Script

Is this a public school or a private school? It makes a difference as to how you will publicize it.

If it is a private school you will really emphasize the tuition cut they will get by purchasing gift cards for things they already spend money on. Gas, Groceries, Clothing, Eating out etc. at our school 90% of the profit went to my tuition, 2 % went back for administrative purposes and the other 8% went to the school and they divided it up among the teachers once a year. I loved it. We sold, sold sold and managed to pretty much pay our tuition this way for several years.

Public school you will emphasize the programs the profits will go to. music, sports, art, computer etc. there was always a table set up at all the sports events and all the music events in our towns. people were more likely to do it at gradeschool level than highschool.

Ugh - I have no idea why my first post disappeared and then reappeared, and why I was able to post 2 rather than just edit the first! So sorry to all!

You need a good advertising program so you are visible and have a fun name. We used "Big Bucks" but you could do anything to promote the school needs that will be met - Playground Fund or Enrichment Fund or Field Trip Fund or whatever will make people realize it's not going into the general fund that pays for floor cleaner for the janitor. (Floor cleaner is important but it's not glamorous!).

Then you need a way to remind people - that means being incredibly visible. You need clever email flyers with the benefits listed in bullet points. See if you have a good conceptual advertising person among your parents. That's NOT just a graphic artist who does cute designs - it's an IDEA person who keeps things compelling yet simple. Then have an advertising art director do the layouts. If you come up with a cute name, a graphic artist might design a logo for you. Maybe a local ad agency will do something for free for you - then give them credit in your newsletters and parent emails, take a photo with them and you for the local newspaper, etc. You also want to expand your buying public beyond the schools - you want the town citizens to support the program. That means better publicity and having parent "ambassadors" spread the word and get their friends/relatives to buy in.

Then be visible at every possible event - parent open house, parent conference days, kindergarten screening days, field day, book fairs, school and town fall festivals, assemblies/performances, and so on. You need a table/booth and good volunteers. If you can do something at the parent pick-up or drop-off line without messing up the flow, do that.

What scrip are you using? Supermarkets are ideal because everyone shops, not just for groceries for but prescriptions, postage stamps, carpet shampoo machines, and other gift cards. If you use supermarkets, get them to let you set up a display/sales table there as well. People who buy scrip usually spend more so it's good for the markets, plus they want the publicity of supporting local schools. Remember that your supporters don't have to be parents - they can be other relatives, friends, and townspeople who want to support the schools.

We did a mail system as well, either as a "first time" convenience or for regular, reliable participants. Mail the gift card(s) in whatever amount the customer designates, keeping a careful record of the serial number(s) of the card(s) and the date it was mailed. See if you can get a local paper company to donate leftover envelopes in a bright, fluorescent color so the recipients see them. You could enclose a return envelope, either from the donated stack or a stamped self-addressed envelope provided by the customers. You don't want to pay postage in both directions if you don't have to. You need a really dedicated, small, vigilant committee to keep track of the cards out and checks in, and you can't send new cards to someone who owes money!

See if you can sweeten the pot a little by getting local merchants to donate gift certificates (hair and nail salons are big ones, but so are restaurants and independently owned gift and home-improvement stores. Big chain stores have a certain amount of community dollars to give away too - ask for the manager early in the month since many are on a monthly budget for giveaways.). Then design a contest for people to earn these gifts - the most new people signed up by a volunteer, a drawing among all new people (new people qualify for one of 5 prizes), first 10 people to enter the monthly mailing program, most consistent customers, etc., whatever you want. Think about whether you want to reward the biggest amounts purchased - that kind of hurts people on extremely fixed incomes. But a referral system for the most new customers might be a great thing that anyone can participate in.

People need to understand that this program costs them nothing. It's what they'd be buying anyway. That's why basic purchases entice people more than gift cards to places like Amazon or Land's End that they aren't using right now. Be sure you thank new participants as well as volunteers in every issue of the school newsletter. You may be able to thank volunteers on the school website too.

Good luck!

You need a good advertising program so you are visible and have a fun name. We used "Big Bucks" but you could do anything to promote the school needs that will be met - Playground Fund or Enrichment Fund or Field Trip Fund or whatever will make people realize it's not going into the general fund that pays for floor cleaner for the janitor. (Floor cleaner is important but it's not glamorous!).

Then you need a way to remind people - that means being incredibly visible. You need clever email flyers with the benefits listed in bullet points. See if you have a good conceptual advertising person among your parents. That's NOT just a graphic artist who does cute designs - it's an IDEA person who keeps things compelling yet simple. Then have an advertising art director do the layouts. If you come up with a cute name, a graphic artist might design a logo for you. Maybe a local ad agency will do something for free for you - then give them credit in your newsletters and parent emails, take a photo with them and you for the local newspaper, etc. You also want to expand your buying public beyond the schools - you want the town citizens to support the program. That means better publicity and having parent "ambassadors" spread the word and get their friends/relatives to buy in.

Then be visible at every possible event - parent open house, parent conference days, kindergarten screening days, field day, book fairs, school and town fall festivals, assemblies/performances, and so on. You need a table/booth and good volunteers. If you can do something at the parent pick-up or drop-off line without messing up the flow, do that.

