To ask how you encourage people to help at school events?

[JohnCusacksWife]

Just that really....we have a school roll of just under 250 but can only ever muster the same 10 or so helpers for fundraising events. How do we engage and enthuse other parents to help, even for an hour or two? We've tried everything we can think of but to no avail. At this rate our fundraising will diminish which means no food/gifts at Christmas parties, no leavers do, no IT purchases or major sports kit for the school. All advice is much appreciated!

Totally agree with the martyrdom and cliquey-ness.

In Reception a PA mum told us that she is on the PA because, unlike the rest of us, she cares about her children's education. I was sat there thinking that perhaps helping my children with homework, volunteering to read, sew, cook, escort on school trips (when I am free, as obviously some people don't have loads of free time) reflected that I cared about my children's education but apparently not. This smuggery also ignores that I might volunteer with organisations that have a greater need, in my case a homeless charity.

The PA claim to not be a clique but they are in our case. Constant pictures of them on FB getting drunk, going on holiday together etc.

My PA have also managed to change what is taught in class or given for homework in the name of fundraising. That gets a lot of backs up.

Money - where does it go? Our PA raises about £20k a year. Its apparently going to be spent on playground equipment - or it was 4 years ago but we're still waiting for it to be spent. Perhaps my children do benefit from the funds but I have no idea how as it seems to be on a need to know basis.

OP, I think a lot of what you fund should be funded by the parents e.g. leavers do or by the school e.g. pencils, IT purchases. There is serious mismanagement if that cannot be funded internally. I'm also confused as to how you don't have Governors. If your Head is mismanaging funds so significantly I think you have to go to the LEA or DfE.

One tip though, have some tasks that can be done at home by parents who can't get out due to childcare e.g. wrapping the lucky dip gifts.

Most of the PA have childcare on hand e.g. lots of close family. It would cost me at least £20 for childcare which I'm not going to do.

This thread has made me decide to leave our PTA after this year.

All the 'clique' bollocks is awful (and it is inaccurate!). I work my arse off and so do the other same fucking few people on the committee.

We get no thanks from anyone - not parents or teachers. I hear people say they "should help, but..." while fully acknowledging they have time.

Ah, well: no playground extras, no school trip subsidies, no kids' fun events (discos, films, etc), no new sheltered outdoor area, no new school kitchen then!

1 hr might be considered quite a long stretch depending on a parent's circumstances. I've manned stalls for 30 minute slots.

LondonRocks you're going to leave your PTA after reading a thread on mumsnet? ...I bet that will go down well with your posse when you tell them. (And yes, you do sound like a martyr now, typical cliquey flouncing).

Ah, well: no playground extras, no school trip subsidies, no kids' fun events (discos, films, etc), no new sheltered outdoor area, no new school kitchen then!

What, so the PTA won't function if YOU leave? You must think you're really special. .

I really will be leaving our PTA either this year or next, we don't seem to have anyone new stepping up - maybe once ive gone ;) but i wont care because DD will have left for secondary school and i am NOT getting involved! oh no no no no no!

Have a concert the same time as the event so the parents have to turn up for that!

My eldest dc is in y6 and I've never been on the PTA.

I work from home so always manage school pick up, however what people don't realise is that I'm trying to squeeze a full time job into part time hours. In often awake until 3 or 4 am or work through the night and then divulge school run in the morning.

I find our PTA a bit cliquey. They say they welcome everyone but I feel they don't. They only have meetings in the early evenings that I've never been able to attend.

Over the years however, I've wrapped hundreds of lucky dip presents, did free face painting and have run school events for my school that I normally charge other school £250 a day for. I do what I can but I can't commit to the PTA and they never put up a list of what jobs should be done so I'm clueless.

Once our school attached Beaver Scout leader approached my directly to help painting/creating scenery for a show. I was delighted to help because she clearly told me what she wanted me to do and I could gage whether or but I could do it. It took me 5 days off work over 4 weeks (that I had to make up elsewhere). I was proud to do it, bit it's bit something I can do often.

I didn't help because I was a lone parent , working full time and was reluctant to help once in case I got dragged into it being a regular thing.

I could never understand the logic of asking parents to spend a £5 baking cakes which where then sold for 10 and 20p each and didn't even make back the price of the ingredients. I would rather have donated the £5 and saved myself the hassle.

Our PTA was the same group of women who were unwelcoming to newcomers

There was just too many events and you never actually saw where all the money raised went.

