May: Celebrations and Final Reports

• Celebrate Membership Growth:
  Share your final membership numbers with members of your PTA. Highlight milestones reached, awards received, and any membership growth from previous years.
• Recognize and Thank Members:
  Plan ways to thank all your PTA members. Whether it’s a thank-you email, a social media post, or a shout-out at your final meeting; recognizing member support is essential.
• Submit Final Membership Reports:
  Givebacks allows your members to purchase memberships directly from your store and be entered into the database automatically. If you use another system to allow people to purchase memberships, make sure that all memberships have been entered into Givebacks. Make sure that dues have been paid to Washington State PTA and fees to Northshore Council PTSA. Remember, WSPTA uses these membership numbers for important awards and recognitions!
• Support Officer Elections and Transitions:
  Be available to answer questions about your role for incoming officers. Membership continuity is key to building on the success of this year.
• Prepare for Transition:
  Start gathering information to include in a transition packet or digital folder including key contacts, tips and tricks, sample membership campaigns, timelines, challenges faced and suggestions for improvement.

June: Closing the Books and Looking Ahead

• Meet with Your Successor (If There Is One):
  A friendly meeting (in-person or virtual) goes a long way. Share your insights, offer encouragement, and leave them feeling supported.
• Organize Membership Materials:
  Keep a clean record of rosters, final reports, marketing templates, and event ideas. Upload them to your PTA’s shared drive or hand off physical files as needed.
• Reflect and Evaluate:
  Take time to think about the year including: What events boosted membership most effectively? What challenges did you face? What partnerships, incentives, or communications were most successful?
• Early Planning for Next Year:
  Begin sketching ideas for summer membership drives, welcome events, or early-bird campaigns. Early engagement in August can set the tone for a strong year!
• Celebrate Your Work:
  Serving as a Membership Chair is a huge commitment—and a huge gift to your school and community. Take pride in everything you’ve accomplished!

Closing Thoughts:
Membership is the heart of PTA. Thanks to your hard work, PTA continues to connect, advocate, and build strong communities across our district through membership in our association. Thank you for your dedication—and we’re excited for what’s to come next year!

Questions? Contact [email protected].

Learn more about PTA membership HERE!

Council Wants to Stay Connected! 
Council connects and supports Northshore PTA/PTSA leaders in various ways, including:

• Twice monthly Council eNews (read past issues)
• Event invitations
• Open Office Hours
• Timely information on specific programs (e.g., Advocacy, Reflections)
• And more!

A key step to stay connected is ensuring your incoming board updates their contact information with the Council.

Please have each member of your 2024-2025 PTA/PTSA board complete the Council 2024-2025 Contact Form by July 1, 2024, they serve on or as they are elected/appointed to your board. This includes positions such as the executive committee (elected positions), board members, committee chairs, etc. If you serve on more than one PTA/PTSA, please complete one time for each one.

This information is used exclusively by Northshore Council PTSA.

Announcements
The winning PTA from our Donut Forget to Complete Your SOA Contest was randomly selected at the start of the meeting. Congratulations Woodin PTA!
 
Community Partners Updates

• Marco G., NSD Community Partnerships
  • Spring Art Docent Training is April 26 (Friday) from 11 AM - 1 PM.  
  • Networking meeting will be on April 30 from 11:30 AM - 1 PM to focus on how to partner with the district better. 
  • Complete volunteer now since processing time for applications, especially Level 2 clearance will take longer due to staff vacation schedule.
  • A Family Symposium will be held in May where all of the family engagement groups are meeting together.  More information to come later.

Council Business

• Treasurer Report
  • Standards of Affiliation (SOA) were reviewed.
  • Mid-year Financial Review Report – The reviewers Diana C., Terra D., and Laura S met in January and completed the mid-year financial review. 
  • The End-of-year review committee was selected. Diana C., Terra D., and Laura S. volunteered to serve on the committee in July. 
  • The treasurer presented the February treasurer report.
  • Budget for 2024-2025 will be presented at the next general membership meeting on May 20, 2024.

 

• Officer Elections – Holly M., chair of the nominating committee, read aloud the report of the committee and announced that all candidates meet the requirements of the WSPTA Uniform Bylaws. A vote was taken to elect the officers. Our new Council Executive Board for the 2024-2025 school year is as follows: 
  • President – Grace Jurado
  • First Vice President – Diana Christiansen
  • Secretary – Christine Roehnelt
  • Treasurer – Brenae Brix
  • VP of Events – Melissa Bennett and OPEN
  • VP of Advocacy – Holly Muenchow and Terra Droney
  • VP Communications – OPEN
  • VP Elementary Support – OPEN
  • VP Secondary Support – OPEN

Congratulations, new Executive Board members!
 
The positions of VP of Communications, VP of Elementary Support, VP of Secondary Support, and Co-VP of Events are still open. ​Council will continue to seek volunteers for the OPEN positions to hold an election at our General Membership Meeting on May 20, 2024. Learn more about the open positions and self-nominate by Wednesday, May 08, 2024.
  
