It's very appropriate to spend money on volunteer appreciation. As you noted, volunteers give an awful lot to the school; there should be some real recognition of that fact. Unfortunately, it's something that a lot of parent groups leave out, usually because the ones organizing the volunteer appreciation are volunteers themselves, I think.

How much to spend really depends on your overall budget -- a group that raises $25,000 could feel comfortable spending more than a group that raises $3,000, for example. A dinner is a common way to recognize volunteers; if you're doing it at a restaurant, see if you can arrange a discount in exchange for publicizing the restaurant's "sponsorship" of your volunteer appreciation event to your members.

Overall, volunteer appreciation can take a lot of different forms, but there are two keys to making it as effective as possible:

1. Include everybody in your appreciation efforts, even people who just donate an hour or two.

2. Don't limit your efforts to a single event; think about small ways to appreciation volunteers all year long.

Here's an article with some good and simple suggestions of ways to do just that:

www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/arti...our-volunteers-right

Craig

Hi, there. I'm the president of a PTO that has been really dynamic the last few years. We've shifted from selling stuff to all events-type fundraisers, in order to build the school community. However, these events, of course, are really volunteer intensive.

We do have lots of parents who staff various positions for half-hour or hour-long shifts, so it's not such a problem to get that going. However, of course we are always looking for leaders willing to organize aspects of our fundraisers and other community building events.

What's come up is that these organizers (me being one of them) AND their families sacrifice a lot to organize these events. We often have our kids come help us set up and during these times in particular, we end up making sure we have snacks and/or dinner for everyone. This comes out of our own pockets. I don't NEED the PTO to foot the bill, but it seems to me like the PTO ought to and that it would be much appreciated, just another way of saying we value our volunteers. 1) is this something anyone does? 2) is it allowable for a PTO to do something like this?

Another thing is that we've had a potluck volunteer appreciation party at my house the last few years. Because I can't host everyone, I only invite the Board and their families, and maybe one or two other volunteers who have been very active all year and look ready to move into board positions. This year, I'd like to have the PTO host a bigger party, maybe at a local restaurant, so that all our volunteers can be recognized and possibly feel more welcome and be drawn into leadership positions in the future. How much would be appropriate to spend on such a party?