One of the biggest challenges of running a Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) is getting and retaining volunteers.
Most school parent groups don’t have enough volunteers and are constantly on the lookout to get answers and the solutions to keep their group afloat with enough helpers.
That’s just what we’ll focus on in this blog post.
Because knowing why parents don’t volunteers is part of the puzzle to understand before you can begin to fix your parent involvement problem.
If your PTO is struggling to get parents involved either as leaders or volunteers, your PTO may be making one of these mistakes!
Having PTO Board-Only Shirts
I know that PTO board members do a lot, and those in the group want to be made to feel special and every celebrated for all that they do.
But I gotta say, I think that board specific PTO shirts are the totally wrong way to go.
And here’s why: In PTO Land, you’re dealing with a whole bunch of different personalities.
This is the great thing and also the sucky thing about PTO Land!
You never know who you’re going to get and ideally, you gotta play in the sandbox nicely with one another.
And I’m just gonna put it out there that the cute PTO board t-shirts, while they may be a bonding thing for the board members themselves, they can seem downright cliquish to anyone not on the board.
I know that’s not the intention with the shirts.
But that’s the reality of how it’s playing out for (some of) the parents in your school.
I’ve been in this same position: dealing with a parent who was saying not such nice stuff about me and other board members.
She even declared us to be clique-ish snobs to anyone who would listen.
We weren’t, but she felt left out and we didn’t have board-specific t-shirts.
We had general, anyone could order PTO shirts, but she felt left out nonetheless.
So instead of getting board-specific PTO shirts, design or find yourself a cute PTO shirt that would be appropriate for all PTO members and volunteers to wear.
And make sure everyone has a chance to order one if they’d like.
In reality, it’s probably only going to be the Super PTO Nerds a.k.a. PTO board members who actually wear the darn things anyway.
And when you have a more generalized shirt, no one will use the shirts as an example of “how they’re not even going to bother going to a meeting or helping out, because those awful women are so cliquish and catty.”
The bottom line is that it isn’t about the shirt.
It’s about the message that you’re unwittingly sending by having a board-specific shirt.
Not Providing Enough Notice for PTO Meetings and Events
I don’t know about you and your friends, but mine are all super busy.
Busy enough to have to work on scheduling a family dinner three months in advance.
Parents in your school are not any different.
They have a lot going on and need notice to switch up their schedule to attend PTO events.
And I’m talking about at least 3-4 weeks notice!
Two weeks or less notice virtually guarantees that no one will come.
Not because they don’t want to.
Because they can’t juggle everything successfully in that time frame.
Remember, you are practically Wonder Woman because you, my friend, have the capability to get more done in less time, than pretty much anyone else (except for fellow PTO nerds).
But other people?
They just need more time.
So give it to them!
This is exactly why I highly recommend mapping out the entire school year before the start of school.
And then tell everyone about the plans well in advance.
The big time planner parent types at your school will be eternally grateful for having all of the dates ahead of time.
And you will love yourself for not having to do the last minute scramble to make an event happen or let others know that it’s happening.
Asking for Help Last Minute
Piling onto the last point, if your PTO is doing everything last minute, that’s also another reason why parents won’t bother to get involved with your PTO.
Are you working on a just-in-time strategy with everything PTO?
Then that’s going to cause you to fail big time.
Like I mentioned before, your PTO needs to be planning well in advance.
In fact, your PTO really needs to know what is going on for the year and when it’s happening with an overarching master plan.
And in addition to planning well in advance, the PR for the events should be happening well in advance also.
Because the vast majority of parents can’t operate with last minute notice.
Plus, being Last Minute Lucy with volunteer requests isn’t only a sign of being super disorganized, but also it’s not being respectful of parents’ time.
Most busy parents just can’t accommodate last minute requests, even if it’s something they really want to support.
They’ll feel like an afterthought and that their help isn’t actually needed or wanted if given the short notice.
With advance warning, parents can totally make things happen and will show up!
But not if you ask with little to no heads up.
Your PTO should be respectful of parents’ time by giving them an opportunity to lend a hand as they have time.
Avoid having everything be a last minute, gotta-happen-right-now sort of help request.
This sort of late timing reeks of disorganization, which parents will avoid like the plague.
Overwhelming Communications
All too many PTOs open the floodgates of information in every single newsletter.
They list everything and anything that is going on at school and in community.
That’s a big mistake.
We’re all busy people.
You really need to prioritize your focus in newsletters to the actions you want parents to take.
You can’t provide them with information about everything.
You’ll be oversharing and giving them more information than they can handle.
And parents will just ignore it all because it’s just All. Too. Much.
Instead, curate your newsletter (and all PTO communications) to the essentials.
Make it approachable and skimmable.
Your Group is a Disorganized Hot Mess
Fact: Parent volunteers will run away, wildly screaming from PTOs that are a disorganized mess.
Is your group on the same page with what’s happening, when events are happening and who’s in charge? Do PTO members beyond the executive board know all of this information?
No?!?!?! Then your group might be a hot mess.
Listen, I’m going to give it to you straight. Parents are not going to get involved with your group if it seems messy or complicated.
People are busy these days and they want to do things that are easy. Disorganized groups are NOT easy or fun. And unfortunately, not all people have the patience to deal with groups that aren’t well run.
