Tips to Grow Your PTA Membership

National PTA

As you prepare for back-to-school, a new school year means new opportunities to grow your PTA. We talked to PTAs across the country that continue to grow membership every year—here are the tips they shared to help engage families in the community and grow membership. 

Ask everyone to join (support or invest in) your PTA! 

  • Membership is open to anyone who supports the PTA mission: moms, dads, grandparents, foster parents, extended family members, teachers, staff, students (if allowed), community members, business leaders, public officials, etc. Target outreach recruitment each month to a different group.  
  • Make sure everyone on your PTA board joins! 
  • Use our DEI resources to support your recruitment efforts. Our new Multicultural Reference Guide has strategies to enhance PTA’s inclusion of untapped markets. 
  • Need ideas? Check out over 20 Membership Minute videos in both English and Spanish. Or join us on this year’s Membership Mania journey. 

Start as early as you can.  

  • Ask everyone who was a member last year to support your PTA/PTSA again this year, even if their child has moved on to another school. Send out periodic email or text renewal notices.  
  • Ask your principal if you can have five minutes at the back-to-school staff meeting to share the value your PTA brings to your community and ask all staff to join PTA. Create a PTA value presentation or make a video using our PTA Welcome Back to School PowerPoint template. 
  • Ask everyone to join at all summer or back-to-school events at your school or in your community. 

Make joining as easy as possible.  

  • Use an online membership platform to make it quick and easy to join. Contact your state PTA to find out if they provide a free online membership platform for PTAs in your state. 
  • Use a QR code that links to your online membership platform and put it everywhere! Have it on signs at all your PTA and school events, on your social media, on any flyers that are sent home, on signs around the school or even on business cards for your board. Check out our video on How to Create a QR Code in less than a minute. 
  • Have a paper form to join in addition to an online platform, and make sure it is available everywhere. Not everyone has internet access or is comfortable paying for membership online. Make sure all PTA board members and the school office have a supply on hand. 
  • Use all communication channels—in-person ask, emails, texting, newsletters, flyers, banners, school marquis and social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Provide a URL link, QR code or form to join your PTA in every communication. 
  • Make a personal ask to join PTA at every PTA and school virtual, in-person or drive-thru event.  
  • Add a “Join PTA” button/link to all your online event registrations or volunteer sign-ups. 

Share the value of your PTA! 

  • Brand everything you do so your community knows it is the PTA doing the work or providing the financial support. It takes just a few minutes to Customize PTA logos, or you can use graphics from the You Belong in PTA or Membership Campaign to share the value of your PTA. 
  • Toot your PTA horn! Make sure your whole community (not just members) knows how your PTA is supporting students, teachers and families.  
  • Ask your principal to share the value your PTA brings to your school and encourage families and teachers to support PTA at staff meetings and school events. Check out this video for ideas to develop or improve your relationship with your principal. 
  • Provide special benefits/perks to your PTA members: family membership, free popcorn at movie night, discount to a local business, membership bundle with PTA gear, prizes and giveaways, etc. 
  • Offer in-person PTA meetings and events in a virtual way to attract more families who can’t always attend in person. 
  • Translate materials into the languages that are spoken by families in your community to be inclusive. 
  • Check out our grant opportunities and apply for all that will enhance your PTA’s work. Invite your families and community to attend your program event. Share your program stories with everyone! And share them with us by tagging @NationalPTA and using #HowWePTA #PTAProud!  
  • Focus on issues important to the families in your community. Our DIY Kit for Membership Growth helps you determine the needs of your community and how to align your PTA priorities. 
  • Share with your community how your PTA, state PTA and National PTA are advocating at the local, state and federal level to improve the lives of all children and families. 

Back-to-school is a strategic time to focus on membership, but it is also important to focus on membership all year round. Check out the membership recruitment tools on National PTA’s website filled with graphics, PowerPoint presentations, videos and templates for more resources to help you grow your PTA. Together we are stronger and our voices are louder for our nation’s children. And together we can grow membership and make every child’s potential a reality. Email us at Membership@PTA.org if you have any questions or need additional support. 

10 Ways to Share Notes from the Backpack with Your Community

National PTA’s podcast, Notes from the Backpack is helpful resource to share with families in your community! Since its launch in 2019, the show has released more than 60 episodes on a wide variety of topics from raising a curious kid to navigating the transition to middle school. As PTA leaders, it’s important to show the value of PTA to your community, and this podcast can help you do so! Beyond including the link to the show in your e-newsletter, what more can your PTA do to spread the word?

