It’s been interesting to watch so many groups getting proactive on the issue. Groups are spearheading flu clinics at school and hosting family events around healthy habits. Two great volunteers at my school just put together a weeklong health and wellness program, including a blood drive, pilates in the classrooms, and a road race. Love it.

With that in mind, we’ve recently put together a new dedicated space on ptotoday.com just about what groups are doing about Healthy School Kids. It’s already a nice resource and will get better each month as we add even more of the best ideas we find from parent groups around the country. And — bonus! — we also expect to have a whole host of free offers (samples and the like) from health-focused companies available for “Healthy School Kids” groups, starting in the next month or two. Check it out now (and preregister your group) at ptotoday.com/healthy-school-kids.

This Margaret Mead quote comes to mind:  ”Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed citizens to change the world. Indeed, it has never been done otherwise.”

If you are looking for a way to get your school on the green team, check out our Go Green Night Kit. It’s a fun way to build community in your school and teach families about ways they can help the environment.

Is your PTO or PTA involved in any green projects? We’d love to hear what you are up to!

Save time!

Just wanted to give everyone a heads-up that we have reorganized the popular File Exchange section of our site. We’ve added new categories, renamed a few, and moved around a bunch of files that were getting lost — so leaders can easily find the forms, flyers, letters, and surveys that they need. Hopefully, the changes will also take the guess work out of where to put something when you upload files to share with others.

Some new categories include:

• volunteer recruitment
• fundraiser forms & letters
• fun run, walk-a-thon
• spaghetti dinner
• holiday shops
• audits
• community service

New file additions of note include a slew of generic parent group logos and a new email opt-in form.

Thank you to all who have uploaded documents to share with fellow parent group leaders. We hear from leaders all the time that the file exchange is such  a powerful resource.  Happy sharing and swapping!

I’ve said for a long time that the key to growing involvement is to start by getting parents into your building. You don’t grow involvement by asking for help. You grow involvement by serving. Many attendees at your family events yield more volunteers down the road. Not to mention the fact that — even if those attendees never volunteer — your school is already a better place for everyone when parents are interacting with teachers and one another.

I elaborated on this concept in a column called ”Open Doors, Lots of Them’‘. I think you’ll like it. But it’s worth mentioning that how you open doors is almost as important as opening those doors in the first place. How’s your hospitality? Do folks feel welcomed? What about guilt? Is there ever an element of guilt in your approach, as in: “Thanks for coming; this took a lot of work, maybe you could help next time.”

While it’s certainly true and understandable, it’s also exactly the wrong way to build involvement. Treating people well and avoiding guilt is what gets people talking positively about your group and coming back to more events…and eventually volunteering. Of course, that can also work in the reverse if you’re not taking the time to make your events feel special.

We’ve had a ton of community talk about family events and involvement in recent weeks. I hope you’ll join in. You can also follow me on Twitter.

It’s especially unusual since the Texas state PTA has been aggressive in promoting exactly the opposite policies, trying to get local school boards to make PTA the default choice in their schools. I give the Del Valle super credit for guts, as it’s often so much easier to give in to the organized PTA in a state like Texas than it is to stand up for a concepot that doesn’t have an organizational backing (PTOs are stand-alone). The Del Valle reasoning is same as most of the groups we see going PTO – why should parents have to pay dues to belong to the parent group at their own child’s school?  It’s a good question.

While some PTOs choose to charge dues; all PTAs must charge dues.  It’s a fundamental difference.  In the end, my conclusion is the same:  I’m for parent groups and involvement, no matter the acronym.  Did find this article intriguing, though.

Two quick notes:  1. Our PTO v PTA page sheds even more light on the issue; and 2. Our PTO Expo is actually coming to Texas (among other places) this spring.  I’ll be giving a keynote at the Texas event on best PTO and PTA habits.

Top 5 things to love about this fundraiser:

1. It’s for a GREAT cause:  Susan G. Komen for the Cure
2. It ties into Breast Cancer Awareness month: October.
3. It teaches middle school kids to think of someone other than themselves.
4. It shows that this school has incredible school spirit & enthusiasm … love the photo of the principal with pink hair! No doubt Middle schoolers would think this was hysterical… and kind of cool!
5. It’s a great idea for PTOs or PTAs who want to do a fundraiser that gives back!

