to ask you if you're on the PTA/organising committee of anything?

[whiskeytangofoxtrot]

If you are, why do you do it?
If you're not, why not?

We are trying to recruit more people and don't know how else to appeal.

One thing that helps, I think, is to be very specific over what you are looking for.
e.g.

• man a stall at summer fair for 1 hour
• label up tombola items
• collect raffle prizes from local businesses
• sell glow sticks at the disco

Much less good is to ask for 'help for the summer fair' - far too open ended.

One year on the committee we had a Mum who was very clear, she would come to meetings and give input, but not run or organise or sell things. However she also offered to make us signs (disco tonight, tombola etc etc) - that we still use 5 years later.

I'm on the committee of a local riding club. I do it because I love horses and as I'm currently horseless I still get to be involved. It does take up a fair bit of time (6-8 weekends of all day Sunday and prep on a Sat) which as a teacher is precious time that I struggle to get at weekends as I'm normally planning on a Sunday

Was suckered into being "on the committee" at DCs first school - just because I turned up at one meeting to find out more. Was horrible - it seemed to mean I had to give all hours god sent to the PTA -even thought I had a 2 year old to look after. I was berated for not doing a 8 hour stint at the summer fair because I was looking after said toddler and YR DD (DH was away but all the other parents doing the martyrish "I have been here since 8am look how busy I am" crap had their DPs or parents looking after their DCs or just let them run wild so everyone else had to watch over them ) Very clique-y and I hated it. And resigned.

We have since moved and am happy to help out on the odd stall for PTA (Christmas Fair, Summer Disco) but no further involvement thank you very much. I am a Governor though so feel I do my bit. PTA are less clique-y though there is the odd long standing member who is a bit patronising.

I think they are getting a bit better at asking for help. Specific time slots (eg 1-2pm on the drinks stand, 11-12 on the tombola and specific things to donate) so I think that is really helpful - you can see what is required and even if you can only help a bit it is clear where you can input.

Why I don't help more? Firstly as above, am a parent volunteer and Governor. Secondly we live a few miles out of the village so sometimes the last thing I want to be doing is trekking back to school again for an event or a meeting. Thirdly - a few of the events are "Socials" - quiz nights, suppers etc and DH and I are simply not interested in attending.

Oh and please, please, please thank your volunteers.

I'm the secretary of our PTA. I volunteered to be in it when my son started because I'm a SAHM and felt I should. I suspect it might be seen as slightly cliquey because of our Chair, who is the buttplug of the Head Teacher. Its pathetic. I enjoy some of the meetings mainly because I get to watch her sliding further and further up her butt. Its hilarious.

It is rewarding though, we raised several thousand pounds last year which bought loads of science equipment, a new reading system, maths equipment, etc etc.

Its fun doing the activities (film nights, discos etc) and the children love it that I"m at these events (at this point, they will probably be mortified when they are a little older)

Our PTA has reps from each year, reps for each area of responsibility and officers (secretary, treasurer & chair). Most positions are for 2 years so you can't end up trapped unable to leave. Meetings only take place once a term at 6.30pm. Some members are ultra high flying, others are sahms who haven't worked for 20 years. Clear agenda so the meetings can't run on, they usually last about an hour. No benefit whatsoever to children whose parents serve on the committee as far as I can tell. All parents are sent a welcome letter by the Chair when their children join the school asking them if they would like to be contacted and if there are any areas they'd like to help with. Parents via PTA organise a welcome event for new pupils & separate evening event for new parents, tea is free & evening event v low cost so people can all come but don't accept & no-show as they've made a financial commitment.

I'm the Chair of a voluntary after-school care/holiday playscheme group and also on the PTA. I do it because I've got time, I loved the idea of the afterschool/holiday group and didn't want the idea to fail through lack of help and I think it benefits the kids.

I think people are reluctant to volunteer because they don't know what they'll get landed with so if you need help be specific. So rather than "We need help at the disco" tell people what you actually need.

Be on top of meetings - people don't want to sit at a two hour meeting listening to people grumbling about the same nonsense complaint they had at the last meeting (we have one woman who will make every meeting about lost jumpers if she's allowed. luckily one of the others is great at moving things on to the next point really politely!). Schedule the meetings at different times where possible - if they are always 7-8pm on a Tuesday then some people will always be unavailable.

Also being honest with people about what it means. At Christmas we had to send out letters saying that unless we had four more volunteers the Christmas party would have to be cancelled. We listed the specific jobs and also mentioned about how much was raised last Christmas (Rather than just going on and on about the kids missing out) and we got helpers.

We also have a suggestion box in the school foyer for suggestions, comments etc and some of the most popular events have come from that. If people enjoy the events then they are more inclined to pitch in imo.

I help at fairs and discos when I can. The PTA are always complaining how desperate they are for help but they refuse to consider meetings in the evenings so they've restricted their membership to very PT or SAHPs. I have told them I would be happy to be active member and suggested they canvas opinion on whether changing the meeting time would help but the current PTA obviously like a middle of the day meeting so it isn't going to change.

