Membership can be such a tough nut. On the PTA Discussion Boards specifically on membership. It would take you some browsing around but there are many many helpful information go to connect.familyeducation.com/webx/webx.dl...T1aClgkfh^5@.ee8b853 and some general membership information on our council site www.myschoolonline.com/folder/0,1872,0-163653-41-36007,00.html (Membership developement calendar, business memberships, theme ideas,[mind you some of the info is specific to our units, but still may be helpful]) Bring kids to the meetings and their parents will come. Have the choir, orchestra or band perform (at the end of your short meeting)offer token raffle prizes donated by local businesses, have the principal speak at each meeting, mention in your newsletter in brief what happened at the last meeting and what is planned for the next, Bring in a speaker to a couple of meetings a year. Just some ideas.

I am in awe of the groups out there who have increased their membership! We are facing another year of fighting to stay alive. I pray that we have some new folks coming on board who feel as strongly as we do about supporting our kids' education and will actively participate. We have lots of parents who will help out when we need it, but no one who will take on leadership roles. My goal this year is to find a whole other slate of officers, as several of us have children who will be graduating. We have done a lot of great things and are moving in a very positive direction, but the majority of parents at our school don't want to be Boosters, even though they support us at all our events. We usually only have 2 or 3 people attend our meetings (counting board members!) even though we've worked to make the meetings short and sweet. We sent home surveys at the end of the school year and got lots of great feedback and offers of help. The analogy is that there are a lot of oars in the water and people manning them, but no one wants to take the helm and steer the boat. Has anyone else faced this? I can't think of any other way to disperse our funds and set up events except through our group, but we may have to disband at the end of the year without new leaders.

I would like to find some novel ways of conducting meetings that have worked to bring new members into your group and nurture them into leadership roles.