Council Committee Update

• Membership – Currently 5,093 members, about 92% of last year's members. 
• Reflections – The Reflections Art Reception was amazing.  Over 250 people attended the event at Brightwater Center.  A music piece from Skyview and a 3D visual art piece from Canyon Creek is moving on to National level.
• Events – Save the Date: Council’s Spring Recognition will be held on June 7th, 2024. It will be the same format as last year with brunch. Local PTAs are encouraged to present their local recognition awards before the event so they can invite their awardees to come celebrate.
• Council Recognition Award Nomination Form will be ready to accept nominees in April. Consider nominating someone who deserves to be recognized for their service to the community. Complete nomination form and learn more about the varioius types of awards. 
• DEI/FACE – The DEI/Face Chairs have been involved with the NSD Family Engagement and Resource Center events this year. Each event has focused on cultural events. Local PTAs are encouraged to share with their local members about the resource center located at the Northshore District Administrative Center where families are provided with resources and/or directed to the providers of various services by local non-profits, cities, counties, and the state agencies. 
  
  

​Upcoming Reminders given by President
Please check Council’s calendar for upcoming events.

• Council is gathering messages of gratitude! Send a message of appreciation to the many Northshore School District Administrators and Staff.
• WA State PTA Convention is May 17 – May 19, 2024, at the Lynnwood Event Center. Register will open by end of March. Please considering sending voting delegates. There will be a review of bylaw amendments. Each PTA is allotted 4 voting delegates. Registration fees and more can be found on the WSPTA website. 

 
​We hope to see you on May 20, 2024, at 7 PM via Zoom. Register for Zoom meeting link.  

​Below is the list of Northshore PTAs that have received a growth membership award as of December 31, 2023. Congratulations on your membership achievement!

Invite your local community (local business leaders, community members, school board members, alumni of your school, and of course, your school’s family members) to join your PTA. 

By joining a local PTA (find yours here), a member becomes part of the Washington State PTA, the largest volunteer and child advocacy organization in the state. Our future leaders, innovators, and citizens are our children, and our children are given their best chances to succeed when we all work together. Members of the PTA provide a powerful and effective voice for all children. Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime, can join PTA! 

If you have ever asked someone to support your PTA by becoming a member, volunteering at an event, or attending a meeting, then you’ve probably been asked this one simple question: “Why?” And likely you’ve responded with a list of events your PTA hosts or the different ways your PTA provides funding for your school. Both are great things to share, but there is one aspect that is often overlooked: the value being part of PTA has given to you as a volunteer. PTA is rewarding for those involved and it’s great to highlight this to your members. It not only demonstrates another way your PTA brings value, but also showcases that additional value, which can inspire other families to support your PTA.

Looking for an idea of how to do this? Look no further! Northshore Council PTSA recently held our annual Presidents and Principals Luncheon and used this opportunity to highlight why different Council board members have gotten involved in PTA and what they have gained along the way. As this year’s P&P event was road trip themed, we framed our answers as a “PTA Journey” – showing where we started, what we gathered at pit stops along the way, and sharing our favorite PTA road trip memories. You can view Council’s PTA Journey in the video and slides below.

Bonus Tip: Having members of your board create something similar to showcase their PTA Journey not only shows the value of your PTA, but also helps to introduce your board members to the community!

If you are interested in making your own slides/video and would like help, reach out to Council President, Rachel Fitzgerald, by emailing [email protected].

​​Streamline Your Membership Process with memberplanet's "Packets"
If your PTA/PTSA has embraced online membership through memberplanet, congratulations are in order! You're not only making it super easy for your members to join but also lightening the load of mundane paperwork for you (the membership chair)! Setting up online membership through memberplanet is a breeze. Once set up, you can share your MemberPlanet online membership link on your website, social media, newsletters, and even create a QR code.
 
However, there's a common challenge we've noticed when assisting Membership chairs across the district. Some PTAs/PTSAs are using the "Payment Form" function for taking online membership, when they should be utilizing the "Packets." Let us clarify why Packets are the way to go when it comes to membership management.

Packets vs. Payment Forms
The purpose of Packets is crystal clear: it's designed for taking memberships directly. Moreover, it's your secret weapon to keep your member database in perfect sync. On the other hand, the Payment Forms function is primarily intended for collecting payments, like for spirit wear, though some PTAs do use it for "donated" memberships.
 
Here's the key difference: Payment Forms don't automatically connect to your member database. This means that if you use Payment Forms for memberships, you'll need to manually upload to the member database. This can be a real hassle and might lead to an inaccurate count of paid members in your database.
 
It's understandable that you may think you need a payment form to manage memberships because, after all, you do need to collect a payment. But here's the deal: Packets offer so many more benefits, making them the smarter choice.
 
The Power of Combining Functions with Packets
One of the great things about memberplanet is that you can combine different functions to suit your needs. Packets can work hand in hand with other features, making it easier than ever to manage your PTA/PTSA. You can combine Surveys, Donation Sites or Payment Forms in combination with collecting membership through the Packets to streamline the whole process.  Of course, Surveys, Donation Sites and Payment forms can stand alone (not be combined with the Packet) also. 
 
In conclusion, choosing Packets for your online membership management not only simplifies the process but also keeps your member database up to date automatically. While it may seem a bit confusing at first, the benefits far outweigh any initial hesitation. Make the switch today and streamline your PTA/PTSA membership experience for everyone involved.
​
Questions or difficulties with memberplanet?  Email: [email protected]