The National PTA membership team answers your questions about membership recruitment, retention, and engagement every month.

Dear PTA Membership,

What can I do to help my PTA keep its members? We keep some each year, but we lose just as many. How can we stop losing members?

Please help!

Maria H. – Miami, FL

Hello Maria,

Did you know it’s easier to keep a PTA member than gain a new one? It’s true. Membership statistics show that you have to put more effort in recruiting a new member than asking an existing member to return.

Membership retention is not about sending a letter once a year to current PTA members asking them to return. Retention starts from the first day you recruit a new member! Here are some quick steps to help you retain members from year-to-year.

• Encourage engagement now! – Ask new members to get involved with your PTA right away. Welcome them to your PTA by inviting them to an upcoming meeting or asking how they wish to share their skills/talents.
• Provide useful resources – New members want to know how their PTA membership can help them. Provide tools and resources to help their children reach their potential. Take a survey of your PTA members to learn if your PTA provides relevant tools and resources for your school and community.
• Keep in touch! – PTA members want to be knowledgeable about their children, school, and community. Keep them informed about events that affect their child. Connect a new PTA member with a returning member to form a “tag-team”, keeping new members up to date on PTA happenings. Email and call members on a regular basis with news they need to know.
• Ask for renewals – Remind members of the successes your PTA has achieved throughout the year and ask for membership renewal. Sharing your achievements helps PTA members stay connected, understand the value of PTA membership and stay energized! Use phone, email, and social media to ask for renewals. View steps to plan for membership renewal here and download a sample renewal letter.

Remember, successful PTA membership retention leads to a strong membership base, strong school and community ties, as well as a strong pool of potential PTA leaders.  Keep your members empowered, strong, and responsible with engagement that starts on day one!

Best wishes for strong PTA membership,

The PTA Membership Team

Have a question for the PTA membership team? Email National PTA’s membership marketing manager at jlindsey@pta.org. Type “Ask Membership! Monday” in the subject line, tell us your question, and include your first and last name, name of your local PTA, and city and state. If your question is selected, it will be answered here in the Ask Membership! Monday blog.

Joy Lindsey is membership marketing manager for National PTA. 

Being a PTA leader is much more than managing duties and responsibilities. Being a leader also includes the ability to identify and empower others to carry out the mission and vision of PTA. One of the questions you may ask as a leader or emerging leader is: What motivates others to stay engaged in the work of PTA?

Do you remember when you started in PTA? Do you remember the motivations that led you to take a leadership role? The first question is easy to answer, but for the second one, you might have to think a little bit more. However, the answer to the second question is why you are still actively involved in Today’s PTA. It is precisely that motivation that others see in you and should encourage them to seek PTA leadership roles.

Your unique motivation helps build a diverse and active PTA leadership team. Motivation comes from the Latin word motivus  or  motus  meaning  “cause of motion”.  The Free Dictionary defines motivation as, “the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior.” It is your motivation that keeps us aligned with the vision and mission of the association. Therefore, identifying leaders is not difficult, but it is important to identify your motivations and how these impact leadership growth and development for aspiring PTA leaders.

• To assess your leadership motivations, ask yourself:
•  What motivates you to stand up as parent leader?
• How do you see yourself contributing to PTA one year from now?
• What do you expect to achieve as a leader?
• Which areas of your leadership are you looking to develop?

These questions will help you to bridge a relationship with other PTA members and align your motivations to help advance the PTA mission and vision.

Megan, my former PTA leader and mentor, asked me the same questions.  Megan was willing to support my leadership development through challenging personal times. As a minority, I wondered if I was right for a PTA leadership position. Yet, under her mentorship as a PTA leader, I felt confident and secure. Her motivation inspired me!

My circumstances, as a parent with younger children and limited time, were not a barrier because Megan helped me assess my unique motivations and focus on my leadership potential. In time, I returned the favor by identifying another emerging PTA leader!

Seeking diverse leadership is rewarding. It is how we grow Today’s PTA. I wish you much success in your current PTA leadership role or path to leadership.

Armen Alvarez is the multicultural membership development manager for National PTA.

