To wonder how to get school parents to volunteer to do anything?

[FishfingerFlinger]

I’m a somewhat reluctant volunteer for the school PTA - only reluctant because I have a full-on job (12hr+ days most of this week) another volunteer role and am frankly frazzled.

Trying to get volunteers to help do small tasks for the school fair and no one will do ANYTHING. Everyone wants the school fair to happen. Everyone moans if it doesn’t happen. But they think the magic fairies make it happen?

Some schools seem to have an abundance of volunteers making elaborate fairs happen. All I’m asking is for someone to man the bat the rat stall for half an hour and I can’t even get that.

What am i doing wrong here?

As an avid follower of PTA threads on Mumsnet over the years they always produce the same answers which is depressing and also reassuring in that you are doing nothing wrong OP.

My PTA (secondary comprehensive ) has raised tens of £1,000's in some years and the only way to get people to volunteer is to:
A) frequently remind them that money raised is directly benefiting their children
B) Profusely thank all the volunteers in a public forum whilst reminding everyone that the money raised is directly benefiting their children
C) create a parent community (WhatsApp works well) where you help and support parents navigate the school. At the same time you post frequent reminders of what is being bought with money raised and how it is benefiting their children
D) Ask for volunteers until you are blue in the face.
E)Make it easy to sign up.
F) Encourage groups of friends to take up an aspect of a particular event and then they will recruit their own helpers
G) Get the school to ask directly for helpers. In the past we wrote letters from the head teacher which they approved and sent out in their name.
H) Get the SLT to promote the PTA to new and existing parents by publicly thanking those who do and telling parents how funds raised is directly helping their children.
I) Develop a thick skin. Ignore anyone who is rude to you or complains you are running a clique. Offer them a role of their own and see them run for the hills.
J) Never stop asking for help but be prepared to say no or cancel an event if it is too much.

This thread is really interesting- so many people saying that lots of people who say they don’t have time are just being lazy/ don’t want to do it.

and I get that…

but how many times do we see on other threads that ‘no is a complete sentence’ , or that women should be more assertive and not try to be everything to everyone.

So long as it doesn't end up falling back in to the teachers and TAs, which all too often does happen. Always in unpaid time, and too often on a Friday afternoon, after school, and at the end of a busy term when they've tons of other stuff to be doing.

thank you so much to all the people who have volunteered already... etc. we just need a couple more volunteers to man this stall and that stall."

Thanking people helps I reckon. It is a social nudge. You’ll get people who definitely won’t but many will join if they feel others are doing something good

I am a SAHM, so basically spent my entire children's school life, junior and senior, volunteering. I never wanted to be in charge, those were always of a type, but happily supported in the background. Our events tended to be on the weekend, with alcohol, so always well attended. Often we got extra volunteers in the day, dad's especially. Ours were always family affairs, so actually something quite nice to do of an afternoon. We also ran adult nights, also well attended social events.

My main role, was running the second hand uniform shop weekly, and running a big mega sale in July. That was always well supported with volunteers because they got first dibs.

Maybe it's time to have a consultation with the school community to re-assess what they want and expect from the PTA.

Is it fundraising for extras/enrichment?
Is it to buy essentials such as books and IT?
Is it to create social activities for the community?
Is it to create social activities for the children?
Is there a specific project you're fundraising for, if so what is the target and is it clear how this is progressing?
What has the PTA funded in the last 7 years (covering all of the years their child could have been at the school).

The answers to this will help you evaluate how best to achieve that.

Maybe the Summer Fair has had its day? Maybe it's time to set up standing order facility. Or just concentrate on short discos after school or Ice Cream Friday. Or promote thegivingmachine portal or set up a lottery? There will likely be a pay-off of reduced income.

Honesty and transparency. Be clear about what the options are and the implications of each choice.

At my school the pta have funded a wide range of things:

> school panto trip contribution
> ict equipment for the children
> solar panels to reduce electricity costs (years ago now)
> revamped 'garden' area for the children
> library environment and new books
> contribution to other enrichment events/activities for the children
> paid for refreshments on a school leaver's activity
> outdoor play and learning equipment

Etc.

