For Volunteers

Thank you so much for sharing your valuable time and talents to serve as a volunteer, room parent, and/or committee chair.  Our PTA is run entirely by volunteers, so please know that your efforts and dedication to the students of Lincoln are truly appreciated!

Ad-hoc Volunteers

Our many events could not happen without the support of volunteers like you! No amount of time is too small,  no experience is necessary, and there are opportunities both in and out of the classroom to fit your schedule.

Check SignUp (akaVolunteerSpot) to see our active sign-ups or email the Committee Chairs directly to offer your talents.  There are 3 ways to add your sign-ups to your calendar – learn how.

Volunteering during school time activities?

  • All visitors must present a valid ID to the office and wear a guest badge.  Please arrive a few minutes early to check-in, especially the first time you volunteer in-school.
  • Lincoln School does not allow younger siblings to join parent volunteers during school time activities.

Room Parents

See the Room Parent page for all the details.

Committee Chairs

Committee Chairs are ultimately responsible for the coordination of their respective committee and adherence to the following guidelines. Our intent is to help you get started efficiently.  Contact the Executive Board if you have additional questions.

All PTA Chairs must be PTA members. Join now if you have not done so already!

Event Planning

Event History 

Many of our committee chairs have been volunteering for many years. Please save your event documents/spreadsheets in the PTA google drive( including flyers, vendor information, expenses and Committee Reports). This will allow the PTA to have this information as our volunteers leave Lincoln. If you’re a new committee chair we will work with you to get all of the information you need for a successful event. When your event is over, complete the Committee Report for this year and save it in the PTA google drive prior to the end of the school year. Hard copies, and leftover supplies can be placed in the PTA cabinets located in the lost and found area.

Google Drive
Please save all Committee Files to your committee folder on PTA’s Google Drive (email [email protected] for the link). Consider using Google Docs and Sheets instead of Microsoft. Working collaboratively straight from the drive is far easier and no software is required. Just click the orange ‘New’ button to create a new file and you will find the apps very similar to MS Word and Excel, etc. If you open an existing file, you have the option of converting it to a google file, which will make a copy of the original.

Committee folders are organized by Fundraisers, Programs, Services, and Administrative. If you are not sure where your committee folder will be – use the Search. If no folder exists, go ahead and create one using your best judgement – you can use abelincolnpta.org as a guide for organization.

If you want SOME of your files to appear on the website, create a ‘[My Committee Name] Files For Website’ subfolder and send me the link. I will post it to your committee page, so anyone with the link can see all the files in that folder. I prefer this over links for each document as it’s easier to manage year to year as documents are updated.

Committee Webpage

  • Each Committee and/or Event has a webpage, search for it here
  • Please look to confirm your dates/times are displayed and correctly
  • Review, correct, and enhance the information about your committee/event
  • Email webmaster@abelincolnpta.org with any update requests

Space Needs and/or Changes

PTA Meetings

If your event is upcoming or just completed you will be placed on the meeting agenda for reporting your information. Your ideas and suggestions are important! Please email [email protected] if at any time you want to be included on the agenda for an upcoming PTA meeting.

Contracts

Only the PTA President can sign contracts committing the Lincoln PTA. Please forward all contracts to president@abelincolnpta.org.

Deliveries

Please make deliveries and pickups before or after school so as not to disrupt class time.

Budget, Tax Exemptions, & Reimbursement

Budget

The Executive Board will meet to set the budget and then at the first General PTA Meeting the draft budget will be presented and the membership will vote on it. Once the budget is approved your committee’s expenses must not go over the budgeted amount, unless a request is made to have your budget increased and it is voted on and approved at a PTA meeting. If an increase is not approved, the overage will NOT be covered by PTA funds. Please attend the first PTA meeting!! We want to make sure you have enough money in your budget! 

Supplies & Storage

Please check the two grey PTA supply cabinets located in the lost and found area before purchasing supplies.

Tax Exempt Letter 
(View Now)

When shopping for supplies for your event, please take along a copy of the Not-for-Profit Tax Exempt letter. This letter allows you to purchase items without paying sales tax. The PTA does NOT reimburse taxes paid.

Cash Box

If you will be accepting cash at your event and would like a cash box to make change, please fill out the Cash Box Money Request and email it to [email protected] the week before your event. Please specify how much change and cash you would like.

Revenue Voucher

  • If you receive cash and/or checks at your event, please complete a Revenue/Cash Voucher form.
  • If there are checks only, please place them in the Treasurer’s box located in the school office.
  • If there is cash, submit with the voucher (and monies) directly to our PTA Treasurer. Cash needs to be verified by two people.

Reimbursement

  • Save all receipts.
  • Complete the Lincoln PTA Expense Report with a detailed accurate description of the expense.
    • If your committee has several volunteers, please have the committee chairperson approve all Expense Reports before submittal to the treasurer.
    • Use the Illinois Tax exempt form, taxes will not be reimbursed.
  • Place expense reports in the Treasurer’s mailbox in the school office.
  • All requested checks will be placed in the check reimbursement PTA mail slot.
  • Check requests will be processed twice a month on the 1st and the 15th.
    • Please keep this in mind when you require a check for a specific date or event. 

Over Budget? 

If you anticipate being over or under budget for your event, please notify the PTA President as soon as possible. The PTA must approve expenses that exceed your budget before you spend the funds. If you do not receive pre-approval for over expenditures you may not get reimbursed.

