As we get closer to the start of the school year, we hope all of you and your families and your communities are in good health. Thank you to those of you who have joined us on our recent membership webinar and phone calls. A big thank you as well to those of you that have reached out to let us know your concerns about starting your membership campaigns while our school campuses remain closed. As we’ve mentioned in previous Membership Mondays, you know your school community better than anyone and know what your membership campaign should look like this year.
We want to share some of the highlights that have come from our recent Membership Idea Exchanges. There are quite a few suggestions, so here are some divided by category:
Themes: We have a lot of creative local leaders with really great suggestions on themes they were either using this year or the previous year. Some that came up often included:
- Help Us Grow
- Stronger Together
- Building a Better Community
Here is a link to some membership theme ideas we put together just a couple years ago that includes many that can still be used while we’re away from our school campuses: https://capta.org/pta-leaders/run-your-pta/building-membership/ways-to-increase-pta-membership/membership-theme-ideas
Membership Incentives: Numerous questions revolved around incentives for members to join. In the past, our units may have given out special stickers, or pencils with the school name or logo on it. While this may or may not still work for your school community, here’s what some of our PTAs have planned for this year:
- Stickers: Some of our PTAs will be mailing those out, and some are looking into digital stickers that can be given to their students and families.
- Read-a-Thons: A couple of our PTAs are planning read-a-thons with special bookmarks for participating.
- Special Zoom calls: One PTA is offering an appearance from a llama during one of their Zoom classes as a prize for membership participation. Llamas are cool – I know many adults would like a Zoom call with a llama in it.
Who To Ask and How To Ask Them: In addition to the multiple theme and incentive ideas, a number of our leaders suggested that instead of relying solely on our families, many of our PTAs were going to reach out to local officials such as mayors, city council members, school board members, etc. They also mentioned the importance of knowing the best ways to reach our communities. For some, it may be though social media, emails, or phone calls. But for others, it might be taking advantage of your local newspaper or even scheduled text campaigns. The biggest takeaway is the importance of knowing the best way to reach your community.
Again, thank you to those that took time out of your schedule to join us during these calls. Hopefully you’ll be able to join us on our next call this Wednesday, August 12th from 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM (see details below). As always, we would love to hear from you! If you have questions or comments or of course success stories, please send them to membership@capta.org. |
