How Can I Earn Money For My School System?
January 26, 2010 | 1:49 pmKarass and Macarolina recently requested a post where we could compile a list of passive and easy ways of earning free money for our respective schools. A great idea! So here ’tis.
Karass got the ball-rolling with the following suggestions. I’ve added links where applicable. Comments in parentheses are Karass’, italics are mine.
- Publix Partner Cards (best lucrative/ease of use ratio) Can anyone find a link?
- Boxtops for Education (very popular with kids; also good L/EU ratio) Clip box tops from a list of participating products, bring them to your school’s “box top coordinator’ and earn 10 cents a top!
- Target Red or Visa Cards (lucrative but less used) You must apply for a check or credit card. 1% of purchases go to your school of choice.
- Georgia Natural Gas True Blue Schools (very lucrative but few know about it) “Very lucrative” is right. And easy! If you’re already a Georgia Natural Gas customer, just pick your school of choice and they automatically donate $5 a month ’til the end of time!
- Campbell’s Labels for Education (less useful; yields prizes not $) Clip Campbells UPCs, mail them in, earn “great merchandise”.
Have other suggestions? Tell us below and I’ll add them to this list!
Several of the schools (WP, Glennwood, maybe others) have stopped collecting Box Tops and Soup Labels–you might want to call first before sending them in with your kids.
Publix Partner Card info is tough to find on-line almost as though they don’t want to advertise it! It’s a regional, not Publix-wide, program. For example, our local school Publix Partner cards seem to work in any Publix in the metro area but they don’t work at Publixes (sp?) in South Florida. The best contacts for program info are local Publix store managers (the real managers, not the off-hours managers, e.g. John Saneda at the Emory Commons Publix). I used to have a phone number for someone to call if your Publix check wasn’t showing up on time but don’t have it anymore. If you call Customer Relations for Corporate Publix, you’ll probably eventually find someone who knows something. You can’t get a Publix Partner Card online–you have to pick up from the school or have someone at the school deliver to you. Any parent could do that. Having said all this, this card is probably the biggest earner for CSD schools out of all the programs mentioned in this post.
Clairemont definitely collects Boxtops. Kids really enjoy this program but I can’t blame the school PTO/PTAs that dropped it because it’s a lot of work for the parent in charge clipping the coupons, bundling them in groups of 50, and mailing them in. On the other hand, it’s a good way to teach your kids to count by 50s!
I think many schools have stopped collecting Labels for Education because they yield merchandise vs. cash.
How about My Coke Rewards? I believe they have either a school program or the points can be pooled to purchase things the school may need or converted into cash at auctions or as door prizes. Opening up Coke cap drop stations at local businesses that sell bottled Coke products or having people e-mail or txt the codes to a coordinator would also work. It’s fun and you’d be surprised how many people would be interested in participating if you made it easy!
I don’t have kids but would clip box tops for education if they are useful to a school in my neighborhood. I wonder if we could get a list of the schools that take them together.
Glennwood collects Box Tops. Oakhurst does not, last time I checked.
Most schools probably have a printer ink cartridge recycling program as well. Oakhurst and Glennwood both have programs thru Cartridge World on N. Decatur Road.
Clairemont collects printer cartridges too–bring them to Ms. Tibbett in the Media Center.
Make that Ms. Tibbets–I was trying to delete an extra “t”, not the “s” but goofed. Always bad to misspell your librarian’s name!
What is their appetite for Cheetah Bucks? I know the tax commissioner was not thrilled (or pretended he wasn’t.)
I waver between pity and outrage with the idea that we have been reduced to raising money for out public schools through coupon clipping.
The excuses about the lack of tax proceeds/base seem lame.
My sense is that the state has been providing less and less funding which places more and more burden on local taxes. And that reduction in state funding precedes the recession. Public education just doesn’t rank high enough in the state’s priorities for spending.
However, my understanding from parents of kids in private school is that they get hit up all the time to raise funding and donate as well. I hear that some schools size up the family in the Admissions process and gauge how much time, energy, and money they’ll bring to the school. That would really rankle–paying high taxes, high tuition, AND having to clip those darn boxtops!
Thanks for this Karass, Macarolina, and DM. The schools should really promote the target cards and the GA Natural Gas thing. We get a lot of bang for our buck here, but the squeeze is coming from the state.
The TRUE BLUE SCHOOLS program from GNG was incredibly easy to sign up for. I like the fact that it is a one time act that produces a steady stream of money. Nothing to forget! Sign up now! You do need to know your account number if you are already a customer or be prepared to switch to GNG.
We have been promoting the TrueBlue Schools program as well for about a year and already earned over $5,000! We just passed out some flyers at a PTA meeting and in the registration packets. SO EASY! We would love for the teachers to help get the word out too!