    1. Up Your Social Media Game. If you already promote the latest episodes of Notes from the Backpack on your social media pages, consider asking your school or district to do the same! Become an official podcast promoter here to ensure you receive all the latest graphics and promotional language.
    2. Embed the Notes from the Backpack Podcast Player Onto Your PTA Website! State PTAs and District, Council, Region PTAs can embed the podcast player directly onto their website for easy access. Check out how Washington State PTA includes the podcast player as one of its key family engagement resources. Email NotesFromTheBackpack@pta.org to learn more about how you can embed the podcast player on your website!
    3. Share Episodes that Connect to Relevant Events. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, making it a great time to share our Healthy Minds Miniseries and Pride month is ideal for promoting Helping LGBTQ+ Youth Thrive.
    4. Encourage Families to Listen to Episodes that Align with your PTA’s Advocacy Goals. If your PTA is advocating for increased school budgets, then it’s a great time to share Money Talks: School Finance 101. If your PTA is working to change the school’s discipline policies, consider promoting The Truth About School Discipline in America.
    5. Use Podcast Episodes to Educate About Community Issues. When schools face serious issues like bullying or gun violence, hearing directly from a researcher can help the community get on the same page. If your school is launching a new Social and Emotional Learning program, then What is Social and Emotional Learning Anyway? can serve as a helpful introduction!
    6. Host a Podcast Discussion. Think of it as a book club, but instead of a book, the conversation centers on the key themes and ideas from an episode of Notes from the Backpack. Consider using an episode like Raising Kids Who Embrace Race to start conversations about Diversity, Equity & Inclusion or tie it to academics with an episode like Growing Great Readers.
    7. Integrate Podcast Promotion into Your PTA Programs. National PTA Programs provide access to engaging, educational and fun opportunities and the podcast can be a great supplement to these activities. If your community is participating in PTA Connected, encourage families to keep the conversation going with Social Media & Cyberbullying.  When it’s time for Reflections, hear directly from contest winner Julian Bass.
    8. Spread the word. Talk about the podcast when you’re catching up with parents at pick up, waiting for the PTA meeting to start, or socializing at a school event. Don’t forget to include the podcast as a resource in your workshops and trainings, too!
    9. Promote our Spanish Podcast episodes. If you have Spanish speaking families in your community, be sure they know about our Spanish podcast, Notas de La Mochila. We currently offer eight episodes in Spanish covering everything from cyberbullying to parent advocacy.
    10. Rate & Review the Show. Did you know that ratings and reviews help new listeners find our show? Open up the show on Apple Podcasts and leave us a rating and a note to share your favorite episode!

      Show Your PTA Value with YOU Belong in PTA

      With the 2022-2023 school year well underway, PTAs and PTSAs are hard at work with their initial membership drive, inviting people to join their local units or renew their PTA/PTSA memberships. Encouraging people to join doesn’t end with the back-to-school membership drive though. It’s an ongoing, year-round initiative.

      To support your commitment to membership growth, National PTA developed the YOU Belong in PTA Suite of Membership Resources with easy, meaningful and fun ready-to-use flyers, customizable templates, social media posts, and a guide to help you create your own messages that show the value you provide to your communities throughout the year.

      The YOU Belong in PTA suite of materials were designed based on research and marketing best practices. National PTA used two very important lessons discovered through the research done for our award-winning PTA for Your Child Membership Campaign:

      Lesson 1:  The number one reason why people don’t join PTA is because no one ever asked

      Lesson 2:  People are most willing to join when they see the value PTA provides.

      The research showed three key areas where PTA excels in offering families value for their child:

      1. PTA’s ability to create connections
      2. PTA helps parents support their child
      3. PTA allows people to amplify their voice 

      The main reason people join PTA/PTSA is to support their children. They see PTA as the way to be connected, to support their children’s education and to speak up for their children when necessary.

      It’s important to understand the reasons why people choose to join PTA because knowing common motivations can be used to recruit others. To grow membership, PTAs need to show they provide value for families to make it worth giving their time, resources (connections, money, talents, etc.) or efforts.  How many times have we heard “I first joined PTA for my child. I’ve stayed for ALL children.”?

