New Membership Card Distribution Process

Delaware PTA Membership Drives 2015-2016
It’s a brand new school year
and thus the start to our many local units’ Membership Drives!

With more and more of our communications being sent through electronic channels as a nation, PTA continues to update our procedures to meet the needs of our busy leaders and recognized membership. Delaware PTA, along with National PTA, continues to evolve our PTA efforts too, and the distribution of our annual membership cards is one of our more direct undertakings…
And the most difficult logistically!

So this year, Delaware PTA is moving to an electronic, centralized process for distributing membership cards. We hope this process will help more of our local units and their limited resources to get these cards into the hands of your members more directly, as National PTA makes procedural updates too.

Executive Committee, Delaware PTA

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Back to School Kit

Cards? We’re just trying to get more families involved in our PTA! Where can our unit find more tools for improving our Membership Drives in general? Many updates and helpful tools for Membership Drives, including increasing and engaging more of your families to become involved in PTA, can be found in the 2015-2016 PTA Membership Quick Reference Guide. This Guide is found in this year’s official “Back-to-School Kit” available online. Ptakit.org/membership

This Guide and its many resources bring all of the best ideas and practices from across the country into this handy and detailed platform of information. It’s all there! Also check out the Programs Quick Reference Guide for retaining your membership throughout the year as well.

What are the current benefits of membership through National PTA sponsors? Each year National PTA updates our overall membership benefits through national partnerships that are part of the strength of our combined network. For your 2015 Membership Drives currently underway, we have many returning partners as well as a few new ones! You can find a helpful flyer outlining this year’s benefits in the Back-to-School Kit (ptakit.org – under Membership and then “Additional Resources”, you’ll find the “2015 Member Benefits Flier” which should be an active tool within your ongoing Membership Drive efforts at the local level.)

What are the requirements for reporting membership? In combination with your Membership Chair/Committee & Treasurer, your local PTA membership is reported to Delaware PTA on a monthly basis. The timing and basic procedures are the same as last year’s efforts. What is changing is the addition of a template for capturing member details for subsequent PTA Membership Card distribution. So this year, there will be 3 pieces of information submitted:
• Membership Reporting Form,
• Check that matches the dues identified on the Membership Reporting Form AND
• A basic Excel Membership Template of your members’s contact information.

How is the information delivered? As much information from/for both National and Delaware PTA is being delivered and received electronically. The Membership Reporting Form that is submitted monthly is readily available on the Delaware PTA website. (delawarepta.org) Our website has been updated over the summer, so please take some time to become familiar with all of the new information & updates on our site. For forms, go under PTA Leaders and then Forms Library. You find all of our existing forms readily available as in past years. For the new Excel Membership Template, this will be sent first via email directly to your listed Membership Chairperson and Local Unit President just before school officially starts. Once the Excel Membership Form is distributed directly to the units, it will also be posted to our Forms Library for ongoing access. If you have not already done so, please make sure Delaware PTA and your Region Vice President has your updated Officer & Chairs Report for the 2015-2016 School Year. This form can also be found in the Forms Library.

What is the first deadline for reporting members? Knowing that everyone is actively involved in their Membership Drives throughout the month of September, your first official reporting with the new Template is at the end of September 2015. Thereafter, monthly updates are month-end.
• Whatever system your local unit is using to track membership, (i.e. Excel spreadsheet, PTOffice, Just Between Friends, Access, etc.) we need for it to be compatible with our Excel Membership Template that Delaware PTA will be supplying just before the start of the school year. It covers the basic information that each unit has traditionally been capturing: First Name, Last Name, Address, City, Zip, Email, Phone Contact, Parent/Teacher, etc.

How will our local unit be getting cards? You will be able to select your distribution options by choosing to have Delaware PTA print and send you the cards, or we will send the cards electronically to your Membership Chair or designated representative and your unit will be responsible for printing and delivering the cards.

What if some of our members need their card delivered to them (i.e. they don’t have reliable email access)? If an email address is unavailable, Delaware PTA will mail the personalized cards to the local unit(Attn: Membership Chariperson) for direct distribution to your member.

How will the data and contact information of each individual member be used? Delaware PTA will use the members’ information to get their personalized card to them via email, and as a way of validating our final reporting requirements to National PTA. We will also use the assigned membership number throughout the coming fiscal year during any state-wide voting process – for example at our State Convention in November and our twice annual Board of Managers meetings. In no way will this information be shared with any outside entity or other party – this information is exclusive to Delaware PTA business operations and reaching our membership network.

If you have additional questions, please contact your Region Vice President.