What scrip are you using? Supermarkets are ideal because everyone shops, not just for groceries for but prescriptions, postage stamps, carpet shampoo machines, and other gift cards. If you use supermarkets, get them to let you set up a display/sales table there as well. People who buy scrip usually spend more so it's good for the markets, plus they want the publicity of supporting local schools. Remember that your supporters don't have to be parents - they can be other relatives, friends, and townspeople who want to support the schools.

We did a mail system as well, either as a "first time" convenience or for regular, reliable participants. Mail the gift card(s) in whatever amount the customer designates, keeping a careful record of the serial number(s) of the card(s) and the date it was mailed. See if you can get a local paper company to donate leftover envelopes in a bright, fluorescent color so the recipients see them. You could enclose a return envelope, either from the donated stack or a stamped self-addressed envelope provided by the customers. You don't want to pay postage in both directions if you don't have to. You need a really dedicated, small, vigilant committee to keep track of the cards out and checks in, and you can't send new cards to someone who owes money!

See if you can sweeten the pot a little by getting local merchants to donate gift certificates (hair and nail salons are big ones, but so are restaurants and independently owned gift and home-improvement stores. Big chain stores have a certain amount of community dollars to give away too - ask for the manager early in the month since many are on a monthly budget for giveaways.). Then design a contest for people to earn these gifts - the most new people signed up by a volunteer, a drawing among all new people (new people qualify for one of 5 prizes), first 10 people to enter the monthly mailing program, most consistent customers, etc., whatever you want. Think about whether you want to reward the biggest amounts purchased - that kind of hurts people on extremely fixed incomes. But a referral system for the most new customers might be a great thing that anyone can participate in.

People need to understand that this program costs them nothing. It's what they'd be buying anyway. That's why basic purchases entice people more than gift cards to places like Amazon or Land's End that they aren't using right now. Be sure you thank new participants as well as volunteers in every issue of the school newsletter. You may be able to thank volunteers on the school website too.

Good luck!

Our high school music dept. did scripts but didn't have a very good response.

I think it has tons of potential but you need to market it correctly. How are you using Scripts. Are you selling gift cards? How often? Are you just trying to use the on line e-cards. (excuse me if I'm not using the correct terminology). What is the money being used for?

The one thing I didn't like about the program is purchasing online required you to allow Script access to your bank account info. You should NEVER do this.

With the holidays coming up, don't promote "signing up", promote selling gift cards. You're not asking someone to do something they're not going to do anyway. People purchase gift cards to give as holiday gifts, you're just asking them to purchase them from you.

Our school has done this well by being consistent - It's not just a one-time thing, rather a consistent fund raising process that is always available & in-your-face present. Our school has a booth that is open every day during drop off & pick up, and during school events like teacher conferences, open houses, basketball games, etc. It's staffed by parents from the PTA. The affiliated Pre-school also has a table on Monday morning just to do sales. They even advertise in the church bulletin. They send an order form home in kid's folders monthly & at all of the mailings of all the cards they consistently stock, along with the information on the % of funds raised. You can send the form & a check with your chlid to school and they return an envelope with your cards by end of the day.
They also send reminders on creative ways to use your Scrip cards - gifts are obvious choices, but my family even tried allowance & budgeting using these cards. You can budget $100 for groceries per week, $100 for gas, $100 for clothes, etc. and use the cards as a way to hold yourself accountable.
Our school maintains a fund raising account for each kid. Our 6, 7 and 8th graders go on a big trip each year (Washington DC, Space Camp & Outdoor Adventure). The kid's fund raising goes 50% to their account and 50% to the school's fund raising efforts. So there's an incentive even in starting to use Scrip even in Kindergarten to start your kids' fund accounts.
The drawback I see is that you have to write a check and you can't pay with a credit card to buy cards. So, online you have to use your banking information (bad idea), and I hate writing checks every, so buying at the booth is sometimes a pain.

We looked into doing this fundraiser several years ago for a group that I was involved with. Shopwithscrip.com lets the group buy legitimate gift cards at a discount and sell them for face value and the group gets to keep the difference as a fundraiser. The group can earn 1%-10% of the value of the gift card. The pros - people buy what they are going to spend money on anyway. Cons - you have to plan out your purchases in advance. The organizations have to collect the money in advance (cash or checks (and run the risk of a NSF check) to order the gift cards or have enough cash flow to order these cards (and wait for someone to buy them) When we were testing this, one member bought furniture on a store credit card and then bought script for that store and used the gift cards to pay off the store credit card. You might hold a "script day" with a theme --"do you Christmas shopping here and support our school." and hold it in conjunction with another event for parents. We had decided not to involved children in this process at all (bringing cash/cards to and from home). A lot of people do not understand how this program works. Another problem: Sam's and Costco sell discounted gift cards. Good luck!

At our school you either buy a certain amount in scrip or you pay the balance as part of tuition or you have a set amount of volunteer hours needed. If you meet the scrip goal you get a small discount toward next year's tuition.