Fundraising

Box Tops For Education - Easy School Fundraiser

Box Tops For Education is an easy school fundraiser program sponsored by General Mills. This excellent program is responsible for raising over $250 million dollars for schools since it's launch in 1996. The program started in California, and went nationwide shortly thereafter. Today it is available across the United States and in Canada. The extent of this program's popularity is seen when schools even include the program specifics in special assemblies to promote participation in the fundraiser by students and their families.

Collecting the small pink box top coupons is very simple. They are found on top of packages of common household foods and supplies. All the consumer needs to do is snip the coupons, collect them and turn their collection in to the school as requested. At first only General Mills brands were included, but that has expanded to include other brands such as Scott Tissue, Ziploc, Hefty, Pillsbury, Kimberly-Clark and many more brand name products. By 2002, the box top coupons were found on over 4 billion packages in stores. In 2008, the latest to join the list of products is Nestle Juicy Juice.

Products included in the Box Tops For Education program are numerous. Grocery items include cereal, juice, frozen foods, baking products, complete meals and side dishes, snacks, refrigerated items, and household needs like toilet tissue, paper towels, waste bags, disposable tableware, storage bags, and baby care products.

The beauty of this popular program is that everyone can participate, even family members who live out of town and away from grandchildren or children. All they have to do is collect box top coupons, and mail them to their families who then submit them to the schools their children attend. It is not unusual for elementary schools to raise significant funds from this effort, thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. Each coupon is redeemed for a value of ten cents. The money is used to purchase items not normally included in the school budgets, such as playground equipment, computers, books, and supplies. Last year's top fundraising school was the Navajo Lutheran Mission School, where coupon earnings total led $31,195.

Schools can approach this type of fundraising in many ways. Some conduct contests, with small prizes for the class that brings in the highest amount of box top coupons. Others publicize the collection effort through newsletters and special meetings with parents, or they send informational flyers home with students. Using competitions helps bring out the team entrepreneurial spirit, and the students can become quite innovative in their quest to be number one in collections of coupons. Teachers maintain interest in the contests by posting ongoing results for all to see.

This easy school fundraiser is made fun by use of various worksheets and projects for coupon collections. Even early elementary students can participate and have fun with this program. Parents like the program because the coupons are easy to locate, are readily available, and come on products that are commonly used at home. The elements of the entire program are easy to follow, and the rewards are well worthwhile.

The program is run at the school level, by community coordinators, usually a parent. They are responsible for seeing that all programs rules are met, such as counting, bundling and shipping requirements. They act as a local business liaison in locating small prizes for contest winners. They operate as a volunteer, and take great pride in running these large programs successfully. For complete information, visit the boxtops4education.com website.