name pto]membership/friend finder/volunteer forms. Please take the time to read the committee descriptions and sign up for the ones you find interesting. As the year progresses and the committees come together, you will be contacted by phone and/or e-mail from the chairperson. Another great benefit to joining the [school name pto]is you will receive a school friend finder.
Please return the membership dues of $10 per family and membership/volunteer forms to school via backpack by Sept. 30.

Warm regards,
[presidents names

If you email me at bevshorespto AT cs.com, it will be easier for me to send it to you.

Can anyone please send any forms or letters they have found to be invaluable to yourself. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
I am trying to get things off and running as smoothly as possible. Thanks :confused:

Could someone please email me a copy of theirs as well? My email is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In the past our school has never used any type of letter, just a membership card. This year I would like to have a membership packet (listing the benefits of joining) as well as have a membership card which they could use to recieve discounts off of different things.

I was thinking of maybe having a school family night and not charging but allowing those with membership cards discounts of refreshments

or

Having a school sponsored field trip at the end of the year and giving parents with membership cards a discount off of the price of admission.

I would love a copy of any letters to go with membership cards- or anything else you might have. Communication is an area we are trying to make stronger. Please email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Thanks so much for your time.

Lisa