Why cant they just have a lottery, you sign up, pay by Direct debit, no fuss, no requests on your time and at least the chance to win, school gets regular funding that they can budget to spend, parents dont get bombarded with requests for cash for mufti days, cake stall, bring and buys etc etc

Thanks for all the responses. I guess what it comes down to is most people either can't or don't want to help. That's fair enough and there's probably little we can do to change that.

We normally run 3 discos a year, a Xmas Fayre a summer Fayre and sometimes a race night or similar. I think we just have to accept that we can't do that any longer and cut it down to say 2 discos and a Christmas Fayre. It will certainly make life easier!

It's a shame that so many PC/PTA members are viewed as being unfriendly or unwelcoming. I truly hope that is not the case with us.

Our current group of regular helpers are a mixed bag - some on the PC, some not, some mums, some dads, some SAHM, some working parents. We aren't friends outside of the school, we don't socialise together and have different groups of friends. We are so delighted when we do get a new helper and we really do try to make them feel valued and welcome. I really hope people don't feel we're unfriendly.

Our church committee has been reflecting on the same problem, and have spent time thinking about why people don't want to volunteer for the e.g. Summer Fete (like dragging teeth, apparently - woman who organised it said that it made her feel terrible when people avoided her at summer fete volunteer time). We've agreed that it clearly isn't seen to be meeting a need for the congregation, and that we need to achieve our aims (social event and fundraising) another way. So we're holding a barbeque / garden party for the social angle, and we'll do a cake sale for the fundraising. It won't raise as much money, but it's something manageable.

I don't think it's a bad thing to reflect on your aims and change your strategy according to the needs of your stakeholders (going a bit charity speak there...)

Why not run 1 disco in summer and a small Christmas fair? Do that for 3 years or so, and see how it goes. You might have more people happy to help when it's a much more limited commitment.

To be fair leading the PTA is tricky. People want things done properly so that usually means the confident, organised, self-starters put themselves forward. It's natural that people who work together a lot are comfortable in each others company and it would be very hard to start from scratch every year so that encourages the people who are familiar with what worked in the past to continue.

Yet it is all unpaid and a big commitment so few want to do it.

What does everyone suggest to encourage more people to make a more substantial commitment?

Or as always is it 10% of the people doing 90% of the work?

if you find yourself getting really bitter and twisted, move on

yes, please do! I don't think the extras the PTA provide our school with are worth fund-raising for. Education equipment and supplies should be met from school budget and I'd be holding the Head to account if he couldn't manage that.

The children don't need the adventure playground equipment funded by PTA - they can run around or stand about chatting.

I'd much rather fundraise for (and I do) the animal rescue we got our lovely hound from - now they really do need the money!

We do an inflatables day and the company we use either charge £200 or take the first so many tickets (go for the £200 in case the weather is poop). We charge £5 a kid but anyone who helps out for the day gets one kid in free. 1/2 day gets a free burger. Two of the dads man the BBQ - it's a man thing.
Summer fete, each class make something to sell including nursery that finger dotted coasters. We ask the mums of that class to over see the pupils of that class in 2 hr stints sell their things. The pupils get a great sense of achievement when the total takings are announced. The parents can then ensure they get to buy their little one's artwork. The coasters were really good BTW.

I guess what it comes down to is most people either can't or don't want to help

In my case I was probably pretty introverted and fun events were quite daunting. I didn''t enjoy the school gates until eventually I did meet a couple of people I regularly chatted to.

The PTA were first name terms with the teachers, seemed to know everyone, confident and well-off. Not who I'd mix with.

The point I am slowly getting to is that for me to volunteer I'd need a bit of handholding (no doubt sneers all round from the volunteer types on here). Chatting and smiling with the buyers and sellers was not me. Talking people into buying raffle tickets was not me either.

I did offer to manage a plant stall but was rebuffed. And turned up with one other to do some gardening at the front of the school which would probably take a couple of days rather than the couple of hours allotted.

But if someone had told me exactly what was required where and when and for how long and then been around when I arrived to get me started or at least show me where to go I might have volunteered. The thought of standing around unsure what to do like a numpty in front of all of my DCs schoolmates and their parents was enough to put me off from ever volunteering.

Perhaps I am the only one who felt like this??
Twenty years on I am on committees, but still avoid arranging the 'fun' type events.

Dc's school have this problem. We recently got a letter sent home with a detailed list of all the things that the PTA organise/pay for through fundraising, with a warning that all these would have to stop if they didn't get more volunteers. It doesn't seem to be financial, more a case of having enough bodies at an event or to share the burden of organising.

