One of the most challenging things about running a Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) is the sheer number of things going on at any given time.
It’s far too much for any one person to manage, and that’s why PTO is a team sport!
Aside from more hands helping to make the whole thing go smoother there’s something else you need to be adding into the mix: templates!
This post will outline the top templates every PTO should have and be using on the regular to support the leaders and parent volunteers.
Why Use PTO Templates?
First, why should you be using templates in your volunteer work for your school’s PTO in the first place?
If you’re not hip to the facts of all of the benefits to using pre-formatted templates yet, here’s just a few reasons why you might want to incorporate them into your PTO routine:
Templates save you time. Lots of it.
Listen, PTO volunteers like you are busy people.
You’re the doer in most aspects of your life, with many commitments to juggle and account for.
Don’t you wish you could clone yourself?
But alas, that isn’t possible as of yet, so using templates to help make your PTO life incredibly easier is literally the next best thing because they save so much time.
There’s no re-creating the wheel with templates.
You’re too smart to do that anyway, but it’s worth calling out the immense time savings you’ll realize once you start using form and document templates to cut out the busy work of formatting, design and wording.
Using a template allows you to focus on doing your volunteer job, without having to invest much time in figuring out how to do your job first.
PTO templates save you the worry that you’re missing something
It can be really intimidating to create a form template from scratch, especially if you’re new to your role.
There’s so much involved with running a PTO and each volunteer position has specific needs.
Templates eliminate the guess work of what could be missing since everything will be right there on the template.
Instead of wondering if you have all of the pertinent information, you can jump right on into your role without that worry since it’s already done for you!
But don’t grab any old template you might come across, no matter how cute it might be.
I’ve come across some that are missing essential elements or have added complexity that isn’t necessary and only serves to add confusion
I don’t want to call anyone out, but one meeting minute template I spied recently had actual time lengths noted.
This is totally unnecessary and unhelpful since every meeting will need a different amount of time for each part of the meeting, depending in the agenda items.
The best templates have been intentionally designed by someone with deep experience and knowledge to put them together with the essential and necessary information.
And knowledge and experience is something we have right here at PTO Answers, with over 15 years of experience running a school parent group.
Templates help with volunteer recruitment
One of the biggest obstacles to recruiting new volunteers and leaders for school parent groups is the fact that most volunteers are not using templates, but are starting from scratch each time.
This is due to the fact that most groups do not have a system for keeping files and documents and communication can be poor during officer transition time.
So being intentional about using templates and then centralizing storage of the templates for future use can be a great selling point for potential PTO volunteers!
You’ll be able to specifically point out the tools, available to them, making it more likely that they’ll consider the position.
Compare this to the alternative of having to re-create the wheel.
It’s easy to see which option is more preferable.
Template Examples
So now that you know how you’ll benefit from using templates to save your sanity, here’s a list of the top templates to start using!
Fundraising Templates
Raising money to run all of the wonderful programs and events to make your school a better place for students, teachers and staff is one of the biggest jobs.
No money means your PTO will have to hit the pavement asking for donations for everything or ask volunteers to pay for everything out of their own pockets.
That’s a really hard, if not impossible way to run a school parent group, so instead, turn to more traditional forms of school fundraising instead!
But let me warn you that not all fundraisers are created equal in that some companies equip you with more tools to succeed than others.
And pretty much none of the fundraising companies give you everything you need to be massively profitable since there’s a learning curve when it comes to raising money.
These fundraising templates actually flatted out that curve so you can earn more without having to spend years honing your fundraising chops!
The Fundraising Success Kit offers a detailed promotion and PR plan you can adapt to your timeline that’ll work for any type of fundraiser, including donation, passive or traditional product.
Treasurer Templates
Effectively managing your PTO’s money can quickly turn into a full-time job for the group’s Treasurer.
And this can make it a super hard role to fill because of the perceived time commitment.
Using templates transforms unwieldy tasks into repeatable systems.