You love your school and want to make it better- we applaud you!  So now… excited to find resources or better yet, a network of people who understand your school needs, you begin your quest for things to help your school excel:

• A strong voice to speak on behalf of every child… check!
• Funding opportunities to grow programs and initiatives within your school… check!
• A network of leaders and educators working together to influence local, state and federal legislation that will benefit the students within your community… check!
• Program and training opportunities to help parents, administrators, and the community to work together to improve schools and help children and families… check!
• Discounts and special offers for members…check!

Then the light bulb goes off- We need a PTA! And now the question arises: How do I begin the process of becoming part of the PTA voice?

PTA starts its local chapters, called “units,” through our state-level associations.   Each local unit is an independent nonprofit and is set up in accordance with state and federal laws.  The process is unique to each state, but there are general steps that all groups take on their way to establishing a unit.  All PTAs will:

• Start the process with their state-level PTA office.  National PTA can assist.  The state PTA will set up an initial meeting and explain the process for chartering and the benefits of joining the PTA family.
  • Create bylaws that meet state and federal requirements.  State PTAs have templates and models to assist.  Bylaws provide the organizational structure of your unit.
  • Identify and elect officers, such as a President and a Treasurer, who will help run the unit throughout the year.
  • Run membership campaigns to attract supporters to their association.   These members will pay dues, a portion of which goes toward membership in the state and National PTA.
  • Create committees to carry out the work of the association;
  • Apply for an Employer Identification Number ( EIN) with the state PTA’s help; and then
  • Open a bank account in the new PTA’s name.

Having a PTA can benefit your child, school, and community! So what are you waiting for? Click here to get more info on starting a PTA now.

Stacey Rowe is Member Services Specialist for National PTA.

The National PTA Membership Committee has issued your PTA a challenge to Get 14 in ’14 and GROW!

14 in ’14, a nationwide membership challenge has started. From February 1, 2014 to May 31, 2014, your PTA can win $1,000 by simply recruiting 14 members.  In three steps, win cash to support existing PTA programs and events or start new initiatives.

• Step 1: RECRUIT 14 people to join your PTA
• Step 2: DOWNLOAD & SUBMIT the 14 in ’14 entry form with your state dues report
• Step 3: REPEAT for every 14 members you recruit

That’s three simple steps! Your State PTA office will confirm your report and send your entry form(s) to National PTA to be included in a drawing for your chance to win $1,000. Recruit 14 members, get 1 entry! Recruit 28 members, get 2 entries! Keep recruiting and submit up to 10 entry forms to increase your odds of winning.

Vice Chair Phillip Clark of the National PTA Membership Committee is excited about the nationwide membership challenge and is looking forward to seeing PTA entry forms roll in from coast to coast. “The possibilities are endless… You can ask 14 school bus drivers, 14 teachers, 14 business owners, 14 friends, or 14 family members,” says Vice Chair Clark.

PTAs voice and our ability to effectively advocate for every child are strengthened when we grow. We want every PTA to step up to this challenge. With over 20,000 PTAs recruiting 14 new members, we will grow stronger, better, and bigger in 2014!

Felisha Battle is the Membership Marketing Director for National PTA.

Greetings PTA family,

I hope you enjoyed the holidays with your family and all your dreams come true in the New Year. My dream for 2014 as National PTA’s multicultural membership development manager is to support efforts to grow the PTA family by recruiting diverse members and leaders.

One of PTA’s goals is to create outreach to non-English speaking communities.  For instance, did you know you can translate the PTA website from English to Spanish with just one “click”?  Go to the PTA.org toolbar, click the “Select Language” drop box and choose “Spanish”. With just one click, the PTA.org website will switch from English to Spanish! Olé!

I invite you to explore this new function, share it with your family and friends, and Spanish-speaking communities. Don’t forget, most of our PTA fliers and resources are available in Spanish and English too. Take a few minutes to look around PTA.org for Spanish resources and invite others to do the same.

Becoming familiar with Spanish-translated PTA resources can help your PTA grow! Here are events to help you promote diversity and multiculturalism at your PTA:

• Take your family to School Week – Check out the National PTA’s Take Your Family to School Week Multicultural Event Guide  to maximize your PTA’s opportunities to welcome all families to your events during Martin Luther King Day, African American Heritage Month, Cinco de Mayo, or any other celebration in your community. TYFTSW is held February 17-21, 2014.
• An Evening with Today’s PTA Event – Appealing to diverse communities with various interests is important. Consider hosting “An Evening with Today’s PTA” to share your PTA’s diversity and unique school and community benefits. How? I can help you! Email me for more information on this year-round opportunity.

