I am the volunteer coordinator for my school, this is my first FULL year doing this, and here is what I have done this year. At enrollment, we had a PTO table, where we sold T-Shirts, License plates, and bricks for a walkway we are doing. In addition, we handed out volunteer sign up sheets to parents. Our principal was nice enough to let us have the first spot as parents walked in. We asked the parents to fill the form out while they waited in line, and to drop it off when they left. I now have a HUGE database of parent volunteers to draw upon. I also sent an email to all the teachers asking them to let me know if they needed any help with anything, and that I would get them a helper if they needed it. We do four "mini carnivals" each year, called Family Fun Nights. Each one has a theme of sorts. For example, the first one is "Team Night", the second one is a Chili Feed, and then Pancake Feed, then to top it all off, a Pasta Dinner Theater. Each of these events takes about 100 volunteer hours, and we make one or two thousand dollars for each one......I would be happy to share my form with anyone who is interested.
Volunteers are a major part of everyday life at my kids' school. Our PTO elects a Volunteer Coordinator each year. The responsibilities include sending home a form for parents to complete on their availability and areas they are able to help in including baking, photo copying, typing, reading, chaperoning, etc. The teachers also fill out a form that asks them what areas they would like help with and how often they would need help. These forms are matched up and info is shared. Then they are kept on hand during the school year for the ad-hoc need. It's much easier to call people who have already expressed a willingness to bake rather than to make cold calls.
Just to add my two cents. In our school we have Class Representatives instead of Room parents. Their job is to be bridge between the Association & the Classroom. They are the contact people parents can call with questions (project due dates etc.) so they are not bothering the teachers. Also Parents are not allowed (by the Principal) to help in their own child's class. She feels especially in the younger grades that they become too much of a distraction for the students. The older kids don't want their parents "checking up on them".
We would definitely let the teachers pick from our volunteer list. First, if they wanted a volunteer once a week or not at all. Then the teacher could match up a volunteer from our list. I guess why we want a volunteer sign up is so we could have a name and phone number to call and get their schedule and what type of volunteer work they were interested in.
It is much easier to ask for all events planned at the beginning of the year. We include all of our planned events on our initial volunteer request. (Which goes out with our newsletter, membership info, calendar of events, Board Member and Chair contact list with the first mailing or new student packet) Some of the events, even state specific needs. It has worked very well for us. It is fun to contact people in May for something they signed up for in September. Best Wishes
