Membership Resources
Washington State PTA is a grassroots membership organization that works to make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children.
Membership is open to anyone interested in the health, safety, and education of children regardless of school boundaries. Our goal is a membership that reflects the diversity of the children and families across our state.
Anyone who would like to become a part of the state’s oldest and largest child advocacy organization may do so by joining a local or community PTA. Visit our History page to learn more about the amazing work PTA has accomplished. Click here to find a PTA anywhere in the state. Or, if your school does not currently have a PTA but is interested in affiliating as a PTA check out the Start a PTA webpage.
Membership Leaders
Membership is the responsibility of any member of a board of directors. To assist in the work of membership, there are many resources to help you share the value of PTA and the importance of the work PTA does.
Marketing material: those resources that you can plug and play without having to recreate anything.
- National PTA Membership Campaign – find graphics for social media, fliers, presentations, and so much more.
Awards and contests: these activities help you in setting goals and provide opportunities to share the success of your PTA.
- Monthly membership growth awards – achieve bronze, silver, gold, or platinum level based on member percentages. See the May achievement list here.
- Membership achievement awards
- 100% staff membership – enroll at least as many school staff members as there are full-time certificated employees at the school. This award recognizes the value of teachers and school staff as stakeholders advocating for all children through PTA membership.
- 100% PTA membership – enroll at least as many members as there are full-time enrolled students at the school associated with that PTA. This is the ultimate achievement in PTA membership and recognizes that every child in the school community has a paid PTA member to be their voice.
- Membership contests are held throughout the year and information is shared through various communication platforms. More contests will be added soon.
Fall Friendsy – Ask a friend to join PTA!
Have at least 25 members, all officers entered in the database, and memberships equal or greater than 75% of last year’s final membership numbers entered in memberplanet by September 30. No application required.
There were 232 PTAs that qualified! The following PTAs were selected at random: Dower Elementary PTA 10.4.25, Sunny Hills PTA 2.6.25, and Challenger PTA 7.5.5
Theme, Goal, and Online Join Link
Share your 2023-2024 membership theme, goals, and online join link with us by October 31 and be featured in the PTA Spotlight in the Membership Made Easy Newsletter. Submit here.
More-vember-More Members
All PTAs that have earned a Gold or Platinum award by November 15 will be automatically entered into this contest.
Washington State Great PTA Sign Up Day
Our goal is to increase membership by 5,000 members statewide in just one day! WSPTA will be providing promotional information and ask that all local PTAs join us to help reach our goal.
Leap into PTA – Founders’ Day Challenge
All PTAs that have entered 17 new members into memberplanet by February 29 will be entered. No application required.
Student Membership
All PTAs who have a student membership population of 20% or more of the total memberships will receive recognition from Washington State PTA at Convention in the spring. An application is required to let us know how many of your total membership are students.
This is also the same date that 100% membership and 100% staff awards forms are due. Application required.
2023-2024 Application: Student Membership Award, due March 14
Spring into Membership
All PTAs that have doubled their membership numbers from last year will be entered to win. No application required.
Leadership resources: visit the password-protected Leadership Guides page to access many resources to assist your PTA in achieving your membership goals. In addition, National PTA recently launched a new membership resources page full of resources to assist you.
Membership Database
Washington State PTA provides each local PTA and council access to an online membership database through a platform called memberplanet. Each PTA is required to report its membership roster and elected board members in memberplanet. Please visit our membership database webpage to learn more and access the free tools and resources.
Additional Resources
Impacts of PTA on Student Success
Thanks to National PTA for compiling data on the overall impact of PTA on schools and students across the country! Many leaders have been struggling with how to share the value of PTA when we cannot host our traditional events and activities. Please share some of these graphics with your community to show how important it is to support PTA.
How to Make Joining PTA Easy
How to Make Joining PTA Easy – Now more than ever, people want to connect with each other and know what is happening at their child’s school. Your PTA can fulfill the universal need to connect and belong, during this dark time. You should seek to not only renew current members but to reach out to new audiences, grow your PTA and build an even stronger community.
PTA's National Standards for Family-School Partnerships
PTA’s process for building successful partnerships starts with the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships and consists of three steps:
- Raising awareness about the power of family and community involvement.
- Taking action to cultivate involvement through specific programs and practices.
- Celebrating success as your school sees increased involvement and its impact.
Additional resources to assist PTAs are located on this page including “Report: The Positive Relationship Between Family Involvement and Student Success.”
The National PTA School of Excellence program is based on these standards.
Standard 1: Welcoming All Families into the School Community- Standard 2: Communicating Effectively
- Standard 3: Supporting Student Success
- Standard 4: Speaking Up for Every Child
- Standard 5: Sharing Power
- Standard 6: Collaborating with Community
Getting Ready for the First Membership Meeting of the Year
The new school year is upon us, and the PTA year is about to get into full swing! Hopefully, your board of directors had a productive summer retreat and is planning a fall membership drive and the first membership meeting of the year. In many areas of Washington, membership meetings will need to be held virtually, which may require a little additional planning. Read the full article here.
Building a Virtual Membership Campaign
The best membership campaigns for 2020-2021 were the ones that didn’t require paper forms and payment to be collected at school. Virtual membership campaigns will do three things for your PTA: reduce face-to-face contact, reduce the time processing memberships, make it simple for members to start enjoying member benefits right away. Read the full article on the blog.
National PTA - Beyond the Building
Beyond the Building: PTA the Virtual Way K-6
Beyond the Building: PTA the Virtual Way Middle/High School