Printable PTO Treasurer forms save so much time and make it easy to get organized as treasurer!
All the forms you need to succeed as Treasurer and easily manage your group’s money are included in the Treasurer’s Success Kit.
Membership Templates
Beyond encouraging parents to sign up as PTO members, the Membership Chair should also be focusing on keeping the members involved since that will translate into parents joining year after year.
This means spreading the word about upcoming PTO meetings, whether in-person or virtual, plus PTO sponsored programs and events.
Bringing new families up to speed about what your group is and what it does is easiest with a New Member Packet, comprised of a letter from the President, an annual PTO calendar of events, and additional information about how they can get involved with the group.
Setting up an information packet and then updating it each year means you have information ready to go when new students enroll throughout the year and you can welcome new families.
Using a flyer template takes the hassle out of this promotion and makes it easy to send home a flyer in a paper format, use the flyer image in an email newsletter to school families and also post on social media to promote the gathering.
You can also use the flyer in these other suggested ways to spread the word about your PTO’s events.
The Parent involvement Success Kit has a ton of welcome packet templates you can easily customize your PTO’s colors.
President Templates
Balancing everything you have going on as a group President is not a feat for the timid.
Why not ease the load by using some form templates to streamline things?
Use template forms to download all of the great ideas swimming around in your head onto paper (or the digital form) so you won’t forget anything.
Have you ever gotten to the end of the week and realized you let something pretty big slip off of your mental to do list?
And now you’re stressed out about making it happen?
Me too!
But that’s now a thing of the past since I started using a weekly planner page to download all of those thought onto paper.
No more forgetting.
Plus, easing your mental load can lessen the likelihood of overwhelm or burn out.
It’s a win-win on all sides!
Secretary Templates
PTO Secretaries have an important role in maintaining the record keeping and organization of the PTO, so it makes sense to have repeatable systems on hand to make this big task easy!
Using a meeting minutes template ensures nothing is overlooked and all the information to accurately capture the essence of the meetings happens.
And when it’s time to transition of our the volunteer role, using a Board Summary form ensure the incoming officer gets the down low on the all of the most important aspects of the role.
Want all of these templates and more?
I could go on with other examples of additional templates that’ll help you so much as a PTO leader, but I’ll bet you get the idea.
Templates are a time and sanity saver when it comes to being a school parent group volunteer.
If you’re looking for all of these templates and more, you’ll want to check out the Organized Leader Bundle.
The Organized Leader Bundle: All you’re missing is the right set of tools to be an effective, confident and knowledgable leader! Picture your entire board:
… Knowing exactly what to do … Having plug and play strategies and systems to get every aspect of your PTO organized … Working as an organized team, reaching all your goals and then some! This bundle combines essential officer success and binder kits, customized for each role:
- President’s Success Kit (Planner + Agenda Template + President’s Insider’s Guide)
- Treasurer’s Success Kit (Planner + Editable templates + Treasurer’s Insider’s Guide)
- Secretary’s Success Kit (Planner + Newsletter template, Calendar Template + more)
- Fundraising Success Kit (Planner + Strategy Guide + A-thon Kit + Fundraising Insider’s Guide)
- Parent Involvement Success Kit (Planner + Strategy Guide + Video Training + Editable Templates + Membership Insider’s Guide)
- Family Events Binder Kit (Planner)
- Historian’s Binder Kit (Planner)
- Staff Appreciation Binder Kit (Planner)
- Vice President’s Binder Kit (Planner)
Purchasing the bundle saves 20% over buying the kits separately.
Get the kit here!
Watch this!
Over to You
Giving back to your school community as a PTO leader can be so rewarding, but also utterly too time consuming sometimes.
Using templates to help you get the job done is a smart way to make it easier to volunteer and still have time for everything else on your to do list.
Having templates available also means it’ll be easier to recruit future volunteers into the roles since they’ll have resources to ease their workload too.
Hope these template ideas have given you inspiration about systems you can implement for a more enjoyable volunteer term!
