Grant Writing and PTA Partners

In thinking about the enormity of the Entertainment book project, and the utter lack of enjoyment I am getting from it, I have decided not to do fund raising again next year. It is way too much work, more than I am willing to do (especially when it infringes on my summer) and it's causing me more stress and aggravation then I can rightfully deem as "Ok" considering it is a volunteer position. The way I look at it, volunteering should be fun, or at the very least mildly enjoyable. So, I have decided to re-direct my focus next year on a couple of other "fund raising-like" endeavors, ones however, that may not require less time but are more enjoyable work, at least for me. They are both committees that the PTA has been looking to form, but no one has stepped up to the plate.

The first one is grant writing. While I have no experience with this type of writing specifically, I feel confident that my other experiences (including that of this here blog) will come in to play nicely. It will require a lot of research and a lot of writing and follow-up, all of which I feel very comfortable with. I enjoy researching, love to write and while follow up is not my favorite aspect of the whole thing, it's not actually something I dislike.

The next thing is the implementation of the PTA Partners program. The premise is this: In the beginning of each school year, I would contact various local as well as corporate businesses requesting donations to the PTA. There will be established pledges; i.e. Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze levels. Each company, should they choose to donate, would pick level with which they were comfortable, and make the donation. They would be issued a window decal/sticker type thing that would indicate that they were a "PTA Partner In The Community", as well as a copy of our monthly newsletter, indicating how the funds they donated were used. This would also eliminate having to go, sometimes multiple times to the same place of business, requesting donations when something comes up. This would also require letter writing, in person meetings and follow up, all of which I feel comfortable with.

I haven't quite broken the news to the "powers that be" yet, but I will. I feel bad only giving one year to the fund raising committee but, I can hardly justify continuing a volunteer position that I loathe.