April 26, 2016 By Kris Carey Prevatte Leave a Comment
(Sponsored Post)
One hardworking local PTA meets the wide-ranging needs of 1,800 K-8 students and their families spread across four grade level centers.
Kim Mayton, a mom to seven-year-old twins, has a familiar story about how she ended up in a PTA leadership role. "When my kids were entering pre-K, the teacher told us parents that the class needed a Room Mom. I was interested in getting involved, but also intimidated. You couldn't volunteer as a Room Mom unless you first joined the PTA. That made me pause. I had certain stereotypes in my head about the PTA and I definitely hesitated. But I wanted to help my kids transition well into school, so I went ahead and joined." Kim laughs as she recalls, "It kind of snowballed from there."
Kim now serves as the vice president of fundraising, co-chair of hospitality and chair of the school supply committee at Homewood PTA. Located 25 miles south of Chicago in the village of Homewood, Ill., this one hardworking PTA supports 1,800 K-8 students and their families spread across four grade level centers. "It definitely can be a challenge to have one PTA spanning multiple campuses," remarks Kim. "We probably don't run exactly like a traditional elementary school PTA but I'm betting we are more alike than different."
Homewood PTA currently has their dues set at $10. With a little over 600 paid members and a typical annual operating budget of approximately $40,000, successful fundraisers are critical to ensuring they have adequate resources to deliver the depth and breadth of programs their PTA has become known for. "We simply cannot afford to have unsuccessful or underperforming fundraisers," says Homewood PTA president Ann-Marie Webster. "We have to get this right to hit our budget. We carefully consider which fundraisers will yield the best results while not being a burden to our volunteers and families."
So, that prompts the burning question: Which fundraisers does Homewood PTA choose?
A member of the Homewood PTA board was a longtime Schwan's Home Service customer and advocated for the group to consider the Schwan's Cares™ program (the charitable fundraising platform within Schwan's Home Service, Inc.). When Homewood PTA discovered that Schwan's Home Service delivers right to individual customers' doors, instead of requiring a scheduled pick-up by families or requiring the PTA to accept and manage inventory for distribution, "We were thrilled!" says Kim.
Homewood PTA launched their first Schwan's Cares™ campaign this school year. In addition to all the "usual" promotions, such as featuring the campaign on the PTA's website, Facebook and sending home printed materials to families, they recognized that "tasting how great the food is would probably lead a lot more people to buy it." So the PTA used a small amount of funds to purchase a selection of Schwan's® foods and encouraged tastings at two PTA general meetings. Kim notes, "I highly recommend offering samples for any food-based fundraiser based on this experience – even if you have to buy the sample food out of PTA funds. It really helped people decide what to order!"
The PTA took some additional steps to promote the fundraiser, including:
Passing out Schwan's® catalogs (tagged with a sticker for the Homewood PTA fundraiser) at local libraries and senior centers, after receiving permission to do so at those locations
Collaborated with the secretaries at the four campuses to compose and send an e-blast to all families about the campaign
Making sure that fliers and catalogs are featured at any school events during the campaign
Ann-Marie cautions that the relationship with Schwan's Home Service is new and they don't yet have a full grasp on how profitable these campaigns will be, but she is optimistic based on how things are going. "Have you had Schwan's® ice cream? It's amazing. If people just order lots of that, we're going to do fine."
Advice for Fellow PTA Leaders
Given Homewood PTA's success over the years, what advice does Kim and Ann-Marie have for other local PTAs?
Ann-Marie has plenty of suggestions. To start: "Don't be afraid to ask for help. One or two people cannot run a PTA! If people indicate a willingness to serve in some way, actually ask them to serve! Delegate!" In addition, she suggests:
Homewood PTA prioritized having a modern website for their PTA and they keep it current so members will want to check it frequently and rely on it for information.
Use all forms of communication. Paper is fine, such as the typical PTA newsletter that goes home in the backpacks. But also use social media. Find parents who are really good at those and ask them to take responsibility for updating. Homewood PTA values social media because "it creates two-way dialogue."
Show appreciation constantly to your volunteers, administrators and teachers. Homewood PTA has a strong bond with their campus principals and "they are amazing allies. They promote the value of PTA at all opportunities. They encourage all the teachers to join PTA and always are supporting us."
Always talk about and "promote" what PTA is doing to support the students. "When individuals know all the things that PTA has been doing to benefit their kids and the community, they will pay dues and maybe even donate more than the dues."
For more info about the fundraising opportunities and discounts available to schools and PTA members through the Schwan's Cares™ program, visit PTA.org/Benefits.
Kris Carey Prevatte is the Associate Director of Corporate Alliances for National PTA and a former local PTA president in Maryland.
