St. Peter’s PEACE program made use of an older
scrip soft ware program acquired when they began
in 2003, but Linda knew they could do better now.
When her friend Jennifer B. joined the PEACE scrip
team at the end of the 2008-09 school year, they researched
their options, including our ShopWithScrip
and SCRIPWARE™ online applications.
They realized individual family online ordering -
made possible by GLSC’s free ShopWithScrip online
ordering and scrip management web site - would
be very attractive to their families. Furthermore,
their sophisticated inventory and point of purchase
selling needs could be filled with SCRIPWARE, our
advanced scrip management software available for
a monthly subscription fee of $9.95. This powerful
and affordable program would put all their scrip information
in one place and cut back on mistakes that
were being made in the ordering process.
“We seemed to be spending a lot of time correcting
human errors,” Linda explained. Paper orders were
filled out by families then key-entered by a volunteer,
which was an unneeded opportunity for an error.
“With online ordering, each individual family was
responsible for what he or she ordered,” Linda
added.
In addition, ShopWithScrip.com offered St. Peter’s
families PrestoPay™, the secure online payment service.
PrestoPay gives families the option of having
scrip order payments deducted electronically from
their own checking accounts.
According to Jennifer and Linda,
St. Peter’s families purchased
$40,560 in scrip Reloads and
ScripNow!, earning an additional
$914 in rebates. “Not bad,
considering we didn’t lift a
finger to fill these orders!”
During that summer of 2009, Linda and Jennifer set
up a few families with ShopWithScrip and PrestoPay
as part of a pilot program, and let them place orders.
When the school year started, they converted every
family over to ShopWithScrip. Most of the families
chose to also enroll in PrestoPay and use it to pay for
their online orders.
Linda and Jennifer simply communicated the change
with their PEACE families through regular emails
and informational flyers added to orders. Since
they had been using ShopWithScrip.com for a few
months over the summer, they could transition
smoothly and answer questions that came their way.
Though most of their families embraced the introduction
of ShopWithScrip.com, there were a few
wary families that needed a little extra “TLC”. Linda
and Jennifer took the initiative to set up accounts for
these families and let them know their username and
passwords, eliminating this stumbling block.
“We’re confident we got a few more to try it then,”
Linda commented.
The results have been impressive. Last year
alone, the first full school year with ShopWithScrip,the St. Peter’s PEACE Program increased their scrip sales
by 45%, topping $1 million for the first time ever, and
earned $50,000 in scrip rebates. Wow!
One surprising benefit of switching to ShopWithScrip
was the way families embraced reloads and ScripNow!
– two services that are only available online at Shop-
WithScrip.com. According to Jennifer and Linda, for the
one year period from August 1, 2009 to August 1, 2010,
St. Peter’s PEACE program purchased $40,560 in scrip
Reloads and ScripNow!, earning an additional $914 in
rebates.
“Not bad, considering Jennifer and I didn’t lift a finger to
fill these orders!” Linda said.
The online ordering with ShopWithScrip is so efficient
compared to the system Jennifer and Linda were using
(an old tracking system, spreadsheets and WORD), that
one of their volunteer shifts was no longer necessary.
“Before ShopWithScrip, we had two additional people
add things up and check the orders before Jennifer and I
keyed them in on Monday mornings,” Linda said. “Now
we don’t need that slot at all. If there are still orders that
need to be keyed in, they’re so few that we do that Monday
night when we have our ‘Scrip-on-the-Go’.”
The basic ShopWithScrip.com scrip management service
is free to any GLSC customer. However, when they set
up their ShopWithScrip account, Linda and Jennifer
chose to subscribe to SCRIPWARE, our advanced scrip
management software. Th e optional SCRIPWARE enhancement
provides many advanced features, including
custom rebate management, as well as inventory management
for those organizations that carry scrip cards to
sell out of stock or as “scrip to go.”
SCRIPWARE compiles all of an organization’s scrip
information, order history, and inventory data in one
place so there is no more need to have family accounts
in three or more databases. This allows for easier access
of information and order tracking. “We place orders,
maintain and track inventory, create POs … you name
it,” Linda added. They took a few months and slowly
moved all their PEACE scrip information over to
SCRIPWARE. By January, Linda and Jennifer had all
their information in one spot.
“We have so much more information at our fi ngertips
than we ever did before,” explained Linda. “I just ran
some reports to get some numbers. It took me minutes
instead of weeks.”
When asked what advice she would give to someone just
starting a scrip program, Linda said, “Start with SCRIPWARE
right away. Try to have only online ordering.
Try to have a scrip store with cards on hand, so families
can order ‘scrip to go’. Order weekly, so your families
start using consistently. Communicate.”
Communication and a good computer system aren’t
the only things Linda and Jennifer have going for them.
Another characteristic of any well-run and prosperous
scrip program is enthusiasm. Nothing gets people more
excited than someone who is genuinely enthused about
scrip fundraising. In this case, Linda and Jennifer’s
excitement about their scrip program is what takes them
to the bank each week.
Do you have some expert advice to share with your fellow scrip volunteers?
We're always looking for ideas, tips and suggestions.
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about your scrip advice.
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