More members make your PTA stronger

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell says:

"I am a proud member of the PTA, and I hope that parents throughout the state get involved with this wonderful organization at their local schools. Parents are essential to our effort to prepare all students for success in the increasingly competitive global economy, and joining PTA is a great way for parents to become fully informed and effective partners in their children's education."

Consider sharing this quote with your school superintendent when you ask him or her to join your PTA and help you to promote PTA membership.

Members power the PTA. Building membership in your local PTA can help to:

Increase the pool of volunteers for your programs and events;
Raise the level of meaningful parent and family involvement in your school;
Have an even stronger voice at the school, school district, county, state and national levels when speaking for all children on critical issues such as adequate school funding.

In these tough economic times, your PTA's voice is needed more than ever.

To help you build membership in your PTA, we have a new Membership Kit that offers a step-by-step guide to help plan your campaign. Click here to find it.

Four proven ways to build membership

PTAs that have successfully increased their membership numbers report relying on one or more of these simple approaches.

1. Appoint a membership chair. At all levels of PTA, it's important to have someone focused on membership.

2. Send home PTA membership invitations with school registration materials. Be sure to clear this with your school administration.

3. Set up an inviting PTA table with lots of membership forms, resources and brochures available, and staffed by enthusiastic PTA members at all events that draw families to school, including the first day of school (bonus tip: serve coffee to warm up your membership drive) and back-to-school night.

4. A personal invitation is powerful. Don't just rely on membership envelopes or invitation letters.

Get your members connected

Encourage all of your members to subscribe to our free e-publications, including Legislative Alerts, the SMARTS arts newsletter and PTA in California by signing up here or through our website at www.capta.org. Remind members about all the great resources available on our website that cover parent involvement, education, health, community concerns and other issues.

Para materiales en español: ptadecalifornia.org.

Share your successes

Please tell us about any membership strategies that have worked for your PTA. Click here to send us an e-mail, and we'll share your tips in future communications.