      It’s also important to remember that the perception of value is in the eye of the beholder. What may be of value to one parent or caregiver may not be of value to another. Successful membership drives include learning about the needs of different potential audiences so that you can speak to their needs. As PTA/PTSA leaders, we need to think from their perspective and know what they value when we’re inviting them to join.

      To communicate value that matches your potential PTA members, the YOU Belong in PTA kit includes several print-and-go pieces, social media ready messages and customizable pieces with language provided in the How to Create Your PTA Value Message Guide.

      We created this kit based on feedback we received from PTA/PTSA leaders in our annual Membership Survey. Our leaders told us that the main obstacle in growing and retaining members is that “our members don’t seem to see value in PTA.” They also asked for “easy-to-use resources to help in communicating the value” that local PTAs/PTSAs provide to the community and the value of PTA in general.

      To include our growing community of Spanish speakers, the entire suite of materials is also available in Spanish.

      Many people take a wait and see approach to what PTA has to offer when you first ask them to join. That’s why asking to join PTA needs to be an ongoing effort. Use the YOU Belong in PTA resources to always be ready to ask based on the opportunity offered. If your PTA/PTSA organizes a Reflections event, use the YOU Belong in PTA/PTA Supports Your Child’s Education pieces (they are all colored in green). If your PTA/PTSA is holding a town hall meeting to get to know the candidates and their positions, have a YOU Belong in PTA/PTA Amplifies Your Voice flier (colored in blue) to thank everyone for attending and support your work by joining PTA. If your PTA/PTSA is having a Coffee with the Principal meeting, have a YOU Belong in PTA/PTA Creates Connections flyer (colored in orange) to share with your attendees.

      Think about what every activity or event you plan accomplishes and use the YOU Belong in PTA pieces that best conveys the value your PTA/PTSA is providing. If you don’t have time to customize the piece, simply use the print-and-go materials as needed. There are endless possibilities in using these materials – in your eNewsletters, bulletins, posters, reports, etc. Every single communication effort, whether it is in-person, virtual or hybrid, is an opportunity to ask people to support your PTA/PTSA work with their membership.

      Our YOU Belong in PTA webpage is full of links to many other resources (QR codes, Membership Campaign toolkit, how to make a logo for your PTA/PTSA and more) you can use to personalize your flyers and directly link them to your PTA/PTSA. 

      Based on our webpage activity, National PTA knows many local leaders are taking advantage of the YOU Belong in PTA Suite of Membership Resources. We’d love to receive samples of how your PTA/PTSA is using them by emailing a picture or document at membership@pta.org.

      Thank you so much for all you do for ALL children and to advance PTA’s mission to make every child’s potential a reality.

      Ivelisse Castro | National PTA Membership Outreach Team

      Welcome to Thrive

      Thrive. The PTA Learning Community

      Greetings PTA Members,

      Welcome to Thrive: The PTA Volunteer Learning Community!

      Thrive! is PTA’s new online learning community for volunteers. Thrive brings PTA leadership development to you. Through Thrive’s engaging, short courses, you can take training at your own time and place—even from football practice, a dance studio or a soccer field.

      I’m so excited about the potential that Thrive brings to National PTA. Leadership development has been a priority for PTA for many years. But our reach has been limited. Throughout this pandemic, we have learned that online is working for our members. Our impact has been expanding, with more people coming to meetings and trainings. So just think of how many future leaders we will be able to reach through this new online community of learners!

      What is Thrive?

      Thrive is Engaging: Thrive engages every volunteer in their own time and place. Because you can stop a course and start back in your own time, Thrive makes leadership development fit into your life when and how you need it to. Your leadership development thrives in your life!

      Thrive is Empowering: Thrive empowers all volunteers to advocate for all children. Volunteers gain new knowledge and skills that help their local and state PTAs operate at peak level. Thrive’s accessible content means every volunteer has access to the most up-to-date, high-quality information about best practices and techniques for helping all children achieve their potential.

      Thrive is for you: No matter where you are in your leadership journey, as a lifelong learner there is something in Thrive for you!

      Remember, it’s the quality and power of individual actions that can make the difference. The more we learn, the louder our collective voices will become to create change for all children and young people.

      Ready to get started? Our help page contains instructions for signing up and taking courses.

      Anna King, National PTA President

      Plan Your PTA Day of Service on BAND

      PTA has been making a difference for 125 years, and there’s still so much work to do to make every child’s potential a reality! That means working together to meet the diverse needs of families and school communities. National PTA is inviting all PTAs to register, plan and host a Day of Service event before June 30 in celebration of the association’s milestone anniversary.

