Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Membership: Know Your Number

There are some numbers in life that we “should” know, some that we “think” we know, and others that we have no clue about! For example, we probably know what a healthy blood pressure number should be, or what range our cholesterol should be at, but do you know what yours are? Of course, there are some numbers which everyone has a pretty good idea of – your weight for example! And that’s because we use that baseline number to make decisions and actions about gaining or losing weight (in this case). This is my roundabout way of saying that you should have your local unit membership number committed to memory (and you can be truthful!). It is a critical starting point for that discussion, as a whole board, of where we are and where we’re going to finish at year end, and what we may need to do to hit our particular membership target. Remember, PTA is a membership driven organization and we need to “rev up the horsepower” of the association if we are to be effective advocates for our students in the school system. Members mean a voice, and the more members you have the louder that voice. So know your number, define your target number and make it public by having it published as one of your local unit goals. Let everyone know what you want to achieve and as Dori in Finding Nemo says “just keep asking…just keep asking…” until your reach that magic number.