SCRIP

Scrip is a term that means “substitute money”. When you purchase scrip, you’re purchasing negotiable gift certificates and prepaid cards that are used just like cash. You can use scrip to purchase everyday expenses like food, clothing, and other essentials, and with every purchase, you earn revenue for our organization.

How scrip generates revenue for you

The Great Lakes Scrip Center acts on behalf of churches, schools and other non?profit organizations to purchase large amounts of scrip from grocery stores, department stores, and other retailers. Because the scrip is purchased with cash up front, the participating retailers offer a substantial discount. Our organization buys the scrip from Great Lakes Scrip Center at a discount, and re-sells the certificates to families like yours for full face value. The discount ? from two to fifteen percent or more – is our organization’s revenue.

Scrip is "shopping cart fundraising”

Scrip is a popular fundraiser because families don’t have to sell anything. Organization members produce revenue by making regular household purchases they would make anyway. Groceries, clothing, toys, gifts, even gasoline can be purchased with scrip.

Find Out More

Ask your scrip coordinator listed below for the latest participating retailer list. Then put your shopping dollars to work for our organization!

St Michael School

Mary Serapiglia 330-497-8183

Amy Schiefer 330-493-9288

ST. MICHAEL

SCRIP PROGRAM SUMMARY

This program gives parishioners, family members, and friends the opportunity to help our parish fund needed items / services through our everyday spending. No requests for buying candy, wrapping paper, cookie dough, etc…. funds are accrued from monies spent on groceries, gas, restaurants, department stores, etc…

Funds are earned by ordering gift certificates / gift cards through St. Michael’s. These gift certificates / gift cards are from various retailers, both nationally and locally. These certificates look just like the ones you would buy if you went to the store and purchased them yourself.

For each gift certificate ordered, St. Michael’s will receive a rebate. Rebates earned will vary depending on which retailer you order from. Please see the order form or consult glscrip.com for specific amounts.

Order forms will be available in the gathering space, rectory office, school office and in your scrip order envelope each time you order. Orders can be placed in the Sunday collection, dropped off at the rectory office or sent to school with your child. Your order should be placed in an envelope that is clearly marked “SCRIP”. Orders are due no later than Monday by 9:00am. Filled orders will be available for pickup on Friday after 2:00pm in the rectory or school office or on Sunday between 9:45am and noon. You or your spouse may pick up your order, or another person that you designate ONLY if you sign a Disclaimer of Responsibility (see enrollment form).

We plan to keep a stock of Giant Eagle, Acme, Fishers (available February - May), Gordon Food Supply and Kohl’s in the school office. You may stop in the office to pick these up Monday – Friday from 8:00am – 3:00pm. You will need to fill out an order form in order for us to keep track of the rebate earned.

Certificates occasionally are on backorder. St. Michael’s has absolutely no control over this. Please be patient, the certificates / gift cards will be forwarded to you when we receive them. You will not receive money back from SCRIP if an ordered item is backordered nor will you be able to order a different item in its place. Once an order is placed, it cannot be changed.

HOW THE SCRIP PROGRAM WILL WORK

An enrollment form must be completed each year and enclosed with your first order. The Disclaimer of Responsibility section is needed only if someone besides you or your spouse will be picking up your certificates.
On your order sheet, write the quantity of each certificate that you wish to purchase. The value of each certificate is listed on the order form. Total the order and enclose your payment. When writing a check, please make payable to St. Michaeland record your check number and total on the order sheet. If any discrepancy is found in the amount submitted, you will be contacted and notified that your order may not be able to be processed that week.
Place your order in an envelope clearly marked “SCRIP”. Orders are due by Monday at 9:00am and can be turned in to the Rectory, School or placed in the Sunday collection basket. No late orders will be accepted, but they can be held until the following week. Orders are processed every Monday. Each Friday, your filled order will be sent home with your student or will be available for pickup at the rectory or school office after 2pm. In addition, orders may be picked up on Sunday’s between 9:45am and noon. Please specify how you would like your order returned to you on the order form.
Labels will be attached to all delivered orders. The label will indicate the Family name, amount ordered and the rebate earned should you like to keep track of it yourself.
If your check is returned because of non-sufficient funds (NSF), you will be charged a $20.00 fee payable to St. Michael. After two NSF checks are tendered on your account, your scrip ordering privileges will be limited to money orders only.
When you pick-up your scrip certificates, open your order and verify its accuracy. In the unlikely event you should find a discrepancy in your SCRIP order, please contact Mary Serapiglia (330-497-8183) or Amy Schiefer (330-493-9288) within 24 hours.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Where do the scrip certificates come from? Great Lakes Scrip Center (our scrip provider) purchases the certificates directly from the retailers. In order for the scrip concept to work, a participating retailer agrees to give a discount to GLSC. This discount is passed along to our organization when the certificate is sold for full face value. Since the retailer is giving up potential revenue, they want to make sure that a non-profit organization is benefiting – not another company.

