PTA Membership 101 - For Membership Chairs

Unit Membership Goal Sheet

What is PTA Membership?

• PTA’s Membership Campaign is not a fundraiser
• Dues support the general administrative costs of running the organization
• Becoming a member at your unit makes you a member of your unit, council, district, state and national PTA
• The power of PTA’s “voice” is in its numbers  -- there is “Power in Numbers”
• PTA is the largest advocacy organization in support of education and child welfare issues
• ANYONE that supports the issues that PTA stands for should and can be a member of PTA – parents, students, other family members, community members

First Steps – Planning Your Campaign

• Establish Your Goals  (see goals established by the Council, District and State PTA on the Goal Sheet)
• Create a Theme or follow the one established by National PTA
• Plan an Initial Flyer, Membership Forms, Envelopes – Be sure that you gather all of the info you will need – homeroom teacher, email addresses, etc.
• Plan Presence/Information Tables for Events at the Beginning of the Year –  First Day Welcome, Back to School Nite, 1st Association Meeting, Football Games, after-school information table
• Create Posters and Banners to serve as a Reminder to Students and Parents (www.pta.org has great downloadable materials -- PTA Membership Marketing Materials)
• Encourage students & teachers to join as well – It’s a great learning experience for the students (and teachers too!)
• Keep the memberships coming with ongoing publicity & competition between classes and/or incentives
• Membership campaign is all year – people can become members at any time – so always have information available

Memberships Are Coming In – Now What?

1. Save Your Member Info  - Enter member info into “Just Between Friends” and/or an excel worksheet
   “Just Between Friends” is an online based member tracking system.  Once entered into the system, or excel worksheet, you will be able to create your membership cards and track your members.
   Online information & tutorials regarding “Just Between Friends”  can be found on the California PTA site
2. Deposit & Forward Dues - Create an accounting of the membership dues turned in and submit to your Treasurer – Your treasurer must then immediately (within a few days) remit $4.75 per new member to Council using a Remittance Form
3. Acknowledge Memberships - Distribute membership cards, thank you notes, benefits information, etc. as soon as possible – (Membership cards will be available some time during the Summer) Memberships run through Oct 31st in 2012.

IMPORTANT DEADLINES

• September 22: Ready...Set…Remit * (at least 30 memberships). Our goal is 100% unit participation!
• October 27: 1st required remittance. All units that did not meet the previous deadline must turn in at least 30 memberships by this date!
• January 26: 2nd remittance - Start the new year off right with an accurate picture of your unit finances by turning in all dues already collected.
• May 24: Final remittance for the 2011-12 school year.  All dues received after this date will be credited to the following school year for purposes of achieving goals, etc. 
  *Councils must meet the deadline for Ready…Set…Remit in order to qualify for district awards and certificates from state. This is also an important precondition to qualifying for an additional senior scholarship.

Resources & Links
National PTA  - www.pta.org– (Look under “Running a PTA”) also check out www.pta.org/membership.asp

• general information about PTA membership, benefits, special incentives. 
• Link and information about OMDR
• ALSO – very helpful – downloadable marketing materials – customizable posters, flyers, etc.

California PTA  - www.capta.org– Look under the sidebar topic “Running Your PTA/PTSA” there are links to information about Membership and Just Between Friends.

Aida Mousessian               818-541-0325                  mousessian@sbcglobal.net