Mind your own business?
That is very harsh. She is on the PTA committee her role is to help organise the school fair and get volunteers to help. It is her business.
OP You can only do what you can do. I would send a message out asking for volunteers and make it clear that the Fair won't happen if you don't get any. I can understand that people are busy but they can't complain about something not happening if they are not able/willing to help

I can only give you the perspective of our dual career, 2 FT jobs household which is as follows -

1. We have no spare energy for school volunteering. Thus - we have no expectations. We do not expect a single fair or anything similar.
2. We do not have spare energy for elaborate projects. Thus - we have no expectations that ornate yearbooks, weddding gifts for teachers getting married/having babies/leaving involving children’s finger prints and handwritten poems - will be organised multiple times each year.
3. We are happy to donate money to school funds when the library needs books/pitch breaks.

We find the sense of community through play dates, birthdays, our personal social lives and families and friends. We do not come to the school with expectations of classroom poetry made into sparkling cards or elaborate fairs. We respect the teachers lots and they are stressed and stretched. We are grateful if they do their jobs and teach and care for our kids.

Not once will the phrase “Oh but where is the fair/yearbook/ornate card/fete?” Escape our lips.

Our school PSA folded when my cohort of parents left - no one else competent came forward to volunteer.
Loads of parents with 'great ideas' but they wouldn't give their time, so it's stopped. No more summer fair, no Christmas market, no fundraisers etc.
I'm torn - it's a shame for the school but I sympathise with the parents not wanting to volunteer, it's a pain in the arse especially on top of a full time job & other volunteer commitments & hobbies.
The parents get the PTA they deserve.

And thus - as parents who cannot find the time and energy for these events - we will happily donate some money and do so regularly.

A system of contribute X amount of time or Y amount of money or approach school to say you are both cash poor and time poor would be fine with me.

It is really difficult because I think a lot of PTAs do things that are time consuming but not necessarily profitable or efficient . Eg cake sales often mean people spending more on baking the cakes than they sell for or buying supermarket cakes for £3 that get sold for £2.50. In those cases I’d much rather just pay a tenner and be done with it.

But… I do think things like Christmas fairs, balls, bars at sports days etc do create a community feel and are genuinely enjoyable events. But they require a lot of work and can only happen if people give a bit of time. The reality is a lot of ptas will depend on a contingent of sahms. I know what i can offer and what I can’t. I’m not going to be using my annual leave to do event set-up but when I’m off for sports day, i’m very happy to do a bar shift. I haven’t been able to do stalls while looking after my younger one but should be able to give more time to Christmas fair things when mine are older in the school.

But it's not the PTA funding all this stuff is it - it's the parents spending the money at the fundraisers etc. If it's that much of a hassle to mobilise people - just ask for the money for what is needed directly.

Or the real solution - fund schools properly then none of this bullshit would be important

It is also worth looking at your school pta’s annual accounts in the charity commission website. Ours generally raises about £40k a year (covid years being about half that)from a one form entry primary. That isn’t a trivial amount to be sniffed at.

I was specifically responding to the question 'why do you do it if you don't enjoy it.'

I never said that anyone said 'people shouldn't volunteer', that's a ridiculous straw man.

I was responding to that particular question - why, if the majority of the volunteering job isn't enjoyable, do you do it? And trying to explain why I find ultimate reward - or even possibly just a sense of peace from my conscience - from something that is often extremely unenjoyable.

If you'd bothered to read, I made very clear that I didn't think there was a right or wrong answer or way to be in this, and that I recognised that others don't have the same psyche as me so my motivation for doing it is as mysterious to me as their motivation for not doing it. I was careful to set out that I was specifically talking about my motivation for doing something that is mostly a massive ballache and for which I get a lot of grief.

That's a fantastic amount!

I totally get that people might not want to get involved. But in my direct experience if you drew a Venn diagram of "people who are too busy to spare 30 minutes" and "vocal critics of the PTA who moan and bitch when an event is cancelled due to lack of bodies" has a large crossover in the middle.