I have always (I say always, DC is only in reception) actively avoided being on the PTA because I have a 2yo, work part time, volunteer for 2 charities and 2 community groups. For each bar one of my voluntary roles, the load has increased drastically from what I originally signed up for, mostly due to volunteers signing up and then realising they would have to put the effort in and dropping out again. So groups or events that I personally consider important but would probably not have considered getting up and running if we only had 3 volunteers instead of the original 12 require a lot of work and time.

Therefore I have signed up to help at upcoming events but am worried that it will become more time consuming than I can deal with. I do it because DC love it and I understand that people need to do their bit but I already was, just not for the school. My worry is that more will be asked of me and I will then end up dropping out, leaving more work for others. The pp idea of a sheet with specific jobs/timeslots is great as people will know exactly what they are committing to. Also the idea of asking in the community.

So in short, a letter home with details of what will disappear if parents don't get involved. What worked for me was a guilt trip but after that! some people like to be involved! some will do it if they have to and some will never commit time to anything. Then there are others who already do a lot that you don't see.

One successful thing has been collecting bags of clothes for a recycling company to pick up and pay the PTA by weight. Very little effort and potentially helpful to parents wanting to declutter.

We only have a summer fair every year. No Christmas disco or anything else. Only cake sales and raffles. Our school is really small too so maybe that's a reason there's not much else happening.

Our PTA is a member of the PTA UK association so accesses information and advice from them on fund raising and committee structures etc. It costs about £5 monthly but well worth it for the support we get from them, our PTA is now very active compared to a few years ago.

The PTA also accesses the matched funding scheme via PTA UK and doubles the profits it makes this way.
www.pta.org.uk/

I wish our PTA would give out a list of helpers/jobs required to be honest.

I won't volunteer for the PTA as a 'here I am, use me as you will' type of person which is what our PTA wants. I do other voluntary work and have an elderly mum who has Alzhiemer's to care for. She sometimes takes up as little as a morning a week - just doing her pills, making sure she's OK, dealing with post etc. Then I can help at practically any time.

Sometimes however, she has the same needs and two or three appointments and I have to take her. I hate the looks and 'oh, right' comments I got a few times in the past when I said I couldn't help because mum has an appointment. It's not an excuse, it's the truth!

If I could sign up for a) the times that suit me and b) the things I enjoy, I'd be happy to help. But I don't think it'll happen with our PTA as they, I suppose reasonably, want to know who they have before they plan. Trouble is, that doesn't encourage people like me who either can't commit to every event or who don't enjoy certain events so avoid them. After all, it is a voluntary role so no-one HAS to do something they don't want to - but most of our PTA are pretty good at schmoozing and cajoling people into doing something they aren't always comfortable with. And that's the problem. Once cajoled into a role they don't enjoy the person avoids the PTA like the plague next time - whereas allowing that person to pick and mix would probably get them more involved.

I just don't want to get lumbered with a bigger role than suits me just because the PTA needs help. I chose my voluntary job very carefully - it can fit around my mum and my DS's needs.

My DH used to belong to the PTA. At his first event he got left for the whole afternoon in charge of a huge inflatable tunnel thing - kids diving in the exit end but only one person in charge - him. There had been two of them but the other PTA member wandered off to ' have a quick look at the side shows' and never came back... Couldn't go to the loo, couldn't get a drink. No one came to make sure he was OK, he couldn't leave to get some help. Phone signal was down so he didn't even have that. It was only when the head teacher wandered over and he said he was closing the inflatable in 10 minutes as he needed the loo that she ran off to find another PTA member!

He also told the PTA at his first meeting that he'd be happy to help at events, do calls from home etc but wasn't comfortable to go around to businesses in our area asking for donations. Guess what his first job was...

So I don't put myself forward for the PTA. May be they've changed, may be they haven't but I just don't want to be sucked into it by trying it out. I'll happily open my cheque book though. However it seems our PTA either hasn't thought of that or prefers things the way they are. To be honest, if it was about raising money you'd think a PTA would jump at the chance of saying you can help, you can buy or if you'd prefer to give a termly donation we'd take that but from what I can see very few do the termly donation route which is odd.

Haven't read the thread but reason I haven't helped out so far is because at DS s school they say on Monday we are having a meeting to arrange helpers tomorrow at 7.
My Dp works on a Tues and I need to put boys to bed at 7 and can't cone.
Why they don't do emails or have a parents Facebook page or something I don't know.
I would happily help if given info with enough notice .

The thought of standing around unsure what to do like a numpty in front of all of my DCs schoolmates and their parents was enough to put me off from ever volunteering

It's this isn't it? I know that feeling so well NorahDentressangle.