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PTA Management with the PT Avenue System

(All Versions)

Welcome to PT Avenue – the 24/7 cloud-based system designed to help the PTA Board with

management of the organization! This document will review the various features available within a PT

Avenue account, both from a Board / Administrative view and a potential Member-side view – and

particularly reviewing the Membership Management features.

There are three feature levels of PT Avenue (www.pt-avenue.com) accounts -- 1) Membership Only

version (available only in certain states), 2) Membership & Finances (adding the Financial module to the

Membership Only version), and 3) Full version. If your State PTA has purchased the “Basic” Membership Only

version for your organization, you have the option of upgrading to one of the more fully-featured versions at

any time, paying the annual subscription fee.

All versions of PT Avenue include Board member administrative access -- but the Full version is the

only one that allows Member-side access, so certain member communication and management features of

the Full version are not included in the other versions. Read on!

INDEX

Subject Page

Feature Overview ………………………………………………………………………… 2

Member-Side View / Features …………………………………………….......... 4

Board / Administrative Helpers ………………………………………………….. 5

Board Position Listings ……………………………………………..………………… 5

The “MEMBERS” Area …………………………………………………………………. 6

Member Reports ………………………………………………………………………… 7

Member Communications – The “CONTACT” Area ……………………… 8

The “VOLUNTEERS” Area …………………………………………………………….. 9

The “CALENDAR” Area …………………………………………………………………. 10

The “RESOURCES” and “DOCUMENTS” Area ………………………………… 11

Membership Dues and Finances ………………………………………………….. 11

End of Year Process …………………………………………………………………….. 12

Summary …………………………………………………………………………………….. 13

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General Feature Overview --

The PT Avenue system allows everyone on a PTA Board or Committee to have their own

individual login and password to work in specific areas of access, through any web-enabled

computer or mobile device. In the Financial or Full PT Avenue account version, these Helper

logins are customizable to specific areas of responsibility. This 24/7 access helps your

organization to both get things done and stay in communication. Additionally, in a Full account,

your Members also have access to the “Member side” of the account, by logging in with the

Organization Code, giving them access to News, Calendar, Volunteering, Documents, Weblinks,

Online Store, Online Directory, and the ability to update their family/household information,

which takes some of the load off of your Membership officer.

All account versions include Board listings, Teacher listings, household data (Adults / Students /

Grade Level / Teachers), Member reporting and Member Dues Status indicators, and the ability

to email all people (Adults, Students, Board, and Teachers) in your account, regardless of dues

payment status. In certain states (Texas, Washington, and others), all versions also link you to

the State PTA organization for sending information on Board members and Membership counts,

as well as the ability for people to join your PTA through a State-PTA-sponsored external website.

Check with your State PTA about this feature.

The heart of the PT Avenue administrative side is the Members area. You have the option/ability

to put EVERYONE in your organization into this area, whether they are a dues-paying person or

not, including Board Members and Teachers/Staff – because each person in your Members area

has a “Count As Paid Member?” (YES/NO) button indicator and payment date field, for dues

payment status management and communication purposes. Your Members (and potential

Members!) are grouped by family/household, under a Primary contact person – enter as much or

as little information as you need for the Primary, then enter as many additional adults or

students with them as are applicable (NOTE: Your State PTA may have their own

recommendations for when to enter people into your Members area - please check with them!).

Full version accounts also have Skills/Interest/Committee groupings available for sorting of your

Member resources, as well as Volunteer hour tracking and reporting.

Member/family/household information is entered into the account in any of four ways – 1)

administratively through the use of the Import Template in the Members > Add Members area,

2) administratively entering one member or family at a time in that same location, 3) through

Member Self-Entry through the “My Household” button (if you activate it) in a Full account, or 4)

through the State-PTA-sponsored external website in certain states.

Regarding Dues status, setting the "Count As Paid Member?" status indicator to "YES" for an

individual in your Members area can be done in any of four ways: 1) Putting a "Y" in the "Paid?"

column of the PT Avenue import template, then uploading the new Member data to add them

into your account; 2) Finding the info screen for someone already in your Members area, and

manually clicking the “Count as Paid Member?” button indicator over to YES when you receive

payment; 3) Having that "Paid" indicator automatically switch to YES when either you a) record

payment of an ITEM that is dues-related or b) when you record payment and credit membership

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assignment in the Online Store (in a FULL version account); or 4) When a member joins your PTA

and pays dues through the State external website -- in this case, the person is entered into your

account automatically (if not there already), and the "Count as Paid Member?” indicator button

is set to YES automatically, along with the payment date.