You said

I'm very aware that not everyone feels that way but it's how I'm wired. Does that make sense? I don't think it's 'virtue signalling' or any of the other nasty things people like to say about people who do voluntary stuff for groups they don't particularly support, it's just that sense of a need to contribute.

I pointed out that no one had said (as far as I can see) nasty things about people volunteering or anything negative about the volunteers, for simply volunteering.

How is it a straw man? You said people were being negative about volunteering and they were.

If you get a sense of reward or a sense of peace, you are getting positive feelings. You are enjoying it. Even if you don’t like the activity itself. Not everyone will feel the same. Again, mainly because most schools don’t actually let people know what they achieved.

If you bothered reading I was quite clear it’s great you enjoy it. But the rest of your posts was just projection and assumptions.

Still doesn't stop them being lazy if they then get upset at a lack of events and money.

But they don't give directly even when given the opportunity 😂 - even when we haven't/weren't able to run the events, we had to manufacture online alternatives to raise any significant amounts of money. There will be one or two notable exceptions - we have two individuals who have us as their charitable giving donation matching recipient from their employers - but they're the exception. Plus a lot of people seem to really like the events, and that's part of our charitable purpose too.

Totally agree that schools should be funded properly so PTA stuff would be redundant. But given we're not in that world, it's a choice between - don't do it, and make the impact obvious in the hopes that it would get the government to fund schools properly or do it, knowing that it's fucking ridiculous that school budgets are so threadbare but not wanting the kids to miss out.

For me, I don't trust that the current lot would actually give a fuck if DT had to be cancelled, computing lessons consisted of watching videos of other people doing actual computing, and glue had to be carefully rationed, as long as it was only affecting the state school kids.

Again, you're taking a post in response to a particular question and applying it to the wider question of the thread. No clue what's in it for you in doing that, but if that's how you get your Saturday kicks, then crack on.

@HereComesMaleficent I was ready to disagree with you re school just for learning, as my DS (NT) really struggled with sitting still in the last couple of yeas of primary. Secondary has been far better because of the movement between lessons. But that said, he thrives on routine so maybe all these extra events/exceptions to the normal school day aren’t great either. There will be the argument that for some children they don’t get these experiences at home though so no ‘ideal’ set up for schools that suits everyone.

in answer to the thread generally - I did my bit, PTA for 4/5 years, Cub leader for 6, made lots of friends and enjoyed myself. Full time job, two DC with various commitments. Any moans from non-helpful parents I pointed them at the sign up sheet. It’s quite villagy where I live so there were always lots of people on hand. Then covid hit and I realised how tired I was and now much of a toll trying to do everything had taken on me (I think I may have some traits of ADHD, so the more things there are to do, the harder it is to focus). I loved having a summer of being just with my children and being at home. I ended up taking a massive step back after lockdown and I have to say I’m much better for it. If that means I now look like the unhelpful one to our secondary school PTA so be it. I still have to sit on my hands when people ask for volunteers sometimes, but I know it makes it easier to focus on things like household jobs, my course and actual hobbies. Not sure what my point is other than to say not everyone is lazy or not bothered!

I volunteered at the Christmas fair this year. I ran a stall for 3 hours. No help, nobody even asked if I wanted a cup of tea or said thanks at the end. I don’t expect a prize but being asked if I wanted two mins to have a wee half way through would have been nice. Plus it meant I couldn’t actually enjoy the fair with my own DCs! I’m not going to volunteer again. If I’d been a bit better looked after, I’d have been happy to do it again, but I just felt taken for granted.

It's tricky. If more people had volunteered someone would have taken over from you, a committee member would have had time to circulate thanking all the volunteers.
I used to try to make a point of circulating round all the stalls checking volunteers were OK and doing any troubleshooting.

Doesn’t take much to send a text after to thank people. Or put bottles of water on the stalls for the volunteers, even. I’m not precious, but I do think it’s important to acknowledge help if you want people to commit to it again.