      Participate to …

      • Show your community who you are and what you do!
      • Connect your work to the PTA network!
      • Elevate the PTA mission by showing our collective impact.

      Planning and hosting a Day of Service event should be easy and fun! We know that PTA leaders already have too much on their plate—and handling everything on multiple platforms can be disorderly, which adds to the stress. You need a tool that will help you succeed.

      Enter BAND, the one-stop-shop app PTA leaders are using to communicate with their board and members, plan events and increase parent involvement.

      Plan, collaborate and keep track of all things Day of Service in one place. Invite your PTA members and start planning on BAND!

      1. Create your BAND!

      Customize your BAND with your school group and your own photo!

      2. Invite Your Planning Committee & Volunteers

      Send them a QR code or Link

      3. Set Up a Pre-Planning Meeting

      Enter details of your meeting into the calendar: share a location, a photo, a file, and even a link! Then set a reminder for people to join. Click done and share it as a post.

      4. Vote on Your Service Project

      Click into ‘Post’ and select ‘Create a Poll.’ Customize to allow for secret voting, single or multi-selection, and even set a deadline.

      5. Promote Your Project

      Plan together by deciding on messaging, scheduling meetings and events, posting task lists, and uploading materials for promotions.

      6. On the Day of

      Capture photos and videos and organize them into an album to share!

      Want to see how the app works? Watch how BAND helps real PTA leaders stay organized with their Board and members!

      BAND is a one-stop-shop group communication app for PTAs to collaborate with members, plan events, and get parents involved. PTA leaders can effortlessly streamline communication and stay organized in one place. Through BAND’s alliance with the National PTA, they are on a mission to help build on strong partnerships among parent volunteer leaders, teachers, and students. To learn more about BAND, visit this webpage.

      BAND Proud National Sponsor of National PTA. National PTA does not endorse any commercial entity, product or service.

      How to Make a Mid-Year Ask to Join PTA—While Communicating PTA Value

      By Linda Johnson & Ivelisse Castro

      Happy Take Your Family to School Week, PTA/PTSA family and friends!

      We are now about halfway through the 2021-2022 school year, which means that now is also a great time to share your PTA/PTSA’s successes and progress with your members and your community. This is no time to hide your light under a basket! Share how your PTA/PTSA has implemented our association’s mission (to make every child’s potential a reality!) with their support.

      Increasing membership is vital for our PTA voice to be stronger and more influential. And we can all agree that our children need a powerful voice to speak up for them, especially as our communities navigate this ongoing pandemic. So, let’s use this mid-school year milestone as an opportunity to ask those who have not yet joined your PTA/PTSA—but have enjoyed your PTA/PTSA events or benefited from your resources—to join your PTA/PTSA now so that you can continue to provide critical resources and support to your community.

      The research that National PTA conducted to develop our award-winning membership campaign shows that the number one reason people do not join PTA is that no one ever asked! That’s right—while we may believe that everyone in our community knows that they can and should join us, the data proves that people actually need an explicit, personal invitation to feel welcome.

      So, there is no better time than the present! The easiest way to ask people to join your PTA/PTSA is to tie that invitation to a demonstration of the value you bring to your community. Make it a habit, now and throughout the remainder of the year. For example, whenever you host an event, ask attendees to join your PTA/PTSA at the end of the night; or, whenever you share photos on social media of resources your PTA/PTSA has collected for your school, include a link with instructions on how to join your efforts.

      Another powerful way to do this is to create and share a (short!) report of how your PTA/PTSA has stepped up to care for your students, families and teachers this year—especially with respect to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Not sure how to do this? National PTA is here to help!

      We have created templates you can quickly and easily customize, including a Sample Mid-Year PTA/PTSA Letter/Email and a Sample Mid-Year PTA/PTSA Status Report. There is also an example, completed report for you to use as a reference.

      The Sample Mid-Year PTA/PTSA Status template is a fill-in-the blank report to help you:

      • Share PTA accomplishments and contributions so far this year.
      • Thank your PTA members for joining, supporting or investing in the PTA mission.
      • Thank all the people who have volunteered their time and talents to support the work of PTA.
      • Share member benefits.

