Looking for Ideas for PTO/PTA Volunteers--need to Revamp a Bit!

Wow, that's too bad there is such a negative attitude right from the start.

How about a family friendly "Sip & See" on the first day so moms and any kids at home can pop in for a cup of tea/coffee/juice, put out simple muffins, bagels,and fruit, then have a table with large sign up sheets, descriptions, photos, past volunteer coordinators to answer questions, all ready and available, etc.

Don't focus on the commitment as much as the opportunities to meet new friends in areas they enjoy.

GL!

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I saw a cute idea once where the PTO had an event called "Get the scoop" and serve ice cream.
I also recommend ptotoday.com for ideas.
At our elementary school, we had several events that were useful. One was the boo hoo breakfast the first day of school - mostly for new parents. We also had a volunteer fair with booths going during back to school night and if parents came in they got something, like a free ice cream ticket, or a uniform pass for one day. We also had Power hour night once a month. Teachers or the PTO would have projects for people to work on (cutting, stapling, putting orders for a fundraiser together,etc.) While people were working on those we would tell them about what was coming up and what was needed.
We also got a regular "article " in the school newspaper and added a calendar so that people knew well in advance, and could commit to shorter things, which they were more willing to do.

Hi! I feel kind of weird answering this because my kids have never gone to school but I can tell you what has worked for me with the various volunteer organizations I have worked with. The personal, in your face specific question. "Hi! What are you doing Friday night? We're going to bbq at the zoo after it closes and____. Come and party with us, it'll be more fun than work." Oh yeah, we always bribed with food, cheap food but food. We painted the the entire zoo that way. We got people to come out and stand in the dark in the freezing cold for our month long Christmas event that way. We got everything that way. The same with donations. I still wield my magic with the swim team and the local home for the aged. I've been at this for I guess 30 years or so. Emails and papers are way too easy to ignore. Everyone wants to feel appreciated and needed. And thanked! Everyone CAN do something, they just don't know it!
I don't know how you could make it work with the PTA but it has worked for everything else I've done so I figured I'd share.
Take care---

Let parents know that there are opportunities to help from home too... some parents who work full time think that they can't volunteer because they're not available during school hours. The teachers at our school always have stuff that they can package up and send home with the kids. When I worked full time I would have been more than happy to do something like that in the evenings for the teachers, but didn't know anything like that was available.

As a single working mom a Volunteer Breakfast most likely wouldn't attract me. I do take time off of work for special events. However, I have limited vacation and save most of my time for the sick days and the daycare closures that randomly pop up way too often. I prefer to donate items rather than sit at a table selling snacks. I'd rather use a babysitter for me time than for PTO/PTA activities. I did not donate items for one event because drop off for items was during my work hours. For that event I would've donated money but once again money drop off was during my work hours.

Provide a list of items and minimum $ contribution requested. Then provide a convenient method of contributing, such as collecting envelopes from classrooms. If I can send payment with my child along with the other forms returned to the classroom, then I will participate. For activities if I receive an e-mail or form with specific duties and times for an event in the future then I can make arrangements to participate. We've participated in every school activity in the evening, after work, with food for sale.

It's funny, I am about to meet with our volunteer coordinator on this exact issue! I do think you have to listen to your audience who don't want to commit to anything at the start of the school year. We're changing our approach too, we used to send out forms on the second day of school so people could sign up for jobs, but who can really commit to something in August for the next April? And it's not a great place from which to start a new school year. Many people balk at PTA in general when they feel like they are always being asked for money or jobs. Rebrand your breakfast as a community event, a Back To School social to just visit and get to know people. Don't hard sell volunteering, just be great representatives of the organization -- mingle and be good hosts, introduce yourselves around and be friendly, introduce people to those who might work well together (so-and-so is really crafty, introduce her to the Event Chair who needs raffle baskets put together). I tend to think that the best recruiting happens organically, between individuals in person, when there is something specific to speak of. It's much easier to grab someone at drop-off and say "can you help Susan for an hour hang decorations" rather than, "will you join the decoration committee for next February".

But also make the volunteer information available to people. We post job descriptions on our school web site, along with specific urgent needs on our PTA bulletin board near the office and in our weekly online newsletter. You could put together an information packet or a poster to display at the breakfast, which gives an overview of the ways people volunteer at your school, how much time is involved, and whether it can be done at home. Then let that speak for itself, and let the breakfast be social.

I think the name probably turns people off, just by calling it a Volunteer Breakfast they probably feel if they come they will be obligated to sign up for something.
Our school had a few things that worked well:
Jump Start--the day before school starts ALL families must come into the gym to turn in health/emergency forms and receive classroom assignments. Tables are set up by the various groups looking for volunteers, lunch program, nature area, fundraising, library, etc. Parents walked around and could sign up if they were interested in receiving more information (no pressure to commit.)
Monthly "Coffee Connections" -- these were held once a month for about an hour right after the bell rang. Principal and Parent's Club gave a short talk about what the current goals and needs were, parents had coffee and donuts and socialized while getting information and deciding how they could help (a lot of working parents came to this as many had the flexibility to go into work an hour later once a month.)
Kindergarten Family Meet and Greet--this was always a Sunday afternoon at a local park, right before school started.. All incoming kindergarten families were invited to hang out, meet the teachers the staff and each other. Sign ups were taken there as well, again, no pressure, just if they wanted more information about how to help.
Hope these ideas help or spark something that works for you!

We just send out form listing all of our events and if they would like to chair or may be interested in helping all all. We made sure they knew they were not signing up for anything...just getting names and emails for when the event needs to be planned, they will be contacted again to see if they would like to help out in any way. The event chair would be given these names to contact.

It worked out well, we just made a database with all the info and started fresh each year.

We also started a yahoo/boohoo breakfast for parents of kindergarteners. These are the ones you want to target anyway....get them involved early. It would be a small breakfast to meet other kindergarten parents and the PTSO would give a short presentation showing them all we do in the school. Then the form would be handed out.

The problem with the Volunteer Breakfast is that it completely leaves out any working parents to see what you have available. Then alot of the part time positions / evening work that they could do are taken. I haven't signed up at our local PTA to help out with anything because as a working parent I feel pushed away or left out of things. They don't make the effort to involve us working parents (at least that's the way I feel !). Not sure how to help you on this.

If people say things like show your kids you care and that you are there involved means so much to them. Really makes me want to help out even an hour or so. Look up on pintrest for intreasting eye catching table displays or fun fruit kabob breakfast ideas. Good luck.