NYS PTA Membership Newsletter

Welcome Back!

Welcome to the 2025-2026 school year! This newsletter is sent monthly to all PTA Leaders and Membership Chairs. In this newsletter you will find all things related to PTA Membership - from important reminders to helpful ideas that support growing your PTA membership all year.

The September edition will be sent to your 2025-2026 leaders who are updated in Givebacks and the 2024-2025 leaders because not all leaders have been updated. Please be sure to verify every officer is listed under 2025-2026 in your Givebacks as no one carries over automatically even if there are no changes.

NYS PTA Membership Theme

This year the NYS PTA membership theme is “Grow with Us” - Together we support, together we grow.

As PTA officers we have the opportunity to support all children and our communities. Meaningful growth happens when communities come together with a shared commitment of walking alongside our youth — listening, uplifting, and growing together.

Members = Voices. The more members we have, the more voices there are, and the louder and stronger our advocacy becomes on the local, state, and national levels. Remember “everychild.onevoice”.

Leadership Development Webinar:

Membership Kickoff!

We held our annual Membership Kickoff webinar on August 4th. We shared news on new awards, changes and ideas. If you were unable to join us, or if you would like to watch it again, you can find it here.

You can also find past webinars covering a variety of topics for PTA Leaders here.

Membership Goals for 2025-2026

have been added in Givebacks

The 2025-2026 membership year is now under way! Membership goals have been updated in Givebacks for the 2025-2026 school year! To find your PTA’s membership goal, please log into Givebacks https://npo.givebacks.com/login.

In the sidebar under My Organization, locate and click on Unit Data. Once on the Unit Data page, scroll down until you find your unit's new membership goal. Start your membership campaigns now to reach your goals early.

The purpose of a goal is to inspire growth, creativity, and spark motivation to move our association forward. Make space for fresh ideas and have fun striving to reach your goal! As your PTA grows, remember to track your progress and celebrate the wins along the way.

Membership Mondays Continue

Membership Mondays are resuming for the 2025-2026 membership year! These open Zooms were well attended last year. Below you will find the schedule and the link to register. Open to leaders at every level, these Zooms start promptly at 7:30pm and will last about 40-60 minutes. Click the link below to find the schedule and the links to pre-register to attend (a Zoom link will be send to you upon registering).

Membership Monday Zoom Schedule & Registration links

NEW Lunch and Learn!

New this year! We will be recording small training videos that run at most 1-2 minutes in length. So be sure to join the NYS PTA Facebook Leaders Group here.

Videos will be released periodically throughout the year and will only be accessible on Facebook through NYS PTA Leaders Group.

Unit leaders can quickly learn - even while at lunch without having to carve out a large chunk of time to watch!

Topics will include:

Best Practices
Tips for Givebacks
Social Media Ideas
Incentive Ideas
and more!

2025-2026 Membership Awards have some changes to the previous year's awards. Please review our monthly newsletter every month to see what is coming up next and learn what criteria your PTA needs to achieve in order to earn a Membership Award. You can also read about each Membership Award on our website nyspta.org/membership-awards-2025-26/

To be eligible for any award your PTA must be "In Good Standing" as described in bylaws and Resource Guide. This means that your PTA's:

State/National dues paid for at least 25 members
Insured with the AIM NYS PTA Insurance package
Bylaws that are not expired
990 Filing is current and IRS Exemption not Revoked
Officers updated with current school year in Givebacks
President and Treasurer have completed the new Financial Accountability training

NEW August 2025 NYS PTA Membership Award

Horizon Membership Award

Use this Google Form to submit your unit's Membership Plan to renew/recruit members all year.

Since school is not in session this is the only award that is not contingent on submitting current year dues. However, all dues for 2024-2025 must be paid, insurance must be paid and all 2025-2026 officers must be entered into Givebacks by the 8/31 deadline
12 random winners (one from each region) will receive PTA Swag

September 2025 NYS PTA Membership Awards

September has two Membership Awards that can be achieved: the Early Bird Award and the Savvy Membership Award.

Early Bird Membership Award

Reach 50% of your Membership Goal

Pay State/National dues for all members who have joined to date by September 30
12 random winners (one from each region) will receive a PTA Swag

Savvy Membership Award

Reach 100% of your Membership Goal

Pay State/National dues for all members who have joined to date by the final day of each month
3 random PTA winners will be drawn each month (Sep to Dec) from all achievers to receive a $100 cash prize

Review & Finalize Your Membership Campaigns

🌱Review your unit’s membership campaigns from last year, and finalize your plans for this year. For fresh campaign ideas, check out the NYS PTA Leaders Facebook Group or try googling “PTA Membership Campaign Ideas.”

🌱Use our customizable Membership Thermometer to create your own graphic to show your community how quickly your PTA is growing! Choose from PowerPoint or Canva templates

🌱Encourage teamwork amongst all your officers and volunteers to encourage everyone to join your PTA.

🌱Arrange for volunteers to help staff a membership table at open house night.

🌱Check the National PTA Membership Tools page for helpful graphics, reproducible flyers and customizable posters

🌱Check the NYS PTA Membership Toolkit page for updated marketing materials, graphics and information

🌱Start marketing to achieve the Early Bird Award and Savvy Membership Award and any special perks or incentives you have available.

Incentives for Back-To-School Membership Drives

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to membership drive ideas and incentives. Check out a few of these ideas below!

School T-Shirt or Spiritwear: Offer a free item to every new member who joins before the end of September.
Pizza Party: Drive up student membership by hosting a perfect PTA pizza party for the class with the most sign-ups.
Giveaways: Each new or renewed membership gets a ticket. Prizes can be themed or related to the event you’re hosting. If you’re having an open house, small prizes can be given to the first, 10th and 50th attendees/members.
Community Event: Host a barbeque, ice cream social, or spaghetti dinner. Try to get the food donated and sell memberships. Or, charge an event fee and include the membership in the cost. Those who are already members can receive a discount on the event fee.
School Supplies: Provide a bundle of school supplies (pencils, paper, notebooks, folders, markers, etc.) with each membership purchased. This is especially fun at a back-school-event.

Have you seen the letter to officers about the National dues increase process? If you missed it you can find it here.
Check out the Membership Resource Guide for all sorts of tips and helpful ideas. (This section will be updated soon!)
Use the “Why PTA” flyer [(Canva) (Word)], and have plenty of copies available to hand out that explain all that YOUR PTA does for the children in your school (cultural arts programs, reflections, book fairs, scholarships, etc...).
Put a Customized PTA Logo on all your communications so that everyone knows "PTA did this!"
Check out NYS PTA and National PTA websites to learn about the advocacy that takes place. Knowing a little can help you answer that hard question - "what does PTA do?"
You can find past newsletter editions in our archive here!