Marketing your Event

Email Blast Information

Weekly e-Blast will be automated, deadline for inclusion is noon Friday. Sorry, no exceptions – it’s automated and it takes time to create the post, update the webpage, and track down all related links/images if they are not provided. All news will be posted to our website, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

Email “text ready” news and an image to [email protected]. AT ANYTIME. Please don’t wait until Saturday, so new can be posted to Social Media throughout the week. Within 24ish hours, your news will be scheduled to post to our website, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Your news will automatically be included in the automated weekly e-blast sent Sunday at 5PM.

Additionally, send me a preferred schedule of when your post should be repeated in subsequent e-Blasts.  Target 2-4 e-Blasts on alternating weeks.  For example:

  1. An initial detailed announcement about the program/fundraiser
  2. A call for volunteers, detailing what they would be doing and the time commitment
  3. A brief reminder that the event/deadline is next week
  4. A brief reminder that the event/deadline is tomorrow
    • Consider always making deadlines on Monday, immediately following an e-Blast

Including an image with your post makes my life easier! If you do not have an appropriate photo, then Search Google Images and, under Search Tools > Usage Rights, select ‘Labeled for reuse’ or ‘Labeled for noncommercial reuse’

Social Media

Please like our Facebook page and invite your Lincoln friends to like it as well.  When you see a post, always like it and sometimes comment and share.  Every quick interaction with our post increases the chances it will be seen by others.

Photos

You will be assigned a yearbook photographer for your event. Social Media photos (without kids faces) can be forwarded to [email protected].

Please remember there are to be no online photos with student’s faces. Teachers, staff, presenters, student’s backs and signage are ok.

Logos 

Lincoln PTA’s logo available for printing purposes. All forms and flyers must have a PTA logo on it.

Printing Needs

  • Printing is a part of your Committee budget. Receipts to be submitted to PTA Treasurer for reimbursement. 
  • All print projects must first be Ok’d by [email protected], who will then confirm with the principal prior to printing.

    Once your project is approved…

  • For for black and white flyers and copies, email Cheryl Meyer at A Reliable Printing or call 630-790-2525 for a quote. 
  • For specialty printing, such as 11×17 color posters and signs, email Rob Herbold at Identity Graphics or call 630-701-0242 for a quote. 


Teacher Mailboxes/Flyers

Teachers mailboxes are behind the front office. Prior to printing flyers please contact [email protected] for classroom counts. Each teacher should receive 2 extra copies with their distribution. Additionally please leave 3 extra copies with the secretary staff.

Coordinate Volunteers

Most events need additional volunteers, in which case, we encourage you to use SignUp. The PTA has a Premium account provided by the National PTA and it is very user friendly.

  • Login with our [email protected] account.
    • Just text 630-508-5606 to get the password.
    • In a hurry? Setup a SignUp using your personal account and simply ‘Pass the Baton’ to [email protected] when you have it just the way you like it.
      • See SignUp in Dashboard > Tools > Pass the Baton > Transfer
  • Create a Sign-up
    • There are many ways to do this and SignUp help pages are useful.
    • Have trouble? Reach out to [email protected]
    • Have a Sign-up from last year?  “Pass the Baton” to copy it and send to our account.
      • See SignUp in Dashboard > Tools > Pass the Baton > Renew: Copy SignUp
        • This step allows you to update the dates to the current year
      • See SignUp in Dashboard > Tools > Pass the Baton > Transfer
  • Add your Sign-up to Group Pages
    • Your Sign Up > Settings > Publish to Group Page
    • Select your committee group page from the drop down
      • This group page is how volunteers will find your opportunity from your committee page on abelincolnpta.org
    • Select ‘Active Volunteer Opportunities – PTA
      • This group page is accessed from any ‘See all volunteer opportunities’ links on abelincolnpta.org
  • By default, your committee has a “General Volunteer” Sign-up to capture any parent interest that may happen when you have no other active Sign-Ups.
  • You may also add the “Skill Share” Sign-up to your Group Page if you are seeking special skills on an ad-hoc basis.
Why SignUp?
  • Sign-up features:
    • Automatically sends email reminders to volunteers
    • Optionally allows everyone to see who else has volunteered
    • Optionally allows volunteers to swap shifts
    • You can easily send messages to everyone who has volunteered for your event.
  • PTA Benefits
    • Volunteerism is centrally tracked so we can adequately recognize and thank our volunteers
    • Sign-Ups are always ‘on’ and gathering volunteers from our website, allowing volunteers to plan ahead and possibly reach more parents
    • Our website links to Group pages, not individual sign-ups — so, setup just happens once!
  • I emailed [email protected] and nothing happened!
    • That account is managed by a volunteer, and response-time varies. It is our goal to respond within 24-48 hours – please try to plan ahead to account for the delay.
    • You may also contact…

Please keep a record of all volunteers so they can be acknowledged at the end of the year.

Please make sure your volunteers are aware of the school’s check-in procedure and remind them that Lincoln School does not allow younger siblings to join parent volunteers during school time activities.

General Notes:

  • Please be considerate of new families to Lincoln who may not know about our PTA programs.
  • Please be considerate of the impact on the teachers and staff.
  • Please contact all people who signed up to volunteer whether you need them or not.
  • Please keep the Executive Board informed of committee meeting dates and decisions.
  • Have fun and know that you are doing a wonderful service for our children!

Search the Abraham Lincoln PTA Website

Our goal is to make information about programs, events, and students as easy to access as possible. If you need assistance or have questions, feel free to contact us