      In addition to your members and families, be sure to send your Mid-Year Status Report to businesses and community members who have supported your PTA/PTSA so that they can see the impact of their support. If they haven’t joined yet, ask them to join your PTA/PTSA, too.

      For more ideas to grow your membership, you can check out 125 Ways to Increase Membership and the 10 PTA Membership Myths & Truths.

      We’d love to join you in celebrating your PTA/PTSA accomplishments. Please share your Mid-Year Status Reports by emailing them to Membership@PTA.org.

      Have a successful second half of your PTA membership year!


      Linda Johnson and Ivelisse Castro serve on the National PTA Membership & Field Service Team.

      Back to School and Back to PTA means Engaging Families and Growing Membership!

      by Linda Johnson and Kirthana Krishnathasan

      A new school year means new opportunities to grow your PTA. This past year was tough for so many PTAs, families and communities. As you prepare for back to school, you may be wondering how you can grow your PTA membership this year. Would you be surprised to learn that even during the pandemic, there were PTAs across the country that were able to grow their membership last year?!

      We talked to some of these PTAs and here’s what they shared about what helped them engage families in their communities and grow their membership.

      • Start as early as you can, but it’s never too late to make the effort!
      • Make joining as easy as possible. Contact your state PTA to find out if there is an online membership platform available. If you use a paper form, make sure they are available everywhere. Make sure all PTA board members and the school(s) have a supply on hand. Provide a link to your join PTA page or form in every communication.
      • Ask everyone who was a member last year to support the PTA/PTSA again this year. Send out email renewal notices to everyone who was a member last year.
      • Use a QR code that links to your online membership join platform and put it everywhere! Have it on signs at all your PTA and school events, put it on your social media, on any flyers that are sent home, on signs around the school or even on business cards for your board. Check out this video on How to Create a QR code in less than a minute.
      • Ask your principal to share the value your PTA brings to your school and encourage families and teachers to support PTA.
      • Use all communication channels—in person, direct emails, newsletters, flyers, banners, school marquis, social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok.
      • Ask for people to join PTA all year at every virtual, in person or drive thru event. Check out these sample Join PTA/PTSA emails.
      • Ask everyone to join your PTA. Membership is open to anyone who supports the PTA mission: families, teachers, staff, students (if allowed), community members, public officials, etc.
      • Add a Join PTA button to all your online event(s) or volunteer sign ups.
      • PTA in a virtual way to attract more families who can’t always attend in person.
      • Focus on issues important to the families in your community. DIY Kit for Membership Growth helps you determine the needs of your community and how to align your PTA priorities.
      • Provide special benefits/perks to your PTA members: family membership, free popcorn at movie night, discount to a local business, etc.
      • Toot your PTA horn! Make sure your whole community (not just members) knows all the ways your PTA is supporting students and families. Brand everything you do so your community knows it is the PTA doing the work or providing the financial support. It takes just a few minutes to Customize PTA logos or you can use graphics from the Membership Campaign to share the value of your PTA.
      • Translate materials in the languages that are spoken by families in your community to be inclusive.

      Check out the new 125 Ways to Grow Membership, 10 Myths/Truths and many other membership recruitment tools available to help you grow your PTA.

      Have questions or need support, reach out to us at membership@pta.org.

      Enhance the PTA Membership Experience: Ask Everyone to Join

      By Linda Johnson and Ivelisse Castro, National PTA, Membership and Field Service Team

      Nearly 20,000 local PTAs/PTSAs are getting ready to get Back to School, Back to PTA. So much to be done and so little time to prepare for a successful PTA/PTSA year. National PTA wants to make things easy for local PTA leaders and help support a positive PTA membership experience. Since the number one reason why people do not join PTA is that they are never asked, we’ve developed a suite of customizable templates to help local PTAs ask their community to join PTA using the PTA Membership Campaign.

      Templates to:

      1. Invite everyone to PTA/PTSA for Your Child as we get Back to School, Back to PTA by joining, supporting, or investing in your PTA/PTSA. This letter/email is to be used at the beginning of the PTA membership year as families get ready to get back to school. If printed as a letter, you can add your PTA membership registration form on the back or create a QR code for people to scan.
      2. Invite existing and past PTA/PTSA members to continue supporting your PTA/PTSA by renewing their membership. This letter/email is to be used as soon as your PTA membership year starts and anytime to target past members who haven’t renewed their PTA membership this year.
      3. Invite PTA/PTSA event attendees to join your PTA/PTSA to support programs and events like the one they attended. Use this letter/email throughout the year after every PTA/PTSA event/program to invite attendees who are not yet members to join your PTA/PTSA.
      4. Welcome members to PTA/PTSA and thank them for joining, let them know the benefits of PTA membership and let them know how much their membership means to your PTA and to you as a PTA leader.