In a Full account, there is also a “Volunteers” area, for committees, calendar event signups,

RSVPs, and more -- and these Volunteers will be listed both in the Volunteers area and will have a

“master” listing in your Members area. This Volunteers area is a subset of MEMBERS, and their

existence in the Volunteers area is controlled through an “Add to Vols?” button in their

MEMBERS-area information screen.

Note that in any version less than “Full,” members cannot access/update their own personal

contact information – a Members-Area Helper must do it. Administrative editing/updating of

Member information is quick and easy, through the use of Global Screens. In the Full version,

Members have password-protected access to update their own contact information.

Emailing your members is easy -- Mass emailing to all people (or filtered to all Paid, or all Not

Paid) is available in all account versions. In the Full version, emailing is filterable to any

subcategory desired (Mothers, Fathers, Committees, etc.).

Submitting Roster reports to state organizations can be accomplished with just a few clicks, in

ALL versions of PT Avenue. In certain states, membership information is automatically pulled by

the State organization, so no other reporting is needed.

A Documents area is available in the Full version - upload what you want your Board and/or

Members to have access to, and these documents can be password-protected.

An Event Calendar is also available – In a Full version account, it’s viewable by both Admins and

Members, including volunteer signups and RSVPs – Event volunteers can receive automated

reminders, and you can also track Volunteer hours. In versions other than Full, it’s an Admin-

only-view calendar.

The Finances area can track all Dues payments, as well as any other financial transactions you

may have. Full budgeting and reporting capabilities make for efficient management and

overview of the organization finances, and 24/7 access helps give your organization the financial

transparency it needs. The Membership Only version does not have financials. Note that the Full

version is the only version that has an Online Store.

Finally, there is an End of Year process, which moves all Students forward one grade level, and

removes students (and/or families) who have graduated from your school. This EOY process also

resets everyone to “dues not paid” for next year, and archives the prior fiscal year finances, as

well as other doing other "reset" features for starting the next year.

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What your Members can see – Simple, one-click operation in a Full version account

In a Full version account, your PTA members have 24/7 access to their side of your account in PT

Avenue, by entering your Organization Code at www.pt-avenue.com . This code can be found in your

administrative-side PROFILE > PROFILE screen. Anyone who has this code can log in to your member-side PT

Avenue account, whether Paid or Unpaid -- again, because you want everyone in your organization to be

aware of potential opportunities for involvement -- however, access to personal family information screens is

password-protected. This member-side view of your account is shown in the following picture:

The organization logo is at the upper left, clickable buttons are at the upper right, and clickable

news/announcements appear at the lower left. This is essentially the “News” screen. Note that Language

Translation capability is at the upper right of the screen, on the Member side

[Note – we are developing a “more customizable” member-side screen

option for you to choose from. Keep an eye out for this feature upgrade!]

The “Calendar” button takes them to the Activities Calendar, which lists all events and volunteer

opportunities. Clicking on any yellow “Hand” icon takes them to a Volunteer Signup screen, for easy

volunteering! They see other volunteer names, but not others’ personal information. Note that people that

sign up for volunteer slots in your calendar can receive automated reminders from you, if you set that up.

Similarly, the “Volunteer” button takes them to a list of ALL potential volunteer opportunities on the

calendar, as well a screen which allows them to enter their own worked hours, if you desire. The “Contact

Board” button displays clickable email addresses of Board members (that want their emails listed, that is!).

The “Documents” area takes them to a folder area, where they can download documents that the Board has

uploaded for member distribution (note that documents can be password-protected for access by Paid

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members only), saving printing and postage costs. The "ITEMS" and “Online Store” features are available, if

you have them activated – they can purchase spiritwear, pay for Membership Dues, and other shopping,

either printing out an invoice or paying by credit card. “Links” are what you put there for websites you want

your members to have access to. The “My Household” and “Register” buttons allow your members to both

update their own personal/family information (through password access), or to newly enter themselves into

your account, if you allow this in administrative settings. Finally, the Online Directory is available in a

password-protected mode, if the Board activates it. As mentioned, language translation of the website

Member side is available through Google Translate.

This Member-side access to your PT Avenue account keeps them involved and informed!

Board / Administrative Helpers --

PT Avenue allows the Board to spread out the workload -- An administrative Helper login and

password can be created for anyone that needs to do administrative work in the account, in ALL versions.