How is the rebate calculated? GLSC offers a specific percentage rebate on each SCRIP purchased. The rebates are different depending on the individual retailer. St. Michael uses 1% of the rebate for maintenance fees and the remainder of the rebate is credited to the fund that the family designates on the enrollment form. For example, if you purchase a Chili’s Restaurant gift certificate for $10, the GLSC rebate offered is 11%. The rebate earned for the fund is $2 and .20 will go for maintenance costs. If you purchase $200 worth of Dillard’s certificates, the fund would receive an 8% earning or, $16 and $2 will go to the maintenance fee. The amount listed on the order form is the amount credited to the fund. The one percent for maintenance has already been deducted so you can see exactly what the fund will earn by your purchase.

What is the maintenance fee for? Like most programs, we do have expenses that need to be covered. Examples include copying, paper, envelopes, labels, the software to run the program, etc…

How are the certificates used? The certificates can be used, for the most part, just like cash at the participating stores. Certificates have an expiration date varying from 6 months to 2 years. Some stores limit the amount of change that can be returned from a certificate purchase – see the specific certificate retailer information for details. Do not expect any change unless it is explicitly stated so on the certificate. A list of usage guidelines, i.e. whether the gift certificate can be used toward paying the balance on your charge card, expiration date of certificates, etc…is available on the master list in the office or on-line at glscrip.com. This list is quite voluminous and, as such, we cannot make copies available for everyone. If you have any questions and / or concerns regarding usage of a particular gift certificate, please call Mary Serapiglia at 330-497-8183 or Amy Schiefer at 330-493-9288, before making your purchase.

Can I use the certificates to pay charge card balances? You may use scrip to pay charge card balances at Kohl’s and JCPenney. You must pay the account in person at a local store, as the certificates are considered equivalent to cash and cannot be mailed.

What do the certificates look like? The certificates you purchase are the same gift certificates you would buy if you went to the participating retailer and purchased them yourself. You may use them to give as gifts, or you can take them to the store and purchase items yourself.

Can I use scrip certificates anywhere? Yes. The certificates are accepted at all participating retailer locations. See the web site for any restrictions.

I don’t see a particular retailer that I am interested in on our order form. Does this mean that they don’t participate in the program? Not necessarily. Our order form is set up to include stores that are in our area. However, many stores not in our area participate as well. For example, Galyan’s and Lazarus are in the Columbus area. Although they have not been included on our order form, we are able to purchase gift certificates from them as well. Please see the list of participating retailers and usage guidelines in the office or on-line at glscrip.com.

Does it cost anything to open an account? No. There is no cost, and there is no obligation to buy anything. You buy what you want, when you want. Orders are filled weekly.

Is this tax deductible? No. The checks that you write to make payment for your gift certificates are non-tax deductible because you receive dollar for dollar value.

DEFINITIONS

Parish General Fund: This fund will be used to help offset the cost of needed items within the parish. Those items may include but are not limited to youth programs, the music program, etc… Usage of this fund is determined by Father Helman.

Tuition Fund: This fund will go towards helping families that would like to give their child(ren) a Catholic education at St. Michael’s but may need assistance with tuition. Usage of this fund is determined by Father Helman and Mrs. Roden.

Family Tuition Fund: This fund will allow families to accumulate tuition credit for their children that attend St. Michael School, St. Thomas or Central Catholic. It can also be used to accumulate credit for younger children who may not be in school yet. Rebates will accumulate beginning and ending in March (to coordinate with spring break) and will be credited to the following school year.

SCRIP: The form of money each retailer specifies as their method of payment for items at their place of business ie. gift cards, gift certificates, Acme Certificates, Fisher’s Community Dollars, etc.

Disclaimer of Responsibility: This section of the enrollment form needs to be filled out ONLY if someone other than you or your spouse will be picking up your filled SCRIP. See further information on the Enrollment Form.