Letter from trustees - help/ advice?

[VanillaPumpkin]

I want to create a letter from us as trustees / committee members explaining how the pre-school runs / is funded / needs volunteers etc to go to new and existing parents. I don't want to scare anyone off but do want people to understand how the preschool runs. Have you anything similar I could read to get an idea or some structure?? I don't know where to start at the moment...
DD2 is watching Night Garden now so I have a chance to get on with something.....
TIA.

[JingleyJen]

Not sure what you want to inform the parents about but these are the things we say to parents about our playgroup running of the parent rota - and then invoices HTH

PARENT ROTA

Within the play group we encourage parents to volunteer to help with play group sessions. (&^&( is a registered charity and runs at a level that justs covers costs, we must therefore keep costs down as much as possible. We ask that you help at occasional sessions attended by your child (organized on a rota basis). If for any reason you can not attend your designated session it is imperative playgroup be informed as soon as possible as lack of a parent helper will mean that session can not go ahead for child safety reasons.
Please check the rota carefully so that you know when your turn comes along, a copy will be distributed at the beginning of each term and will also be displayed in the lobby of the play hut.

INVOICES

*&^&(& runs at a level which just covers business staff and maintenance costs. To be able to work at an efficient level, we depend on your support to pay your fees on receipt of your invoice. As a charity we are prohibited in becoming overdrawn. Therefore, we do need your support in this matter.

[VanillaPumpkin]

That is useful thank you Jen. I want to get that message across but without scaring the parents into thinking we are in danger of closing down and possibly not getting any newbies through the door. It is a fine line isn't it?

[JingleyJen]

If you want I have some info that we sent out about how it is good for the playgroup community to help with fundraising (don't think it sounds scarey)

[VanillaPumpkin]

This is what I have so far, but I am worried I am missing the point a bit....
We are writing this letter to welcome you and your child to XXX on behalf of the trustees.
Although Mrs XX is the Nursery manager and responsible for the day to day running of the group, XXX is actually a registered Charity and run by a committee of trustees, including a number of parent volunteers. The list of current committee members is displayed on the noticeboard. If there are any problems or queries that cannot be resolved by staff members then your committee are the next port of call.
We are always looking for new committee members, who can be elected at the AGM which is held in July each year.
XXX is non profit making and this is why your input as parents is so important to maintain the smooth running and happy environment of the group for the children who attend it. You may question the requests for snack donations and help with sessions, particularly if you are paying fees rather than taking up a council funded place, but please be assured that the group is run at a level to cover our running costs and any additional assistance you can give is very much appreciated, particularly by the children who directly benefit.

[VanillaPumpkin]

Jen, it would be GREAT to have that info esp as we desperately need to launch some fundraising at the moment.....

[JingleyJen]

I think your letter sounds great - I am not sure you need to att eh " you may question the request for snack donations" and change it to
" we request snack donations and help with sessions because the the group is run at a level to cover ..."
I just wonder if you are giving some parents doubts that they didn't have??

It is such a fine line isn't it but I think most parents understand.. gotta get DS1 ready for the afternoon session but will dig the stuff out when I get back.

[VanillaPumpkin]

Yes, your way is better! Thank you. I am just glad to have started it actually. I have been umming and aahhing about it for two weeks now trying to put it off and suddenly realised that I wanted it done before Christmas.....

[VanillaPumpkin]

Bump for the afternoon crowd too....

[geogteach]

One thing you may consider when breaking down the roles is having not all committee members as trustees. We have half a dozen roles which do have trustee responsibilities, chair, vice, secretary, treasurer (chair and treasurer are both shared by 2 people), they meet every month and have voting rights etc, the rest of the committee do not have trustee responsibility and have smaller responsibilities like supplies, trips, fundraising etc and only have to come to alternate meetings. The result is a number of smaller jobs which people are more willing to take on but people are still involved so have some understanding of the group and can be called on when we have specific things that need doing e.g helping at xmas fair, cleaning etc etc.

[VanillaPumpkin]

Oh, that is interesting Geog. All our committee members are automatically registered as trustees with Ofsted etc. Will raise that at the next meeting. What do you think of the letter so far??

[geogteach]

Ours used to be but after we got into some fairly messy stuff with our lease we scaled it back to have a more manageable number dealing with the big stuff, while still having the support of a much bigger group.

[JingleyJen]

that is a really good idea geog & vanilla one of the issues we face is that the committee change every year - if we could get a board of trustee's together as the stabilising force then the core jobs could shift without loosing fundraisers. Also this would be a way for bringing in adults who are not parents of children attending the playgroup.

Mind is whirring - sorry if you can smell burning!