Schwan's Home Service, Inc. is a financial sponsor of National PTA. National PTA does not endorse any commercial entity, product, or service, and no endorsement is implied by this content.
Filed Under: General, Money Matters Tagged With: delivery, food, fundraising, raise money, schwan's cares
Middle School Fundraising: Lessons Learned
January 13, 2016 By Kris Carey Prevatte 2 Comments
Northampton Middle School, in Lehigh Valley, Pa., is fortunate to have a dedicated group of PTA volunteers and a modern, new facility. With only one middle school serving the entire borough, it's a tight-knit community. However, with tightening visitor regulations for the security of students and faculty, the PTA experienced an unintended consequence—a significant barrier to getting volunteers into the building.
Joan Begliomini with Northampton's PTA said it is a huge hurdle. While everyone wants the school community to be protected, their security process complicates fundraising and program efforts.
"All volunteers now face the same level of scrutiny as school employees," Joan says. "They must go through a state police check, they must have had a documented negative Tuberculosis test and they either must have lived here for longer than 10 years or they must be cleared by the FBI."
Northampton PTA has a legacy of providing countless programs and services that support student success, help the teachers and enrich their community. Fundraising helps to make these programs possible.
"We pay for agenda books for the entire student body," says Joan. "We support teacher requests on a rolling basis. We provide the rewards tied to the school-wide anti-bullying program. Then there's the whole Teacher Appreciation Week! It's a lot, and it's important, and we need to generate the money to do it all."
Given the stringent security measures, it may not be surprising that the PTA turned to an online fundraising platform from Schwan's Cares that requires very little volunteer support.
Joan says it's an easy, straight-forward fundraiser.
"We absolutely love it," says Joan. "Everything is delivered directly to people's homes. We don't have to take possession of inventory, sort out the orders, hope that people will pick it all up on time."
Even with an easy fundraiser like Schwan's Cares, Joan cautions that PTAs should not to forget the other big hurdle that comes with a middle school population—the kids themselves.
Through trial and error, Northampton PTA landed on two essential tactics that have proven effective for promoting the fundraising campaign directly to parents and caregivers:
Take advantage of parent-teacher conferences. At Northampton, schoolwide parent teacher conferences occur in October. The PTA makes sure they have welcoming volunteers to greet parents as they arrive and give each visitor information about the Schwan's Cares fundraising campaign.
Use social media. Facebook has been critical to the Northampton PTA's fundraising success. It allows them to update the school community and answer questions in real time. While they have approximately 150 paid members—which includes 100% teacher participation, Joan proudly notes—there are 374 followers on their Facebook page. So they know they can reach more of their school families through social media than they would through their member list.
Northampton PTA still asks the school to remind students about their fundraiser in the morning announcements during the active campaign, as well as the annuity period [with Schwan's].
"We know it probably goes in one ear and out the other with the kids," says Joan. "But the teachers do listen closely, and we have had wonderful teacher participation in the fundraiser as a result! The announcement is a little trigger to remind the teachers, so we still do it."
Joan offers one final piece of advice for all the fellow middle school PTAs out there. "Find a teacher representative who truly embraces your PTA. At our school, it's Mrs. Transue, the 8th grade science teacher. She advocates for all the other teachers to join the PTA, always attends our PTA meetings and dutifully participates in our fundraisers like the Schwan's Cares campaign."
For more info about the fundraising opportunities and discounts available to schools and PTA members through Schwan's Home Service, visit PTA.org/Benefits.
Schwan's Cares is a financial sponsor of National PTA. National PTA does not endorse any commercial entity, product, or service, and no endorsement is implied by this content.
Since 1952, Schwan's Home Delivery has helped families share delicious, home-style meals. Schwan's Home Delivery offers home delivery of over 350 foods—all made with premium ingredients and requiring simple prep. With Schwan's Cares, your PTA supporters enjoy all of Schwan's delicious foods, and your organization earns up to 40% back on every purchase during your 45-day fundraising campaign, and 5% back for the next 90 days. Schwan's Cares is hands-free: you manage your fundraiser entirely online, your supporters order online or by phone, and Schwan's Home Delivery will deliver directly to each supporter's door. You'll never need to deliver food or collect money. Start your campaign today by visiting Schwans-Cares.com.
Filed Under: General, Membership, Money Matters Tagged With: fundraising, schwan's cares
Small, but Mighty Voice for PTA
October 2, 2015 By Kris Carey Prevatte Leave a Comment
(Left to right): Ramstad PTA Officers: President Nancy Tschetter, Treasurer Traci Barker, Secretary Jen Schultz
In towns across America, PTA volunteers are working tirelessly to support their community's students, faculty and families. National PTA's Kris Carey Prevatte shares this story of how one small, but mighty PTA in North Dakota—with a highly transient military population—has cracked the code on managing an online fundraiser so their PTA gets the resources they need to do great things.
