Although raffling off great prizes is a good idea, I want to caution you about using that method when you're starting a scrip program. An expensive prize could cost more than the earnings if you aren't able to get enough parents to buy scrip or to buy enough scrip that earn a decent percentage. Some of the scrip only earn 1.5% and the gas cards, which could be your most popular card, only earn 2%.
I would wait to see how successful your program is first. If you're earning a modest profit but feel you could do better, than you might want to go for the expensive prize raffle.An alternative is to offer a more modest prize, say a gift card to Starbucks (a popular card at our school) or an American Express gift card.
What if you did a contest - use a percentage of the money for a prize - like a flat screen TV and the family that has the highest earnings wins it? Or for every $10 raised the parent gets a ticket for some great raffle - so the more money raised the more tickets and the better the chance of winning. We do this at our school and it is VERY successful. Something to think about.
I've gaged our success by how much we earn compared to othersuccessful scrip programs from public schools in our area. We havealways made a profit with our program but not to the same degree as theothers. I haven't spoken to their coordinators lately so I don't knowhow they're doing in this down economy.
The biggest hurdle I have at our school is getting parents tounderstand what is scrip. You need to start with a flyer or meetingthat is basically, "Scrip 101." In that flyer or meeting, show what anaverage family's purchase might be and what that order would earn. Multiply those earnings to show what that one family would raise withsimilar purchases over the school year. Then show what it would amountto over the school year by mulitplying it by 10 or 20 families.
I also like to use the phrases, "FREE MONEY," (that's what it is sinceit's not coming out of their pocket) and "EXCHANGE THE WAY YOU PAY" inthe first flyer of the school year.
Private schools have an advantage in that most will credit a percentageof the order's profit back to the family towards their tuition. Inpublic schools, you can give a percentage back to the classroom wherethe order emanated from. If helping the school programs at large isn'tmotivating them to buy scrip, earning money for their child's classroomcould make the difference.
I've used Great Lakes Scrip over the last five years and HIGHLYrecommend them. See my response in the thread, "Great Lake Scrip."
I strongly recommend you find and contact other scrip coordinators inyour area. They could be an invaluable source of information.
We are just getting our Scrips program initiated, how do you gauge your success? Which company are you using?
Also, if you have suggestions for us in marketing this program, managing, etc...would be happy to hear from you!
Wondering how everyone is doing with their scrip programs, particularly the ones in public schools. I'm trying to gage how we're doing compared to other public schools but am also interested in seeing if others are seeing profits shrinking or if they're doing just as well as ever. We currently have 850 students enrolled. I don't think we're hitting our potential considering our enrollment numbers.
