It's a familiar scenario. You sit through a parent teacher group meeting where the thought of going paperless is discussed. Ideas are tossed around and the eventual outcome is that your PTO will now send out announcements of events and activities as email attachments. The group also decides to launch a website where they will post the information and upload the forms and flyers for everyone to download.
The idea is implemented, your families compliment you on the progressive approach to running your PTO, and then it dawns on you...the paper is still piling up in your mailbox. You say to yourself, "We're not sending out paper, but we're still collecting loads of paper. We're only half paperless!"
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Actually, you're only one quarter paperless. Read on...
You're on the right track by eliminating the distribution of paper forms and flyers. However, making them available for download from your website or through email attachments does not accomplish the paperless goal. As we have seen, your families still need to print the forms, fill them out and mail them in to you.
So how does your parent teacher organization become paperless?
You have a website, but you need to take it to the next level. A level where your website offers pages that your families fill out instead of paper forms. A website that will collect all the information you need and present it to you in list or spreadsheet format. For example, you can direct new families to a page on your site that will ask them to enter their name, address and contact information. Once they complete the form, their contact information is recorded on your website and is there for you to refer to as you need it.
Did you see how this simple scenario has eliminated many hours of work for your PTO volunteers? Your families key the information into the website. Your website compiles and displays the information of all families with the simple click of a button. With this, your volunteers and your PTO have benefited from the elimination of hours of sorting, collating and filing. And your PTO is on the path to being truly paperless.
It sounds expensive, right? Actually it is very affordable. The Paperless PTO is a web hosting provider that offers a very affordable solution. They have designed a website template that is catered exclusively to parent teacher organizations. The program will guide PTO's, PTA's and all other parent teacher groups on how to be truly paperless. And they will do it at the pace you are comfortable with. The template even includes a fundraising program built into it that will turn a small monthly expense into recurring income for your PTO. Volunteering can be a thankless job. Why not make it easier and why not make it rewarding.
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