Nany Tschetter, Traci Barker and Jen Schultz could be mistaken for sisters. They look alike, they have the same cheerful "let's do this!" demeanor, and they often finish each other's sentences. Together, they run the Erik Ramstad Middle School PTA.
Though their PTA has more than 100 paid members, a combination of factors have contributed to a common reality facing local PTA leaders—a few must do the work of many.
Still, Ramstad PTA has a reputation for providing excellent and consistent support through its work in serving meals for the entire faculty, running open houses, hosting an annual 8th grade dance, funding grants to teachers, sponsoring after school clubs and Junior Achievement, an annual PTA Founder's Day luncheon and more.
Like many PTAs, Ramstad has prioritized helping those in need. The PTA officers and the school administration have worked out a discreet way to eliminate barriers.
"If a kid wants to play soccer but can't afford cleats, we quietly can fill that need," says Nancy. "We have the blessing of our membership to do this within a certain threshold, and [the members] know that they won't ever get details on who got what."
It takes a lot of funds to provide these programs, which means fundraising is critical to help where help is needed. During a recent interview by phone, I asked Nancy, Traci and Jen about their PTA's fundraising committee and if they could connect me with their fundraising chair. For a moment, there was silence on the line; then gales of laughter.
Nancy caught her breath first and said, "We don't have committees. We are the committee!" They explained that the three of them meet monthly and stay connected through group texts.
"When something for the PTA comes up, we text each other and figure out which of us can handle it," said Traci. "With the bigger projects, we try to evenly divide the work.
To keep things simple, the trio is extremely selective about the fundraisers they launch. For the past several years, their top performing fundraiser has been through Schwan's Cares.
"The first year we did the online fundraiser with Schwan's, my daughter happened to be president of the student council," said Nancy. She rallied the other kids to get their parents involved and also got a social media campaign going among her classmates promoting the fundraiser. Having a student-to-student promotional element gave it extra oomph."
Traci noted, "We have a lot of military families and this kind of online campaign works well because we frequently see kids coming and going within a single school year. So families were comfortable ordering the products knowing they could have them delivered wherever they were going to be. Also, their extended family members and friends spread out across the country could order from Schwan's and all be contributing to Ramstad's fundraiser."
Jen added, "Another thing that's awesome about the [Schwan's] fundraiser is that you don't need to go door to door. You can pull up the fundraising order page from your phone and order easily from anywhere. We love it."
After doing the same fundraiser for a few years, the group has some tips for running a Schwan's Cares online fundraiser:
Timing matters. "Don't start this campaign during back to school time!" cautioned Jen. "Between school clothes, supplies and writing all those checks for this fee and that fee, parents are out of money—and they're emotionally spent, too." The group favors a pre-holiday November start. "People can load up on great foods to have in the freezer for the holiday hosting season," added Traci.
Incentives can improve results. The first year, the PTA dangled fancy incentives, such as gift cards and speakers as a motivator for families to hit big fundraising goals. The PTA sent home printed information about the fundraiser and the incentives, after piggybacking off a school event to get people excited about how the funds raised would be used in the school. The second year, the PTA didn't offer incentives and their revenue dropped.
School support makes a world of difference. "Our principal Ione Sautner and our librarian Carla Luehe are amazing!" Nancy said. "Carla, for example, carved out time with the students at the start of our campaign to show them the fundraising page on the website and how to navigate the site. We believe it made a huge difference in the participation rate because the students could show their parents at home." Ione has empowered the PTA to do a few "robo calls" during the school year, and the PTA always does a call to all parents (not just PTA members) at the start of their Schwan's Cares campaign."
The annuity period is crucial. With this fundraiser, there is an active campaign and then an annuity period where you still earn a percent of all the sales from customers related to your campaign. "If your initial campaign isn't as successful as you wanted, don't be too alarmed," said Nancy. "We raised just as much money during the annuity period and that has been huge for us. Repeat business is what made this fundraiser so successful."
Consider using one main campaign page. "We have done it where each student's family had their individual fundraising pages," said Nancy. "It was easier on everyone to do the one main page. The individual ask is done in a call or email and then you have the link, so you can personalize the ask."
For more info about fundraising opportunities and discounts available to schools and PTA members through Schwan's Home Service, visit PTA.org/Benefits.
About Schwan's Cares, an official National PTA Member Benefit Provider
Schwan's Cares is a financial sponsor of National PTA. National PTA does not endorse any commercial entity, product or service, and no endorsement is implied by this content.
Filed Under: General, Membership, Money Matters, Slider Tagged With: fundraising