There are many ways to expand our diverse PTA family and carry on the mission of “Every child. One voice.” If you have a story to share with National PTA about how you are growing diverse membership, please tell me your story! Send a picture along with your story of 300-400 words to aalvarez@pta.org.  Your story may be highlighted in an upcoming Membership Monday!

Happy New Year!

Armen Alvarez

Armen Alvarez is the multicultural membership development manager for National PTA.

The National PTA membership team answers your questions about membership recruitment, retention, and engagement every month.

Dear PTA Membership,

I am the PTA membership chair at my son’s elementary school. I’ve been trying really hard to increase our PTA’s meeting attendance, but nothing really seems to work. We hold meetings monthly and I try to ask everyone I know to attend, but the same 5 or 6 people show up all the time. How can I get more people to come to the meetings? We really have a great school and I know they want to be more involved!

Sincerely,
Cynthia D. – Lexington, KY

Dear Cynthia,

Getting new faces to attend your meetings isn’t always easy, but here are four quick tips to help you boost your attendance.

1. Make your meeting date and time visible using physical announcements. Placing PTA posters with your next PTA meeting date, location, and time in highly visible areas parents frequent when visiting your child’s school (next to the front office doorway, school auditorium, and cafeteria areas) is a great way to keep your invitation in front of parents, teachers, and school staff.  Gain the school’s permission to post PTA posters. Local PTA presidents may check with your State PTA office to get a poster if you don’t have one.
2. Share your PTA meeting on social media. You’re probably already a “friend” or “follower” of many people at your child’s school or in the community. Ask others to share your meeting announcement and link to current online content that will be the focus of your upcoming meeting. For more information on how to connect and engage Today’s PTA member using social media, click here.
3. Place PTA flier announcements in students’ backpacks. Backpack fliers are still a number one vehicle for distributing messages to parents. Work with your school’s principal to gain permission to do this.
4. Ask each person attending to bring another attendee. Double your efforts by asking each PTA attendee to bring one additional person with them from their home, the school, or the community.

Best wishes,
The PTA Membership Team

Have a question for the PTA membership team? Email National PTA’s membership marketing manager at jlindsey@pta.org. Type “Ask Membership! Monday” in the subject line, tell us your question, and include your first and last name, name of your local PTA, and city and state. If your question is selected, it will be answered here in the Ask Membership! Monday blog.

Joy Lindsey is membership marketing manager for National PTA.  

I grabbed my coat while heading out the door to work with the weather bug on my TV set registering a chilling 46 degrees. It’s the morning of the gubernatorial election in Virginia. The local news reported this would be a close race with a large voter turnout, so I squeezed in a few extra minutes to my morning routine to go cast my vote.

We’re all familiar with what it’s like to change one thing in our morning routine and having our entire morning drive almost end in chaos. Yet, I was determined to make it to the polls super early to zoom past my neighbors and avoid the long lines. Turns out somebody else had already beaten me there! As I turned the corner to search for a parking space, I saw four smiling individuals bundled in scarfs, hats, and jackets at a table draped in PTA’s Every Child. One Voice.

Say hello to Samuel W. Tucker’s PTA unit members from left to right: Lisa Hammond –Treasurer; Daria Dillard – President; Pam Dennunzio – Secretary; and Al Luna – Volunteer Coordinator. They were ready to start the day engaging our local community with answers about PTA and volunteer opportunities while taking in a few fundraising dollars. With an historical voting turnout pending, they couldn’t have picked an easier way to gain great exposure and connect the dots with our community by sharing PTA’s mission.

If you’re a PTA leader looking for ways to host membership recruitment events and engagement with your school and community, click here. And to the 254 members strong at Samuel W. Tucker’s PTA unit comprised of parents, teachers, and school staff, we’d like to say “Hats off to you for a job well done”!  (Or should we say, “Hats On”?? Wow, it was cold.)