Calling all PTA members

[moneytree]

Hello,

When organising an event how on earth do you manage to get to parents to support it? I am having trouble and could use some inspiration pls

Just sold a table of 8 after a convo with one of the Mum's. Going to hand out flyers outlining our new pricing today and handing out the sealed bid forms on Friday for those who can't attend. Lets hope the sales continues!

I think the personal approach really works. Well done!

Sorry to hear you are struggling. My DD is at a private school and we always blame the poor attendance at PA events on people not living local to the school and objecting to spending more money when they are already paying the fees. It actually makes me feel a bit better to hear that a small village school is stuggling - but that doesn't help you does it!

I generally throw myself on the mercy of the parents with whom I am 'friends' and beg them to come along.

I am now getting really good and "throwing myself on the mercy of parents"

As mentioned we are selling tickets - 8 for £60 or £10 each. Some people cant organise a table & want to buy single tickets but feel a little put off. Any tips on how to promote the single tickets?

we have free drinks and nibbles, no entrance fee and take the cost out of the donations,we make about 4.5k

Wow, that is great. Is yours a big school? We have just 100 families at ours. Has anyone had the same prob with single tickets sells or is that just the norm?

Yes, recently organised a disco and only sold two tickets! Most events take place after school 3.15 ie spring fetes. The christmas fete was on a saturday.

The disco we planned they wanted £5 each but I disagreed with this as £10 per couple was too much for nothing (no food etc) I thought £5 per couple.

A lot of people dont want to spend anymore time at the school and dont particularly like some of the other parents and would rather spend time with their close friends instead of spending that sat night going back to the school. Lets face it many of us struggle to get out in the nights as it is and most would rather spend that special one off night somewhere very special.

I understand your passion and disappointment with other parents as I have also hit a big brick wall. What annoys me is that what is bought benefits all the children yet some parents make no effort at all. I see no excuses from my school as the parents are very comfortable and some have great jobs. So offering a one off service or donating a great raffle prize isnt any hardship.

My biggest problem is getting the PTA to liven up, freshen up and get with it!!!

We are re-thinking some of our activities and trying to find ways to raise funds which don't involve attending events.

We've recently introduced:

Easyfundraising.org - a click through site which gives you a percentage back on everything you spend with a wide range of on-line sellers

Bag 2 school - people donate old clothes and bedding which is then re-used. I think the school gets something like £500.00 per tonne.

100 club - people pay an amount each month (ours is £10 per month, but I think this is much too high). A percentage goes to the school, and there there are prize winners each month who can win up to £100.00

It's early days yet so I can't report back on how popular these ideas are!

What always made loads of money in DC's old primary was school discos. Parents love a bit of cheap babysitting. I've also heard that film nights go down well.

Sometimes if you can get someone to set the questions for free or for a drink, that can be quite lucrative.

It always used to be children's events that made money, or one big annual event that took a lot of organisation.

We do Bag 2 School and this is a good one. We introduced Easyfundraising and only 11 parents out of 100 signed up despite several reminders. I never heard of 100 club.

Sorry to be a party pooper but having done 10 years at primary level the novelty of these events does tend to wear a bit thin and there is a limit to how much parents can go out and leave dc with babysitters, especially if they keep up with other friends/interests. My DH never wanted to sit in a school hall, eating a fork supper for a total spend of 50.00. Eventually we helped at the mega school fair once a year and wrote an annual donation cheque about 200.00. School got the cash it would have made if we had attended a handful of mediocre events with people we were polite to but who weren't friends.

Just seen this. Valid point and suggesting to committee that we no longer organise evening events. On a positive note I have managed to sell 50 tickets and more people planning to buy so thanks everyone for their advice, appreciated.

I don't think you have to avoid evening events necessarily. But you have to organize events people want to go to - and yes, if people don't particularly like socializing with other parents it's hard to overcome. There's also a limit to how many events you can do a year.

We tend to do only one biggish evening social a year. Our last event was a Quiz Night. Tickets were £7.50 and only included the entrance and nice nibbles on the table. We squeezed in 11 tables of 8 and sold out within a few days of tickets going on sale - absolutely no selling involved. We could have sold plenty more. We made about 1700 pounds profit.

However, I have also seen fancy dress discos struggle to sell - and you need crowd for events like that as otherwise it is pretty sad...