The reason I like this so much is that it sends a strong message that PTO is about every parent in the school. Running these events is something that we all do together, not something planned and run by a few officers who you may not even know.

The way you communicate says so much about your group. In fact, many parents may only know you by your communications. You’ll improve your image if you keep things upbeat; emphasize that PTO is about everybody, not just the officers; don’t send so much home that people start to ignore it; and, of course, always check carefully for errors before you send anything out. You’ll also find great tips for improving your newsletter, website, flyers, and more on ptotoday.com.

A Connecticut mom recently shared her PTA volunteer journey in a blog titled To PTA or not PTA? Her vote was clearly “to PTA.”  She supports her choice by listing all the reasons why involvement matters, including the fact that  it boosts student achievement.  For me, this benefit meant the most:

I have such a great support system in the school. I know my children’s teachers. I see them on a day to day basis.”

You can debate whether your PTA or PTO is clubby or not, til’ you’re blue in the face, but the only way you realize the aforementioned kind of connection with the school is by volunteering.  Do you agree?

So if you are feeling momentarily discouraged, be sure to read her post for the full list of benefits of volunteering. It’s a good reminder. And if that’s not enough, read our One Last Dance article to remind you just how fast it all goes. Sniff.

Which one did you use this fall?  Which one is the best choice for your group?

This is always a big discussion on our message boards and in our PTO Today community, mainly because the differences are so stark.  I recently received an email about this topic from an expert that brought a fundamental new concern into the debate.  I’ll explain below.

First, to set the table what we’re talking about here,  is whether you should run your fundraiser so that all sales are paid for up-front (pre-pay) or whether you should take orders and then collect money only at delivery time (post-pay).

I can give you three facts in this debate:

1. Almost all group will make more profit with post-pay– usually a lot more.

2. You will likely have a bounced check or two or get beaten in another way in post-pay (though #1 still applies).

3. There’s some extra work involved with post-pay, as sellers need to go back and collect money at delivery time.

This expert I heard from – a long-time salesman in the fundraising business – gave this perspective:

“A postpay sale is going to generate some “no pay” sales.  That’s a given as “the cost of doing business.”  It is also true that a postpay sale generates approximately double the sales volume of a prepay sale.  As an example, (one of my schools) had a total sales of about $4,500 on their prepay fall fundraiser in 2007.  They switched to postpay in 2008 and had a total sales of over $20,000.  They more than quadrupled the fundraiser profit that they could spend on behalf of the children, and did it with the same size of enrollment.  Yes, it takes a little effort to collect all the money, but they liked the additional money so much that they are doing a postpay sale again this fall.

A second reason relates to the issue of trust.  When parents are told they must have the money up front, they are reluctant to ask their co- workers to buy, lest the co-worker be insulted, thinking that the parent doesn’t trust them.  An even worse situation is one where a school will not accept checks at all. This indicates a severe lack of trust and is pretty much guaranteed to make parents decide not to participate at all.   If you have less than half the parents participating on a fundraiser, you have a lack of trust on the part of the parents in the school administration, simply because the parents feel that they are not trusted.”

The new factor for me was a discussion of how our credit card and debit card and online banking society has made prepay so difficult. Years ago in a prepay sale, the neighbor or co-worker or aunt or uncle pulled out a check and paid for their order on the spot.  Today, I haven’t carried a check in my wallet in several years, and I rarely have more than $20 or $30 in cash in my pocket. Many days, I couldn’t help the prepay seller, even if I wanted to.  The stats show that I’m far from alone in using plastic and online banking (and few paper checks) in my daily routine. This is a huge factor making prepay so difficult.

Hadn’t thought of that.

I’m interested in your take and your experiences on this. Did you prepay or postpay this year? Seeing any trends at your school? Love to hear ‘em.

PS – Are you following us on twitter yet?  @TimPTO and @ptotoday.