I don't.. I am a LP so meetings are in an evening.

I help at discos sometimes at school fair. . I am self employed so am happy to do something someone asks but really don't want to organise anything.

I really also cannot tolerate our chair person.

I'm treasurer of the PTA and also treasurer of another charity and director of finance of our rugby club.

Our PTA meets on a rota basis between straight after school, 6pm in our local youth club building and 6:30pm in the local pub. This helps people who need to bring their kids to meetings and also those who work as well.

Yes, I am member of the PTA. Have been for some time. I work full time and I am rarely at the school gates. I have lots of friends amongst the mums though.
So I try and make it to the meetings, let me know few months in advance, I'll swap days off/take annual leave. We have a spread sheet and I normally take on 5 tasks per term. Two of which I delegate to my class reps. One task that I can do at home (wrapping/writing/calling/making stuff). And two that involve my presence at events (run a stall/help with cleaning the shed/garden, whatever is needed, really).
I am not interested in leading, all I want is to help my DC's school. So I've been known to silence a room full of bored egos when it got silly.
I make sure the class reps are supported in their tasks, they are really important. At the end of the term I am hosting a wine and nibbles evening at my house for the class reps and all the other mums and dads that helped me (any excuse for some bubbly with that lot).
I don't think I'm doing the PTA a favour, I am helping the school, I am one of the mums after all.

I think it would help if the school had a list of tasks, everybody gets a copy and picks some tasks up, according to the abilities. If it's a major/boring job, 2-3 parents club together.
Works for us.

I am a bit shocked at preschools being accused of melodrama! Where I live it is the ONLY provision for about twenty miles. Were there to be no committee there would be no preschool. My DH was chair and had to oversee the spending of a massive grant to do up the premises (arguing with incompetent building services), manage a massive shortfall in money for actual staff wages, cope with an extremely hostile village hall committee who ranking him alongside Hitler for wanting a nice place for the preschool to happen in, hire staff, manage the fact that staff were no longer qualified to run the school due to a change in legislation and be legally responsible for the way things were run. I could go on but I am already boring even myself..

Forgive up for asking for help from the other parents now and again.

Anyway, I also help with the PTFA at school. Am happy to do so, they are a lovely bunch and we do rather well. Could do without the constant carping from those who are happy to criticise without ever doing anything themselves though.

I'm the treasurer/officer/trustee of our local pre-school.

I did it initially as we didn't know anyone in the village and I also had a volunteering slot in free in my diary (I always try and do something). I'm also very organised and good at maths and used to doing payroll.

We go out once a month and its very social and I've got to know a couple of people.

I think the trick is to make it fun and not tedious, make sure it is actually a committee rather than an autocracy.

I'm chair of a "Friends" for a secondary school. The principal is currently on our committee and has amazing ideas.

One of these ideas is that when departments in school request funding for a project etc, they also have to demonstrate support for us. The idea being that if staff want funds raised by the hard-working parents, they can show support at events.

We've just managed to snag a couple of new committee members, so at present we have about 7-8 regulars. I do have contacts for some who are willing to help at events, but who can't commit to regular meetings, etc.

We all have different evenings that we can't make, so we arrange meetings to vary the night of the week so we all get a turn to attend.

Also, we have quite a few email discussions, which actually helps a lot.

Finally, I'm looking into improving our documentation, so that we can all access minutes, agendas and things like templates for disco tickets, letters to parents for events, risk assessments for the disco or other events, and so on. I seem to have inadvertently created a Dropbox account so may use this to give all the committee access to this stuff, so that if one of us has to leave then the rest aren't having to redo it all from scratch.

We've started planning the Xmas fair, and we've divvied up the initial tasks. I think the point made previously about being specific on the kind of help you want is a good way to go, eg help run a stall for 1 hour, etc.

We also changed the meetings from afternoons to evenings and took it inturns to hold them at our houses or at a pub so it was also a more social thing

I responded to a request for help at the xmas bazaar and didn't get a response, not even a thanks but no thanks. DS also volunteered to be Santas helper for an hour, got all excited about it and when we showed up for his time we were told that he wasn't needed after all. A most excellent way of upsetting a 5 year old just before christmas.

Also DM has helped out with fairs/bazaars eyc for the past 40 years through her church group (catholic school). The current PTA basically dismissed all their usual stalls as crap and shoved them in the most out of the way places possible and then complained how they didn't make as much money as previous years. A brilliant way of upsetting women that have worked for years to fundraise and support the school, long after their children have left. A few of the women have decided they won't be helping again because of it.

That's before I even get started on the fact that they won't even acknowledge me/others not on the PTA in the playground

Not a PTA Committee member, but I do go to meetings and help out at events. Have now experienced two different PTA orgs - one more traditional (but with a lot of support from the school staff) and one less traditional.

