Paperless Parent Teacher Organizations
Its a familiar scenario. You sit through a parent teacher group meeting where the thought of going paperless is discussed. Ideas are tossed around and the eventual outcome is that your PTO will now send out announcements of events and activities as email attachments. The group also decides to launch a website where they will post the information and upload the forms and flyers for everyone to download.
The idea is implemented, your families compliment you on the progressive approach to running your PTO, and then it dawns on youthe paper is still piling up in your mailbox. You say to yourself, Were not sending out paper, but were still collecting loads of paper. Were only half paperless!
Actually, youre only one quarter paperless. Read on
Youre certainly headed in the right direction by no longer printing reams of paper. However, the paperless concept has not been reached since your families still need to print the forms, provide the information and then mail them in to you.
What does it mean for a PTO or PTA to be truly paperless?
You have a website, but you need to take it to the next level. A level where your website offers pages that your families fill out instead of paper forms. A website that will collect all the information you need and present it to you in list or spreadsheet format.
To use an example, you may want to have new families go to a page on your website where they can enter their name, address and contact information. Once they provide the details and click on the save button the website records it and then presents it to you as you need it.
You have just made it easier for you families, but did you realize how easy you just made it for yourself and your board members? If all new families do this, your board simply clicks on a button or two and a list of the new families appears. Your volunteers and your PTO have just eliminated hours and hours of sorting, collating and filing. You are now on the fast track to becoming truly paperless.
It sounds expensive, right? Actually it is very affordable. The Paperless PTO is a web hosting provider that offers a very affordable solution. They have designed a website template that is catered exclusively to parent teacher organizations. The program will guide PTOs, PTAs and all other parent teacher groups on how to be truly paperless. And they will do it at the pace you are comfortable with. The template even includes a fundraising program built into it that will turn a small monthly expense into recurring income for your PTO. Volunteering can be a thankless job. Why not make it easier and why not make it rewarding.
