As our children head back to school amid uncertainty about what this year will bring, PTA’s ability to connect families, teachers, and administrators and to support critical school needs is more important than ever. The key to PTA’s ability is its membership, and to help your PTA this year, National PTA is launching a new membership campaign toolkit in both English and Spanish.

The campaign and toolkit are built off of the insights gained from National PTA’s research into today’s parents, namely:

  • They are not explicitly asked to join.
  • They do not understand the value of PTA.
  • They are confused about what PTA membership means.
  • They do not feel that PTA welcomes all families.
  • Once they understand the role of PTA, everyone is interested.

The approach of the campaign is that PTA is not an extra, it is essential; that PTA is no longer a noun, but a verb—an action plan working to support your child’s success. It is an invitation to every family in every school to participate because we can do more together than we can do apart. There is no wrong way to PTA—just as long as you’re doing it for your child. Whether it is joining and donating, volunteering your time, or helping to grow our strength and presence at the local, state, and national level as a advocate, anyone can PTA.

To help your PTA get this message out to your school community, National PTA has put together a comprehensive toolkit that includes:

  • A recorded webinar to introduce the campaign, provide and understanding of the theme and approach, and to review the messaging and visual materials.
  • A recorded live training event on how to use the new membership campaign materials, complete with local PTA leader feedback.
  • A PowerPoint training module you can use with your PTA membership committee, executive board, and members so they too understand and support your PTA’s membership campaign.
  • A membership campaign toolkit (in Spanish) that includes supporting information for the campaign, an elevator speech to answer “Why should I join PTA?”, and talking points for every facet of the campaign.
  • A .ZIP file (in Spanish) filled with customizable campaign graphics and social media items.
  • An implementation checklist (in Spanish) to help you run your PTA’s membership campaign.
  • Sample communications in both English and Spanish to help your campaign, including a message framework, e-mail signature template, sample membership ask e-mail/letter, sample thank you e-mail/letter, and a customizable FAQ document.

Take advantage of consistent messaging by encouraging every PTA in your school district to use the membership campaign this fall, and be sure to provide National PTA with your feedback (located at the bottom of the campaign page).