      Remember since the number one reason why people don’t join PTA is because they are not asked, make sure to ask this year! Sometimes you must ask more than once.  People love it when PTAs/PTSAs take the time to invite them to join or renew their membership. They love receiving a Welcome to PTA/Thank you for Joining message even more. An invitation to join makes them feel like they can make a difference just by becoming a member. A welcome/thank you message makes them feel included, valued, appreciated; it makes them feel their membership does matter.

      Use these resources to Market your PTA to make it easier for your PTA/PTSA to provide a meaningful membership experience so that when it’s time to ask them to renew next year, everyone will say “Yes” again, and again, and again. For more ideas to grow your membership, you can check out 125 Ways to Increase Membership and the 10 PTA Membership Myths & Truths

      Increasing membership is vital for our PTA voice to be stronger and more powerful or influential.

      Have a successful PTA membership year.

      P.S.: We would love to know if these resources were helpful or if you need additional tools. Please let us know by emailing us at Membership@PTA.org.

      State, District, Council and Region PTAs…Know Your Data to Grow Membership

      By Linda Johnson and Kirthana Krishnathasan

      Data is knowledge and knowledge is power. Taking a deep dive into your state, district, council and/or region membership data beyond the overall total membership numbers gives you the power to make informed decisions to maximize your financial and people resources to reach your goals to grow membership.

      Reviewing your data can help you:

      • find local PTA success stories, so you can learn and share strategies across your association to help all PTAs be successful.
      • see PTAs that are struggling, even if they do not reach out for help, so that you can provide needed support before they stop reporting membership.
      • identify geographic, district, council, or region areas with declining membership so you can provide targeted solutions and strategies where they are needed most.

      Membership is all year long so reviewing membership data should be done several times a year. Membership status, goals and strategies should be reviewed and discussed at every board/committee meeting and at every level: state, district, council, and region.

      National PTA has membership reports that can be used to help state, district, council, and region leaders look beyond the current membership numbers for the stories in your data. Current State PTA leaders can access and download these reports in the State Portal. Ask your state if you do not have direct access to the state specific reports for your state.

      The Membership Reporting Year-Over-Year (YOY) by Fiscal Year report provides fiscal year-end membership totals for all local PTAs since 2014 as well as the current fiscal year reporting through the date you download the report. This report is updated monthly as the state reports local membership.

      The data in this report can be used to identify the following membership trends:

      YOY gain: Identify PTAs that have significant single year or multi-year growth. Are there common stories of training, leadership, or support that can be shared?

      YOY loss: Identify PTAs that have greater than 20% single year loss or consistent membership loss across several years. Have leaders at these PTAs attended training? Has there been leadership turnover? Do PTA leaders have good relationships with school staff? Do they know how to effectively engage their community?

      Zero reporting PTAs: Identify PTAs that did not report membership in the current year but were reporting in the previous membership year. What has caused these PTAs to stop reporting?

      Active PTAs with 2 or more years of zero reporting: Identify active PTAs without membership for 2 or more years. Verify if the PTA is still functioning. Determine if there has been leadership turnover or no current leadership is in place. 

      Geographic Trends:  After you identify the above trends in your data, sort the information by city.  Are there specific areas with more growth? What training or support is happening in these areas that can be used to replicate growth in other areas?

      How can my State/District/Council/Region PTA support local PTAs?

      PTAs are membership associations. Membership is not just a transaction; it is all about relationships. Sending email reminders to a PTA to send in compliance requirements is not a relationship. Most people join PTA at a local PTA, so build personal relationships with local leaders, NOT just the president and help them build relationships with the members in their community.

      • Connect with PTAs that are growing membership, congratulate them and find out how they are being successful. Collect the strategies and stories on how they grew membership. Would these PTA leaders consider mentoring another leader in their area or participating in a training to share the ideas and strategies that helped them grow?
      • Make targeted personal outreach to PTAs that have had year over year loss based on their data. Make phone calls, send texts, or message them through social media to find out how they are doing personally and as a PTA leader. What do they need to develop their leadership skills or help them run their PTA?
      • Don’t wait, contact PTAs that miss your first required membership reporting deadline. Make sure they know how to report membership. Find out if they need additional support. Do not wait for a whole year of zero reporting before making contact and offering support.
      • Provide additional training based on the feedback you receive during your outreach calls.