These Helper logins are customizable to particular access areas in both the "Finances" and Full versions of PT

Avenue – so your Treasurer can have Finances access, but other Board members could have “Finances Read-

Only” access, for improved financial transparency.

Simply create a unique username for them and grant specific areas of access (or All Access) - you

control this. PT Avenue sends them their login info, along with a password. Helper access areas can be

modified (or deleted) at any time, should the need arise.

Board Position Listings

The PROFILE > BOARD area allows you to enter information on Board members and their

responsibilities / positions. Photos of your Board can also be uploaded, and this Board list can be viewed by

your Members (in a Full version account) through the "Contact Board" area, if you wish. If certain states,

Board listings are automatically submitted to State offices.

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Note that, assuming your Board Members are ALSO dues-paying members of the PTA, they will need

to be entered into the Members area separately – there is no “add to Members” button when entering them

into the Board area.

Membership Management – the “MEMBERS” area

As mentioned before, EVERYONE can be put into the Members area, whether Paid or not (this is up

to you). This includes parents, students, grandparents, community members, or whomever. This

administrative-side Members area has several functional buttons, as shown:

Each of these buttons takes you to a particular Membership Administration area – and there are Help

files on every screen, to guide you in working on that screen in that area. "Membership" takes you to an

alphabetical listing of all people in your account, and clicking on one name brings up their info screen and

also a listing of anyone else in the household whose Primary Contact they are tied to. "Add New" is where

you enter new people, either by single entry or importing. "Reports" are where you search for particular

aspects of people in your Members area - including "Paid" or "Not Paid." "Global Functions" allows you to

make data editing changes across a wide range of Members all on a single screen. "Staff List" are your

Teachers, who can be associated with Students in the Student Info profiles.

In Full version accounts, the "Skills and Interests" are your Member resource groups and committee

people, and "Directories" accesses various pre-made Directory Templates that you may find useful -- if not,

export your Member data, and create your own Directory!

For each family/household, we recommend designating one person as the "PRIMARY" contact -- any

other adult is a "Related Adult", and any student is considered "Student." We suggest listing Students under

the Primary adult contact -- PT Avenue monitors the student grade level from year to year, to help keep your

Members area up to date as to what families have graduated from your school. This "PRIMARY" designation

has nothing to do with dues payment - it is a family/household designator -- so even if a Student can be a

member of a PTSA, they should be listed under a Primary Adult contact. NOTE: the "Primary" (P) contact

designation is extremely important when utilizing the Member Import Template!!!

The next page shows a typical Primary Contact Member-area info screen, in a Full version account –

note the various information fields available, as well as up to three “custom” information fields:

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There are many information fields available, and "blue globe" icons that take you to Global

Adjustment screens directly (Note that in lower versions than "Full," some of these fields will not exist in a

Member profile). In this example, Martin is the Primary listed at top, and the rest of his family is listed

underneath him, to the left. Clicking on any of their names brings up their individual info screen.

Notice in particular the "Count as Paid Member?" button (set to YES) and the "Add Volunteer

Information?" button (set to NO). Anyone joining your PTA through a State-PTA-sponsored external website

will be set to YES automatically, and will have a note to the right of the "First Entered" date referencing the

“web join” method. Clicking the "Count as Paid" button over from YES to NO will remove the prior record

of dues payment date, so BE CAREFUL with this button, and resetting it to YES will put in the current date.

If a Member wishes to be a Volunteer, simply click the "Add Volunteer Information" button over to

YES -- it adds an entry in that area, creating a parallel profile in your Volunteer database area. Setting it back

to NO removes the Volunteer area profile. Note that there is a "Background check received?" status

indicator in the Volunteer profile.

Member Reports --

The Member Reports area offers a detailed filter to search for various aspects of Member data. You

choose what you are looking for, then select what fields you want to show up in your report. These reports

are printable and exportable.

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Notice the buttons to the upper right of the prior screenshot-- these give you access to a Member

Dues Paid Roster, the ability to print Membership Cards, and reports on dues payments and information

updates. Here is an example of the Roster report, which can be submitted to State offices if needed.

Member Communications – the “CONTACT” area

There are several tools in the CONTACT area to help keep your members informed -- through email,

mailings, phone messaging, text messaging, and posted news and announcements to the Member side.

The email capability in particular is very flexible, and includes a “Save draft” capability and a Sent

Email Log. Emailing itself is done through a Filter selection screen. Advanced filtering is only available in the

Full version account.