I’ve had direct experience with this situation and I bet you have too…
Have you ever gone to a meeting on a topic you were really interested in, but once you were there, you could sense that things were off in some way?
Maybe people were talking over each other.
Maybe there was no printed agenda and only the leader of the group seemed to know what was going on.
Maybe there was no pre-planning of the meeting and things that could’ve been figured out in a small committee meeting were being hashed out in agonizing full detail?
These are all indicators of a group that’s not functioning well. Maybe not complete dysfunction, but getting there for sure…
Now, I’m not saying that every group has to be perfectly organized with things “just so.” But they certainly can’t be anywhere close to what I’ve described to be attractive to new volunteers.
Parents just won’t keep showing up for that kind of a group.
Having PTO Meetings During the Day
I know many PTO folks will disagree with me on this one, but I’m gonna take firm stance on this issue!
Unless 100% of all school families have at one stay at home parent who’s not working, you shouldn’t have meetings in the middle of the day.
Nope, never, ever, even if “no one” comes to meetings at night or says they can’t come because they have kids.
I’ve had too many friends move to a new school and lament how they wish they could be as involved in the new school’s PTO as they had been at their old school.
Only they can’t because they’re at work when all of the meetings happen.
And not only were they not able to attend, they felt specifically excluded.
Like the PTO didn’t want working moms to participate.
Is that really the message you want to send?
Bottom line, you’re missing out on great potential volunteers and leaders when you have PTO meetings during the day. Don’t do it!
Also, Executive Board or small committee meetings during the day are A-OK by me!
That’s a different situation, entirely.
Here’s more on how to find the best time for your PTO meetings.
Your PTO is Doing Too Much
Now this point might be a little controversial, but you’re here for the straight talk, right?
I’ll get to it then: Your PTO could be scaring off parents by doing too stinkin’ much.
I get to see what’s going on with hundreds of PTAs and PTOs inside my community for PTA/PTO leaders.
And I gotta say, too many are focused on the minutia and not the larger, overarching goals of the group.
I always advocate for doing larger goal setting at the beginning of the year (actually during Summer Break), and then planning everything else based on those goals.
It’s really how you move the ball down the field towards to goal line and feel like your year has been successful.
For example, take a recent fundraising plan someone pitched to me.
First, they’re planning to write grants.
And then hold a pie sale.
And have restaurant nights.
And then hold a bake sale.
And then have a candy fundraiser in the Spring.
And this and then that.
The list of fundraisers went on and on and on!
It was entirely too much.
The focus seemed on like being busy rather than being strategic.
What this volunteer was missing out on is that all of these fundraisers consume a lot of time, but don’t produce a lot of money.
When this happens, parents see members and leaders of the PTO stressed out from the never ending schedule of fundraisers.
They don’t have time for that (and neither do you, if we’re being perfectly honest!).
I’m pretty sure this fundraising plan came about because the volunteers were focused on what they could do as fundraisers instead of what they needed to do to hit their fundraising goal.
If they’d compared their list of proposed fundraisers to their fundraising goal, they would’ve realized they would end up running themselves ragged and not come close to reaching the overall financial goal.
Being Ever Present at School
Something else that scares off parents is when they see you’re at the school all the time.
Let the Elementary aged volunteers hear me out on this one!
Even if you’re actually not actually always at school helping out, merely the impression that you are can be a huge turnoff to parents.
All of this will lead them to think that they wouldn’t be able to do what you do as a PTO volunteer.
That’s they shouldn’t even try because constant presence is required or expected.
And that belief can be enough for some parents to totally opt out of the entire process.
This is a sad realization, but one that I’ve heard so many times.
The tip-off words Super Star leaders will hear are “I don’t know how you do it all” or “When do you find time to sleep?”
I’m totally guilty of doing too much myself and there have been times when I’ve been able to successfully scale back, yet other times when that wasn’t possible.
But if you’re always doing everything, you’re ultimately going to dissuade others from even trying.
The volunteer role will look too overwhelming and unapproachable and parents will start avoiding eye contact with you.
Maybe you’re not even at school all the time.
Maybe you’re there like every day for a couple hours or three times a week for an hour so.
But that is more than the average person can handle.
If the school cannot function without you, that’s also something you’re doing wrong as a PTO.
You’re supposed to be an extension of the school, but not a direct part of your school.
Be careful that you’re not blurring that line too much.
And I have a feeling that if you’re at school every day, that line is getting crossed on the regular.
Basically, when there’s always something to be done and always some help that you need for your PTO, that drives most potential helpers away.
Because volunteers really do feel like they’re gonna get sucked into the black hole of volunteering and never get out.
Mean Girl Cliques
I’d be remiss to not include this last reason for why parents are not getting involved in your PTO.
It’s because people are perceiving your group as being a clique.
Now listen, PTOs get a really bad wrap about being cliquey, echoing Mean Girl or Bad Moms scenes.
Your group is going to actively have to dispel this myth by being super open and welcoming.
Make sure new people feel warmly invited and included.
Go out of your way to ensure volunteers have a good experience.
Or else they won’t be back.
And they’ll tell their friends, ensuring your PTO meeting rooms stay empty.
More About Why Parents Don’t Volunteer for PTO
Over to you!
Knowing what turns parents off from getting involved as a volunteer with your PTO is key to understanding how to turn things around to recruit more volunteers.
The reasons why parents don’t volunteer for the PTO are pretty easy to address and fix!
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