My Tip of the Week: Get Parents To Pledge 2 Hours of Help

Starting to think about back to school and getting parents involved? One of the best approaches I know of for increasing involvement is our 2 Hour Power pledge program.

by Tim Sullivan

02/07/2016

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rting to think about back to school and getting parents involved? One of the best approaches I know of for increasing involvement is our 2 Hour Power pledge program.

Basically, you ask parents to pledge two hours of volunteering, any kind of volunteering, per semester or per year. And you make it clear that you'll celebrate those two hours and not ask/badger/guilt them about doing more. For many parents, the reason they don't volunteer is because they feel that volunteering once will send them down this super-volunteer path that they can't escape from.

You want to make volunteering less scary for parents. And 2 Hour Power can help you do that. Plus you'll get lots of two-hour time donations, which really add up. Even better, many of those folks will find that the volunteering wasn't half bad and -- even without you badgering -- will sign up for more. Nice, right? I highly recommend you give the concept a try.

Our 2 Hour Power materials have lots of tools and know-how for executing a program like this. If you're looking for more ideas for connecting with volunteers at back-to-school time, check out this article on welcoming new families.