I think it goes in cycles a bit. The first PTA was fun, I did lots of different things and got to know quite a few other people doing it (which was handy as we moved here and didn't know anyone). You also get to know the staff too. However, although the events are/were very well attended, they have struggled to get volunteers recently and have adapted the type of events they put on.

The second PTA is very different, has some great events which need a fair bit of volunteer help to run and you sometimes wonder if enough helpers will step up. Again, good for getting to know people and staff.

I didn't find either of them clique-y, it can be tricky to break into these things if you can't make the meetings though or feel nervous about offering to help out. I think if you know someone already involved then you are more likely to say to them 'oh I'll do an hour on a stall' or similar.

I'm a SAHM but my DH travels with work sometimes, so if I know I'm not going to make an event I will see if I can help beforehand or with the setting up.

I do think if you can crack the art of making it exciting for the child to have their parent helping you'll get a bit of helpful pressure there! I'm happy to help out but don't want a formal Committee-type role (have done that before for charity work ...) so making it easy for people to do that is also helpful, as others have mentioned show that it's possible to just volunteer for an hour rather than a whole day.

I'm not on the PTA and I don't help at events - I have children who are too young to be in school and no nearby family to look after them. So basically if my kids can't be there neither can I.

OP from bitter experience if you are looking to recruit people into your PTA look for the busiest people and ask them, try the mum with 3 kids and a full time job, don't bother with the mum with 1 kid, perfect nails, BMW and a DH with a well paid job, she will be far too busy.
When my DC were you I went along to the PreSchool,committee meeting out of curiosity and was asked to join, ended up as chair despite having a tiny baby and a full time 60 hour plus director level job at the time. When I finally extricated myself from the role, I made a concios decision to never join the PTA at the primary school, although I always helped at events.

Being a sucker for punishment I answered the cry from help from DC senior school and have really enjoyed my time on the committee, but for a school of over 1000 pupils we struggle to get to double figures for members and are just about to try and recruit some more as several of us will be stepping down as our children leave for sixth form or university

This is preschool not PTA (I'm involved with both) but after years of pushing we need a committee, we will fold if no-one will do it, putting pressure on people ... someone had the genius idea of making it more about the fundraising and having fun eg a recruitment poster with a group photo of the previous committee in hysterics over something at a fundraiser...
(We do have excellent staff though who care and just get on with it and help the committee so although they are responsible they don't have to get involved with the tiniest details of the day to day running -unless they want to... And we still struggle a little from the fall out a few years ago when the chair ran it like a business - expecting others on the committee to spend hours rewriting policies, business plans etc etc - apparently it was torture and like a ft job! A few with older children have said they will never get involved again!)
But for the last few years we have had more than enough volunteers - people fighting over who wanted to be chair...
So I think focus on the positives...what they get out of it - rather than what you expect from them ...and that it can be fun. Honest!
I agree fundraisers can mean you have less time with your child at events - stuck on a stall and that is a bit miserable and unfair. But if there were lots of volunteers so you can take it in turns it doesn't have to be like that.
(I often wonder if our PTA is viewed as a clique - some of us (with older DCs) have been on it for years - know each other very well...but then we welcome new blood, new ideas...and do try to include people...)

If you find a solution OP please do share.
I have been volunteering on various committees for years.
IME the majority of parents are unwilling to do anything to help or contribute, but complain endlessly when things are not done to their liking.
It is soul destroying.

Never joined PTAs because I'm involved with so many other things already.
Would try to help at events whenever I could though (within the confines of work and, in the first place having younger dc, and so forth. Much easier to help when the youngest was going through Primary school as then had no littlies to get in the way).

However, I don't think it's worth putting a lot of energy into worrying why people don't join - I've been volunteering in various organisations in various capacities for over 30 years, and can assure you you always only ever get a small % of people that will step up and take on organising roles. The key is, to nurture those people who will do a specific, or particular job, or who will turn up and help on the day, whilst just accepting there will never be a big rush to Chair or be secretary or treasurer of things.

President of the PAC (pta) at our school we typically raise $33,000 per year, it's hard work and I'm glad to be stepping down.

Our school makes parents write a $150 post dated cheque, which you get retuned at the end of the year if you have volunteered in the school or at any school events for a total of 10 hours or more. It makes it easier to get volunteers.

Rather than trying to get lots of new people to join, start asking for specific help. Send a letter home: we need people to stuff envelopes/sew things/donate xxxxx/etc. Be very specific and break down the tasks in to smaller tasks where possible. People are more likely to help out if they know exactly what is needed and can estimate how long that task will take them. Also make it very clear what the funds are being raised for and how it will benefit their child. Memberships will naturally grow if people start helping out in small ways.

Yes I'm a serial volunteer to help things my DC are involved in but I also do it to settle in to an area. We used to emphasise the social aspect.

Because every time I've volunteered the existing members of the pta/parent council have been quite clear that new ideas are of no interest and that only they know how to to do things.