Additionally, text messaging can be done at no charge, through the email system, if your Members

have both cellphone and carrier information in their profile. When cellphone and carrier information is

present, these people show up in your list of “send to” addresses with “Cell Email” listed as well as “E-mail

Address.”

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If you do not wish to send both email and test, click “Uncheck All Cells” and leave email addresses

checked. If you wish to ONLY send a text, click “Uncheck All Email” and leave the cell numbers checked. To

send BOTH email and text, leave everything checked. You may uncheck specific contacts in this list prior to

sending. Note that if you are sending a text, you should then choose “Prepare Plain Text Email” instead of

Prepare Formatted Email,” and don’t add an attachment.

Phone messaging is done through a recorded message service, through a paid-in-advance credit bank

of calls available. Record your message first, then you choose the message and designate whom you are

sending it to and when. See the Help File in that particular area for more information.

Announcements show up on your Member-side post-login screen, for the length of time you specify.

These are clickable postings that take them to the details of what you post in the announcement (News).

Volunteers Administration – The “VOLUNTEERS” area (Full version only)

The Volunteers area is a subset of your Members area. In a Full version account, people in the

Members area can be added to the Volunteers area through the simple “Add Volunteer Info” button click on

their Member profile… or new Volunteers can be added in the Volunteers area itself. When a new Volunteer

name is typed in for entry there, PT Avenue looks in the Members area to see if they already exist there. If

they do, we set the "Vol" button to YES in their Member-side profile -- if they don't, we add a new Member

Profile for that person, setting the "Vol" button to YES, and create the parallel profile in the Volunteers area.

Be careful to avoid creating duplicate Member profiles for people entered directly through the Volunteers

area – if Volunteers are already entered into your account before a different person adds them directly to the

Members area, you may get duplicates in your Members listings. Keep an eye out for this, and delete any

incorrect duplications.

This Volunteers area in the Full version includes volunteer info listings, background check indicators,

Skills and Interest groups, online volunteer signups, volunteer hour entry and reports on hours entered, and

the ability to email volunteer groups, as well as edit information through Global screens. Your volunteers

can enter their own work hours if you allow them to, through the member-side Organization Code login.

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Member/Volunteer Communications – the “CALENDAR” area

In a Full account, the Calendar itself provides for volunteer signups, RSVPs, and more. Events can be

created with or without volunteer needs. Members/Volunteers see the publicly posted events and signup

opportunities, then the Calendar or Event coordinator comes here to manage volunteer signups and

responses. For non-Full version accounts, the Calendar is only viewable to administrative Helpers.

In particular, clicking on the “hand” icon shows current volunteer signups, and these people can be

communicated with directly from that screen for reminder/update purposes. Additionally, notification of a

volunteer signup can be automatically sent to the event coordinator, and if desired, automated reminders

can be created to go out by email and text message, to signed-up volunteers.

Note that event volunteer signups are NOT strictly tied to people entered in your Members and

Volunteers database areas -- so it is your responsibility to know your people helping at your event.

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Membership Communications – the “RESOURCES” and “DOCUMENTS” area

You can put up website links for your Admins or your Members in the Resources area. Resource

links can have “”Show as Public Weblink?” activated, and a photo of the site added to the link. This is useful

for organization sponsors you may want to share with your membership.

Any documents or files you want your members to have access to (in Full version) can be uploaded

into the Documents area. These documents can be segregated into specific folders, and documents can also

be password protected if desired. You can also upload documents that only Board members (i.e., Helper

logins) have access to, by designating the folder type and marking the document “Private.”

Membership Dues Management – The “FINANCES” area

The PT Avenue finances area is a fully functional area capable of managing your organization’s

financial transactions, budgets, and membership dues payments. There is a separate guide for setting up

your Finances area.

It includes bank ledgers, budgets, transaction histories, reports, audit trail, and can even print checks.

Each bank ledger has its own Budget area, with Income, Expense, and an optional “Off-Budget” area. Any

deposit or withdrawal can be split into multiple budget lines, for convenience, and both monthly and annual

reporting is available.

There is also an Online Store feature available to Full version accounts, for selling spiritwear, taking

donations, or even selling memberships. There is a separate guide for managing the Store.

With regard to Dues payments, the key is the “Count as Paid Member?” button indicator in the

individual Member’s profile screen. Whatever method you utilize to record Dues payments in your Finances

area (or even if you don’t have a Finances area), you need to make sure the “Count As Paid Member?” status

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button in the individual Member screen accurately indicates YES or NO regarding their dues payment status.

