Communication Matters | Stevco Fundraising

One of the key building blocks for better participation in your parent group is communication. Plain and simple, good communication matters.

Spending a little time focusing on improving your communication efforts can really help your parent group get more participation. We’ll talk more later about what you should be talking about, but in this email I want to really focus on the systems that you can use to communicate better with your school community.

First of all, you should be using the internet to communicate. It is fast, it is easy, and its mostly free.

Every parent group should have an email list of all the school parents. You can build this list over time at open houses and events. Be proactive in getting emails and explain that it is a primary means of communicating about issues that effect their children.

Once you have a list, send out regular emails, just like this one. We use MailChimp.com to send out our emails and we really like the service. Plus, it can be free if you have less than 500 email addresses.

Your emails don’t have to be fancy. They should be direct and to the point and should share important information. Try to keep parents “in the know.”

Beyond email, you may want to start a website or blog where you can post information for people to view.

Another important area of communication is online social networks. It would be a good idea to start a Facebook page for your parent group. You may also want to start a Twitter account. This is another way to stay in touch with your community.

Finally, you may need a more targetted means of communication. There is a web service called MemberHub which allows you to communicate with your group members via their online interface, email, and even text messaging. You can set up seperate hubs for the different committees in your group, and have a main communication hub for every parent in your school. Check out the service at MemberHub.com to see if it is right for you.

One of the key building blocks for better participation in your parent group is communication. Plain and simple, good communication matters.

A Little Communication Goes a Long Way

Spending a little time focusing on improving your communication efforts can really help your parent group get more participation. We’ll talk more in a later article about what you should be talking about, but in this article lets focus on the systems that you can use to communicate better with your school community.

First of all, you should be using the internet to communicate. It is fast, it is easy, and its mostly free.

Build an Email List

Once you have a list, send out regular emails. We use MailChimp to send out our emails and we really like the service. Plus, it can be free if you have less than 500 email addresses.

Your emails don’t have to be fancy. They should be direct and to the point and should share important information. Try to keep parents “in the know.”

Get a Website

Beyond email, you may want to start a website or blog where you can post information for people to view.

Be More Social (Online)

Communicate Within Your Organization

Finally, you may need a more targetted means of communication. There is a web service called MemberHub which allows you to communicate with your group members via an online interface, email, and even text messaging. You can set up separate hubs for the different committees in your group, and have a main communication hub for every parent in your school.

Use the Tools

Once you have the right tools, it it just about using them. Practice makes perfect. Just make it your goal to better communicate with parents and to learn the new tools of communication that will help you build a more involved group.

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photo credit: Milestoned