      Training, Resources, Reporting, and Policies

      Local PTAs are faced with a lot of rules: IRS policies, state nonprofit laws, school district policies, and PTA unit in good standing or standards of affiliation requirements. There can be a lot of volunteer turnover, so how do your make sure new leaders get the training they need to be successful? Review and align your policies and procedures to help local PTAs be successful and grow membership.

      • Training: Is leadership training required? Keep a record of which leaders attend training from each PTA to verify all PTAs have received training. Make sure new leaders are trained on how and when to report membership, how to engage members and share the value of PTA. Provide training based on the skills needed for different roles in PTA. Provide multiple opportunities throughout the year to receive training. (in-person, virtual, e-learning, etc.)
      • Resources: Direct local leaders to membership resources available to them from district, council, region, state and National PTA so they do not have to reinvent the wheel (Local Leader Kit, E-learning, DIY Kit for Membership Growth, etc.).
      • Reporting: Do you require minimum membership reporting for a PTA to be in good standing? Is reporting required every month or at specified dates? Do you have a membership platform PTAs are required to use? Does zero reporting trigger outreach and support?
      • Policies: Review state policies on how long PTAs are allowed to report zero before they are moved to inactive, or their charter is removed.

      Anyone (large-petite states, district, council or region, staff, or volunteer) can use data to help identify next steps in your membership growth plan. How your data analysis is utilized to inform decision-making can have transformational changes to your membership.

      Start by doing just one thing. What is one thing can you do in the next two months? 

      If you want or need help looking at your data or need more ideas for next steps, reach out to membership@pta.org

      New Tools to Advance Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

      National PTA is committed to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) but what does that look like in action? To answer that question, we partnered with 14 local units to test out new DEI strategies which led to the development of three new tools, the Diversity Profile, the Facilitator’s Guide, and the Action Plan Template. If you’ve already reviewed the Local Leader Guidance for DEI and are wondering what next steps you should take, read on to explore our latest tools! 

      Diversity Profile 

      Who lives in your community? This may seem like a simple question, but answering it well requires an in depth understanding of the families at your school. Our Diversity Profile Template will walk you through important demographic questions about your community. Questions like: what religions are represented? What is the racial demographic breakdown of your community? What is the median household income?  

      After finding out that information, challenge yourself to think critically: Does your PTA board and membership reflect your community? 

      Facilitator’s Guide 

      If you notice that there are voices missing, it is time to figure out why. How can you create a more inviting PTA that offers leadership opportunities that draw in all members of your community? Our Enhancing DEI Facilitator’s Guide offers step by step instructions for hosting a listening session where you can learn more about how families want to engage with the school and the PTA. The guide includes a meeting agenda complete with questions you can ask families to better understand their experiences and reimagine your PTA in ways that better meet everyone’s needs. Most of all, these conversations are opportunities for intentional relationship building with families who you may not typically interact with! 

      One of the grantees shared that their use of the facilitator’s guide really made an impact: “Even though we needed to conduct our listening sessions on Zoom in order to be COVID-safe, our virtual introductions to new-to-PTA parents are already starting to blossom into real-life relationships now that our school has reopened.” 

      Action Plan 

      Listening is an important first step, but you can’t stop there. After you listen to families, the real work begins. How will you address their concerns, answer their questions, implement their ideas?  

      Another grantee shared their own DEI goals, “The first thing we want to do is have a workshop for new PTSA leadership and committee chairs (and anyone else interested) on culturally responsive skills. We want to improve outreach and communication and be sure that our meeting agendas speak to issues that are relevant to all families and that our meetings are conducted in ways that are inclusive.” 

      Our Enhancing DEI Action Plan Template provides a structure for you and your board to plan next steps like these. Remember to keep families in the loop as you continue your planning! The action plan is a great way to re-engage the families you listened to. Ask them to weigh in on the draft and make additions or edits. These new strategies and initiatives will be most successful if they are co-created by the PTA board and the rest of your community! 

      For more guidance on how your PTA can use these tools, watch our webinar, ”Turning Your Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion into Action” and keep up with our latest resources at www.pta.org/diversity!