No , I'm sorry , we don't have a letter . I think it's better if you ask in person . It's harder for people to tell you , " No " . [img]smile.gif[/img] Think about what some area businesses may be able to offer . Pizzas , movie tickets , bowling passes , leftover promotional items , kids meals , etc. Car dealerships do promotions all of the time and sometimes have leftover promotional items . We were able to get some basketballs from one dealer . They always have keychains ! Try your local Chamber of Commerce . They can sometimes get businesses to donate things , such as gift certificates , etc. , to help you out .

Search websites of businesses . Look for community involvement and grants at their sites . Grants are tricky , so you may not want to get into that right now . Sometimes you can e-mail them and ask for help or send a letter . Be percise and to the point ; have all your facts and figures ready when you type up your requests .

Local Wal-Marts are good for donating items to help out the schools . They have donated dirt , hoses , and balls to our school . You have to write a request letter . They have a person who handles requests such as those . I caught the manager and asked for the hoses and dirt . He said yes , but asked me to put my request in writing . You need to make yourself a letterhead or use the school's , ( with permission) , to write your requests on . Sometimes businesses will require letterheads and proof of tax exemption .

Find out if any of your board members have businesses and if they can donate something . Find out which parents in the school owns businesses or who have connections with businesses . They may be able to donate something. Remind them that it will benefit the school and their children , in the long run . Plus it is good advertising for them . You can recognize their donation or sponsorship at your meetings of the general membership and/or a newsletter .

Our school district has their own print shop . They allow us free printing . We provide the paper and you can probably order that at a decent price through them also .

You have to be willing to put the leg-work into it . Expect some , "Nos" , but don't let it get you down or stop you . You may need to ask the principals permission before you ask businesses for help . Don't beg . It may make the school board look bad .

Read my other posts for more information on other topics . I have lots of ideas and have put most of them to the test. I thrive on this stuff .

Originally posted by Busy Bee:
We also have door prizes , however we get local businesses to donate them .

Do you have a letter asking for donations? If so could you email it to me please?
We are a brand new PTO and any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

We also have door prizes , however we get local businesses to donate them . We sometimes give out awards to students for their different accomplishments . Towards the holiday season our music teacher has our chior do a show . This brings in parents and grandparents . Sometimes we have speakers come in and share helpful information with the parents .

Instead of putting everything in a newsletter , I save a few things to share with just PTA meeting attendees . Then , they go back and tell what they found out at the meeting . This brings a little extra interest ,in coming to the meetings . We do a lot of neat stuff and no one wants to be left out of the loop . [img]smile.gif[/img] When I started at this school , when my child was enrolled , our PTA never let parents ask questions or make comments . I make sure I allow the parents the opportunity to do this . Sometimes it can be negative , but if you know your stuff , you can handle it .

We have just started giving the class with the most parent attendants ice cream cups . I like your idea about the supply baskets for the classroom . I'm going to talk with my team about that .

I don't recall any teachers complaining, but quite the opposite, encouraging attendance. Our meetings, I guess I should tell you, were ALWAYS held to an hour or less, always had a door prize, and we always provided child care. One of our board members had a teenage daughter who would work the meetings for $20 per meeting and we budgeted for this. If we expected more than a handful of kids, she would bring a friend and we'd not double the money, but give them each $15 I think. We had a bucket of art supplies - nothing special, coloring books, crayons, puzzle books and puzzles - and the room they were in had a TV/VCR and we would have a disney movie. When you find ways to take away the arguments of "I can't make it, I'm a single parent, my spouse is out of town, yadda yadda yadda", well . . . it worked for us, and I wish you all the luck in the world.

By the way - the baskets we gave were always within the scope of our bylaws - the contents were classroom supplies that generally came out of the teachers own pockets - reward stickers, classroom books & activities, things we picked up at the teacher supply store - and we made a deal with them that they would put the baskets together for us (we supplied the baskets) and we paid for 5 and got 6. Total paid for 6 meetings - $100.

Did you have any complaints from the teacher who didn't have any parents come? how did you handle that.
We have teachers who don't even try because they tend to think that "why bother my parents won't go any way."

We did giftbaskets quarterly - took attendance at every meeting and kept the totals in the newsletter and bulletin boards in the staff workroom. If teachers thought they were close to getting the basket, every once in a while they even showed up themselves to boost their attendance and win the prize! One thing we did - if a parent had a child in more than one grade they could sign in under each grade (mine were 4th & 5th so I signed in on both pages.)