I was looking for an old column I wrote on this, one of my favorite topics.
I believe dues hurt more than they help. I'll list a couple of reasons:
1. The message. "I have to pay to be a part of the parent's group at my kid's school?" It's off-putting, in my opinion, and really helps set up the recurring problem where parents think of the group as always in their pocket.
2. Involvement problems (quite related to #1). Everytime we survey, leaders tell us that 'getting more parents involved" is their biggest challenge. And then some groups actually tell parents they have to pay if they want a vote. Seems counter-intuitive. Car dealers struggle to get customers on their lots. Do they then charge customers to come in and browse? Or do they offer free popcorn and balloons for the kids?
3. The effort. It amazes when i see groups spending so much of their time (especially that key time at the beginning of the year) on the membership drive. For some groups, it never ends. "Let's get 100% of teachers to pay." "Let's get more dads to pay." All that focus and attention (and sometimes frustration) and what does it bring in? $400? $650? The group would be be far better served, in my opinion -- and could likely even make more money long-term in other fundraisers -- by focusing on openness and involvement than by focusing on a paid membership drive.
We don't charge dues either but this year, to try to make some extra funds, we started a "Pledge Drive". Below is a generic copy of the letter we sent out to the families - feel free to use.
Welcome Back to all (Your School) Families!
- From the (Your) P.T.O. (Parent Teacher Organization) -
We are looking forward to another great year!
As the ___ PTO, we would like to introduce ourselves and give you some idea of what we do “behind the scenesâ€. The ___ 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 or help in providing many programs that all the students enjoy, such as assemblies, school and family activities including Book Fairs, holiday gift shop, an Ice Cream Social, the Hospitality Dance program and so on. We are able to do all these things through our fundraising activities throughout the year, which are primarily funded by our fall fundraiser (that only occurs once every 2 years) and our Book Fairs. Here’s a list of just a few things that we were able to accomplish with our fundraising last year:
1. Provide the Production staff with funds for new equipment.
2. Provide some replacement outdoor recess/recreation equipment.
3. Replenish the Borrow boxes that are located in the Parent Resource Center.
4. Provided the teachers with a small reimbursement for some of their classroom expenses that they incurred themselves.
5. Helped the (Your School) present Jim Arnosky (a science author) and Rick Charette (singer).
How do you become a member? That’s the easiest part of all! If you are the parent/guardian of a ___ student then you are automatically considered to be a member. PTO meetings are held every other month at 7 p.m. in the library that are open to all (see the school calendar for dates).
The ___ PTO has a history of being greatly blessed as we are primarily 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. Whatever your own level of flexibility, the ___ PTO always appreciates our 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.
Another aspect we are adding to the mix this year is a “Pledge Driveâ€. As noted in just the short list above we have been able to aid the school, students and staff on several occasions with money raised from our fundraising activities and we are all well aware of how busy everyone’s schedule can get! If you wish to help out with a pledge to the ___ PTO because you’d like to help keep the ball rolling but don’t have the time to volunteer, it would be greatly appreciated and as you can see, it would be put towards the benefit of our school and therefore, our children. If you would like to send in a pledge, please fill out the form below and your check can be made payable to: ___ PTO. You can send it back to your child’s teacher with “PTO†written on the envelope or it can be dropped off in the main office.
Name_________________________________________________ Pledge Amount = $___________________
No dues, everyone is a member. When we started in 2001 our principal was adamant about the no dues and about having free family nights, so to this day we have never charged dues and not one dime at our events for anything at all!! It has made ahuge difference and we have more and more people volunteering after attending an event. All of our expenses come from our fundraisers.
"When you stop learning you stop growing."
No, we do not charge. Everyone parent is automatically a member. I thought dues were mainly geared towards PTA's but I may be wrong...Our parents would look at me like I had 3 heads if I told them they had to pay dues!
Our group charges $5.00. I don't agree with that and I get outvoted everytime I bring it up. I think it turns some people away. Before I got up to my eyeballs in it, I never used to pay the dues. Why should I pay to volunteer? Our group makes maybe $200 from them, so it's not big bucks. This year, we are going to do a raffle type thing. Your $5.00 membership fee gets you a ticket for a prize.(We don't know what yet) That sounds like a lot more fun to me and hopefully we get more people to sign on.