This YES/NO status can be adjusted either manually, or automatically behind the scenes when a payment is

recorded elsewhere.

There are four methods of crediting Dues payments and tying them to the "Paid Member?" indicator.

a) Manual YES/NO “Count As Paid?” method -- Accept Dues payments by whatever method you use,

and enter the deposit(s) manually in the Finances area (or in your own separate Financial

management system). Print a list of who has paid Dues, and manually set their “Count as Paid

Member?” indicator to YES, either through their individual profile screen or through the GLOBAL

ADJUSTMENTS screen in the Members area. The Membership Date will enter as the current date,

unless you modify it – a “default date” feature is available in the Global screen.

b) The ITEMS area (unavailable in Membership Only version) – Create a Dues-related ITEM for your

Members to pay for, and when they pay, check off who has paid for the ITEM in that ITEMS area. A

Dues ITEM can be set to automatically turn the “Count As Paid Member?” button to YES, when

checked off as paid. Or, you can avoid setting it this way, and do it manually later vs. a list of known

payers. Note that when ITEM payments are credited, the payments are entered directly into the

Bank Ledger area as a Deposit.

c) The Online Store can have Membership Dues offered, and like the ITEMS area, it can be automatically

linked to set the “Paid?” indicator to YES. Once payment is credited, there is a separate “Apply

Membership” area to switch the indicator to YES. Like the ITEMS area, when a payment is credited, it

enters it as a Deposit in the Bank Ledger area (Note: there is an exception for credit cards and

PayPal). See the Online Store User Guide for more details.

d) If a new member joins through a State-PTA-sponsored membership website, they will be entered into

your account (unless already there), and automatically be marked as "Paid Member?" = YES, since

they pay immediately by credit card to the State PTA. However, nothing is entered into the Bank

Ledger, because you do not have the money yet.

We will not review detailed dues payment processing in more detail in this document, because it is

more of a detailed Finances ITEMS / Online Store area issue. See the HELP files and User Guides in these

individual areas for additional instruction. Again, regardless of how you credit payments, keep an eye on the

“Count As Paid Member?” status indicator! You can pull REPORTS on your Paid Member status at any time.

End of Year Process --

There is an End of Year process step that is accessed only by the Head Admin person on your account,

through their Profile screen. This process performs multiple functions, but it also archives your financials – so

the Treasurer, Membership Coordinator, and the Head Admin need to communicate as to when it is time to

do the EOY step! Note that in versions of PT Avenue less than "Full," some of these steps may not come up

for review, due to not having certain features.

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EOY steps for a Full version account include:

Graduate students at the top grade level of your account setting

Remove all families that have ONLY a graduating student

Promote all other students one year forward, and remove teacher associations

Allows carryforward of already-paid dues status for next year

Allows removal of Helper logins for people departing your organization

Carry forward things on the ITEMS list (your choice)

Tidy up loose ends in your Online Store, and determine new inventory counts

Archive Volunteer and RSVP information, and reset “Background Check Rcvd?” to NO for Vols

Uploaded documents will remain as they are

All people in the system (including Lifetime members) will be marked as “NO” for “Paid

Member?” status

Summarize your financials and archive them, and enter an opening balance for next year, in all

bank ledgers. This is based upon your input of “fiscal year end date” and specific budget

carryover categories.

In all versions of PT Avenue, this EOY process resets your PT Avenue account for the upcoming school

year. Review your Member information and Volunteer database for accuracy, make any needed

modifications to bank ledgers and budget categories/amounts, and carry on!

Summary –

Our mission is to help you and your organization become more productive, so you can focus on

helping students. Managing and communicating with your members is a vital part of this, as is keeping Board

communications flowing -- and PT Avenue offers you a complete, comprehensive set of tools to do this, all in

one 24/7 website!

Delegation is key - every Board member, Committee Chair, or other Administrative helper should

have their own login, enabling them to do whatever needs to be done, 24/7. Also, keeping your Members

involved through their side of the (Full version) account can really help PTA involvement!

Remember, to learn how to work in any particular area or screen, click the “HELP” icon in the upper

right for the Help File for that screen. There are also training videos in certain areas. You can also contact us,

during regular business hours (8-5 CST) – we’re here to help! Our tech support email address is

ptsupport@pt-avenue.com . We also offer in-depth training, either at our facility in Rowlett, Tx, or through

webinar, both for a modest fee.

Thank you for using www.pt-avenue.com to manage your organization!

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