I would love to see this question on "Who Wants to be a Millionare"!
I guess I take a different approach, I invite parents to come for lunch, join us for a field trip, the PE teachers need an extra hand for field day, and the library needs a hand with the book fair/sale. Sure we have the same moms at our meetings but at the beginning of the year is when we sometimes catch Dads and remind them about coming for lunch etc. I guess I feel if I can get them in the door for something fun I may just see them when we need them!

Another thought would be to list where you need help the most in your newsletter or flyer. I will be honest with you that when my son comes home with a letter and all the teacher needs is cookies or helpers....I get out the cookie pans! And I feel good knowing what and where help is needed. I do this with sign up sheets too.

Hope this helps, speaking of volunteers, need to work on my list for our meeting!

M's Mom,
This is more work for your leaders, but you have to be specific about what your asking for. Very few people will just come up and say "Let me plan that!", but you will have a lot more volunteers if you are specific about the job and the time it takes to do it. Otherwise, most folks just see a black hole ahead.

Make sure there is something to do. Nothing will kill volunteer enthuasium faster than showing up and there is nothing to do.

We have over 200 volunteers at our annual carnival. We are specific about the job and the time. Folks are very comfortable with what they are signing up for and are willing to do it.

If you do annual events, keep notes for the next person. It makes it easier to say yes if you don't have to reinvent the wheel.

And after doing this for 20 years, I have found you get the most response if you tie the job to their children. Emphasize volunteering for the classrooms or the teacher. When you put the PTO "tag" on it, it is much easier for them to say no.

Good luck. If it means anything, realize we all struggle with this same problem.

Here's something we discussed last night at our PTA meeting. How to recruit more volunteers. How do you get parents interested in volunteering when they obviously haven't done so. It makes absolutely no sense to me that a parent wouldn't want to be involved in their school. Our school is full of wonderful friendly parents(the elem. school is just under 400 students)...why won't they take time out of their busy day. After all those of us that do are very busy also but take some time to contribute to make things happen at the school for our children. Let's just say once again there will be no "Talent Show" because of the lack of volunteers. We had a wonderful mother willing to oversee everything...but no helpers. Us on the board are already busy with other volunteer projects. Just a little frustrated that parents are not participating for the better of the school their child is in. What does it take to get them involved? As a kindergarten mom I would like to see this particular problem improve.