Executive Committee Transitions and Staff/Volunteer Appreciation Ide= as

Executive Committee Transitions and Staff/Volun= teer Appreciation Ideas

These tips were prom= pted by questions from one local unit President:

1. How much do you spend on your Executive Committee end-of-the-year thank you?

The past two years that I have been involved the incoming president purchased a gift for the outgoing president somewhere in the range of $50/$60. La= st year I also included $10 starbucks gift cards f= or all outgoing exec board members. This isn't really Eastgate's policy (not in the budget) but it was what I did personally.

We've never done this

We usually have a luncheon for both the outgoing Executive Board and the incoming Executive Board together. We try to p= ass on the notebooks at this time as well. Usually the Outgoing Boards provides the brunch food... Some years we have also gi= ven a small gift (like a bookmark, small plant...) to the Outgoing Board.<= /strong>

2.         Do you give a gi= ft or provide a dinner? What is appropriate?

We also provide a transition dinner which is hosted at the outgoing presidents home.

We've never done this

I would like to take my Exec. Committee out to dinner (we have all served together for two years). Do we set a budget limit? Pay for alco= hol ourselves? What is appropriate?

Every volunteer works so hard, it would be difficult to justify spending any port= ion of our budget on dinner for any committee.

3.         How about Volunt= eer Appreciation? What do you spend on your committee chairs?<= /span>

In the last two years that I've = been our volutneer appreciation has been a luncheon = given by the staff at school.

Volunteer Appreciation. We have a punch and cookie time, at school, at= the end of the year where we present the Golden Acorn and the principal and staff also present cards and gifts (flowers or small gift) of thanks to all of the volunteers at our school. The staff is in charge of the Volunteer Tea at our school so it does not co= me out of the PTSA Budget.

= Janet – I sent personal notes to everyone thanking them last year. It= is next to impossible to get everyone in one place at the same time, so giving gifts seems to be more effort than it is worth, unless it is something like= a Starbucks card ($5). Tyee had an end-of-the-year party off campus where we gave out Golden Acorn, and also invited teachers and staff.

We try to give all the BOD's something small like a Starbuck's gift certificate at some point during the year with a thank you note. The Presidents usually pay for this.   We also have a nice dessert/coffee smorgasbord at one of = the last General Meetings to thank the BOD's as well. This comes out of the PTSA budget and is enjoyed by the Executi= ve Committee and General Membership as well as the BOD's<= /span>. =

=

          &nb= sp; I try to recognize people as the year goes along, in the newsletter, so everyone feels appreciated. Personally, I don’t really want a little plant or whatever.

** Leigh Ann and I hand wrote thank you cards and sent Starbucks cards to all the committee chairs with events in the fall, and wi= ll do that again this spring. We pay for this out of pocket. We al= so try to thank folks in the newsletter.

4.         How about Staff Appreciation? What is your budget?

$500 which includes teacher appreciation week and back to school lunch and welcome

Staff Appreciation. It is a week long event, the schedule might look something like this: Monday: Every child is asked to bring in a flower from his/her garden and parent volunteers meet the children at the classroom doo= rs to put flower arrangements together in each of the teachers class= rooms. Tuesday: We rent a latte stand (or make a latte run) for all of the teachers (orders taken the morning before). Wednesday: All room parent coordinators put together a pot-luck lunch in the staff lounge. Thursday: A small gift of appreciation is presented to = each teacher (might be a candle, might be a bar of soap, a gift certificate, etc.). Friday: A book compiled of 8 1/2 x 11 pre-designed (space above for a picture, lines below for writing) notebook paper (which has been sent home with each child the week before) is put together and presented to= the teacher.  This year we approved $1,000 in our budget because= we do the entire staff, not just teachers.  This is a committee chair position and the chair decides what we will do from year to year.=

         Janet – = we budget $300 per year as a supplement. The Staff Appreciation people b= ring in something once a month, and if they can’t get donations, they go b= uy treats. Then they do daily tr= eats during the official May appreciation. We also host a “Teacher Brunch” on the last day of school. Most of the food is donated but we have a budget of $300 for purchases and decorations. Ou= r PTSA also brings in salads for the LID day before school starts.

Stevenson Elem. PTA has a relatively modest b= udget. We do join with our principals for a Volunteer Recognition tea each year, a= nd give a general 'thank you' to our volunteers at that event. However, w= e do not budget for a celebration or separate 'thank you' for our officers or committee chairs. I expect that we will have a potluck at someone's house f= or the exec committee, and write some heartfelt thank you notes to our committee chairs.

As for staff appreciation, we budget $1,000. = Our chair uses her magic wand to stretch that to cover 4 or more luncheons, sma= ll thoughtful gifts during staff appreciation week, and little surprises now a= nd then throughout the year.

This is a Chaired position at Odl= e. Our Chair this year, Coco Valle, has had several big events throughout the year instead of just focusing on one week.  Our chair organized an Italian Luncheon, Chinese Feas= t, & a Waffle Breakfast.  Coco also organized providing snacks/drinks for teachers during Arena Conferences.&nb= sp; Coco also has brought treats/flowers on a weekly ba= sis this year for Teacher's Lounge. We have $500 budgeted now for th= is Committee. We increased this budget from $300 to $500 this year in or= der to provide all of these great things for the staff. The Chair al= so asks for food /decoration donations and assistance from the parents for eac= h of the events she organizes.

We put $500 in for staff appreciation

At Odle it was raised to $600 next year. At the middle school level, there are not as many opportunities= for parents to help staff or to volunteer time, so our staff app. committee is pretty active.

I know at Cherry Crest they do a lot of pot luck lunches for t= he staff and during staff apprec. week in May, there are a lot of activities. A latte cart is donated one morning= with a breakfast spread.

Cherry Crest does this great movie exchange where parents brin= g in movies for the teachers and staff to borrow. It goes on for about a m= onth and there is a sign out list for all of the movies. The toughest part= is finding some sort of a shelf on which to display all of the movies.

There is also a "bring a flower day" the commit= tee provides the vases and students are encouraged to bring in a flow= er for their teachers and staff members arrangement. <= /o:p>