I agree that's a tough one! Since last year was my first time being involved with our FSA (Family & School Association), I did an end-of-the-year newsletter, trying to keep it positive. I used most of the material which I found on PTO Today. Here's a sample:

"Thank you to everyone who volunteered this past year!! We couldn't have done it without you. The FSA does many things for our children that are considered 'extras' and that bring our school together as a family." Then, I listed all the things we had done during the school year.....

In the last paragraph I wrote:
"Volunteer positions available - Do you believe our children are the future? Would you like to meet new and interesting individuals that share your vision? ......Most of our activities take place during school hours, so even if you only have a couple hours to volunteer here or there, we'd love to have you join us!".

Believe it or not, I received 20 responses, which I think is pretty good for a school with an enrollment of 520 students.

Hope that helps!

After our school had to actually cancel an after school program due to lack of volunteers, we didn't have an issue the rest of the year. We were honest with parents and told them that lack of parental involvement was the reason. We only ask that each parent volunteer 1 hr per school year. 1 hour that will enhance their child's educational experience at our school. 1 hour out of the 1000+ hours that their child spends in school is not too much to ask.

CrewChief - very well put!

I am printing out your response to forward to my other board members for their perusal.... perfect sense in this ever changing, economically challenged world!

Oxymoron - a combination of contradictory or incongruous words.

Seriously, it's difficult to make anyone excited about volunteering for specific tasks. What you can do for sure is make folks excited about the event, what it means to the kids and the community or what great things can be purchased with the fundraising proceeds. If folks are excited about and supportive of the event, they will be more likely to pitch in where needed.

If you can't excite them, you can at least make it bearable by keeping a few things in mind:

~ Clearly define necessary tasks. Nobody likes to fail because they had to guess what was expected of them.

~ Loosely define arbitrary tasks. If it's just for fun to enhance the program, give the volunteer lots of freedom to make it fun or interesting.

~ Keep work shifts short. If the event is three hours long, try to keep individual shifts to 30 minutes. Running a cake walk or ring toss is fun for 30 minutes. Longer than that and you'll see grown ups cry!

~Provide necessary supplies or a list and reimbursement instructions. If you ask someone to teach an art project, they'll expect to show up and have everything they need there. If they need to 'develop and teach' the project, let them know the details way in advance.

~Basically, respect the volunteer, their time, budget and abilities.

~Thank them profusely afterwards!

When you figure it out, let me know! We have the same problem at our school. Parents want to see the PTO do things, but they don't want to help us.

How do can you get people excited about volunteering at Fun Night or any other event that may take place in your school? We have lots of problems with that....