School may be out, but your families are still spending. Keep your scrip program running - and earning - all summer long.

Just because your school lets out for the summer, doesn’t mean your scrip program has to discontinue. Your families still have all the same expenses - gas, groceries, eating out, etc. – during the summer that they do the rest of the year. And if your school’s scrip program takes the summer off, your non-profit organization will literally be non profit for those months. Plan now for a productive summer scrip program.

Your families don’t stop spending just because school shuts down for the summer. In addition to the normal household purchases they can be making with scrip, travel purchases are perfect for summer scrip programs. Summer barbecues and picnics, pool supplies, beach toys, and lawn and house maintenance tools are all typical summer purchases that could be made with scrip.

The biggest opportunity to earn rebate money – outside of Christmas – is back-to-school shopping. And most families begin making back to school purchases all summer long. All your school supplies can be purchased from our office supply retailers, and apparel could be purchased at any one of several department stores or school uniform retailer, Dennis Uniform. When all of your family summer purchases are totaled, you will have earned a significant amount of rebate money at a time when you previously had made none.

The added benefit to summer scrip programs is that you encourage families to continue the habit of ordering on a regular basis. Frequency or quantity may change, but they are still ordering. When school starts up again, there is no delay to the normal scrip cycle. There would be no reverting to “old” spending ways over the summer, and no adjusting to scrip budgeting again when school starts up.

Summer is just around the corner. Now is the time to start thinking about getting your school to commit to summer ordering. Work with your families to develop a system that works despite the school being closed for the summer. Great Lakes Scrip Center has excellent tools to help you with these decisions.

If you are already using ShopWithScrip, you know this online system eliminates a lot of the paperwork. When families input orders on ShopWithScrip.com, the accompanying software automatically aggregates all the family orders into one main order for Great Lakes Scrip Center to process. When the gift card order comes in to you, just print up individual packing slips to place in each family order. With PrestoPay, family bank accounts are automatically debited for purchases, eliminating the need to collect check payments. The only thing you will have to work out is when and where to pick up orders.

The earning potential for summer scrip is like low-hanging fruit. You may need to modify your usual schedule, but the opportunity for growth is ripe for the taking. Great Lakes Scrip Center makes it so easy and will be with you every step of the way. Take scrip with you this summer and see your earning potential grow!

Do you have some expert advice to share with your fellow scrip volunteers?  We're always looking for ideas, tips and suggestions.  Tell us about your scrip advice.