Energize Your Fall Membership Drive

The school PTAs and PTOs serve an incredibly important mission. I know that I wouldn't have had the same educational experiences without the afterschool enrichment, field days, and field trips offered by my school's PTA. In order to make those events happen, the PTA needs members to share their ideas, to volunteer, and to become members in the first place! That's why membership drives are so important. Here are a few ideas to make sure your membership drive is well organized and effective.

Source (PTA and PTO Goals)

Goal Setting

Make sure you set a SMART goal.

SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-based. By implementing a SMART goal strategy, you are more likely to achieve your goals. A great way to implement this strategy for your membership is to create an annual target for a % of membership increase and then break that down by month indicating how many new members you need to get each month.

Assign an accountable person

Assign a designated membership person. Making one person accountable for the goals and empower them to be creative, have fun, and to hit those goals.

The Basics

Make the ask

Ask school families, and remind them that their extended families can and should join as well. Reach out to any families that are new to the school. Ask to get on the agenda of any school events, staff meetings, or other group events.

Market the why

Develop a “Where the PTA Money Goes” flyer to highlight the spending of your PTA. People may join once they know how money is spent.

Say thank you!

Make sure to send a thank you note to anyone who becomes a member. This includes people who have been members for years. Everyone appreciates a thank you.

Source (Thanks)

Extending It One Step Further: Get the Community Involved

Don't stop at the school families and teachers. Make the ask of others in the community.

• Write letters to city council, other city officials, and school board members asking them to join.

• Attend Rotary, Kiwanis and other Club meetings in the area and ask their members to join.

• Reach out to preschools who feed into your school and ask if you can advertise in their newsletter or place a membership flyer in their school.

• Send letters to houses around the school with requests to support the local community by joining the PTA.

• Ask all vendors to the school to become members.

Creative ideas to take it to the next level

Extend your asks even further

• Ask a celebrity. Can be a local celebrity, an alum, or a bigger celebrity that lives near you. Their endorsement can go a long way.

• Ask PTA leaders from other schools to join your PTA.

Offer exclusive benefits

• Host a PTA member-only event, such as a pancake breakfast, or offer PTA member-only seating at existing events, such as the spring sing.

• Gift a Spirit Wear package to any members with a "PTA member" logo on it

But also make it inclusive

• Offer membership subsidies for families who may not be able to afford membership

• Run a “Each One, Reach One” campaign to encourage people to bring one new person to a PTA meeting.

• Offer interpreters at meetings and flyers in different languages to encourage diverse membership

Spice it up with a contest

• Have a membership contest with the class with the most new members recruited winning a pizza party, magic show, or other fun event

• Conduct a phone tree race! Assign each PTA leader a grade. The first person to increase PTA membership within their grade level by 20% wins!

• Distance Contest - Winner is the student who can recruit the member from the furthest away

If you want to hear more about these ideas, join us on The Multipurpose Room episode that shares these tips. If you have some ideas of your own, share them with us!