Box Tops for Education – It’s MORE then just a piece of paper

Last week I was fortunate to attend the Box Tops University here in New York, as part of the Box Tops for Education program. Box Tops coordinators from all around the tri-state area gathered at a local hotel to learn about recent updates to the program and to exchange tips and ideas with others. I was the only non-coordinator there. I felt a bit “odd” being there, but I did learn a wealth of information. I will never look at those little Box Tops logos the same way ever again.

For those of you who are not familiar with Box Tops for Education it’s a program that helps school raise much needed funds simply by collecting Box Tops. Each Box Top is worth .10 cents. That might not sound like much but they can literally add up to thousands of dollars. One school down south raised $17,000+ dollars collecting the Box Tops. SEVENTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS! What is even more amazing is that there are only 160 students in the entire school. Where I live our elementary school has 800+ students. Imagine how much money that school could raise if everyone got involved.

Its really a shame that more schools do not participate in this program. Our local Junior High has a goal this year of $1.00. ONE DOLLAR! That is crazy. There is no reason why the school should have have a goal for hundreds, even thousands of dollars. Some schools who were represented at the Box Tops University raised $3,000, $5,000 and more!

Collecting Box Tops for Education couldn’t be any easier. Many of the products you buy normally might already contain a Box Top. Some products even have TWO Box Tops on them. Simple clip the Box Top off the product and send them into school with your child. What I normally do is keep a baggy tacked to our cork board in the kitchen and put the Box Tops in the bag. When the bag is full I send it in with my son.

Even if you don’t want to be bothered clipping them out you can still tear them (carefully) from the packaging and send them in. Box Tops for Education doesn’t care if they are perfectly cut out or not.

If you don’t have a child or grandchild in school you can still collect Box Tops and donate them to a participating area school.

You do not have to go out of your way to find products that feature the Box Top. Many brands participate in the Box Tops for Education program including Hefty, Avery, Nestle, Old El Paso, Pillsbury, Land O’ Lakes, Nature Valley, Betty Crocker, Zip Loc, Scott, Viva and so many more. You can find Box Tops on cereals, yogurt, paper products, baking products and even soup. Just this afternoon I found a Box Top on a can of Progresso Lite soup.

I have a .PDF file of all the participating brands and products. If you would like me to send you the list please feel free to e-mail me at SheScribes “at” Optonline “dot” net and I’ll be happy to send it to you. You will need Adobe to read the .PDF file.

You can also find all the participating brands here, www.BTFE.com/Products. Bookmark that link and check back often because new products and brands are always being added. There are currently around 250 products that carry Box Tops for Education.

Whenever you use a product you purchased check to see if there is a Box Top on the box, bottle, can or bag. The Box Top it’s self might be small but there should be some kind of notation on the package that indicates there is a Box Top for Education found on it. If you happen to work with recyclables you could look over the products before processing them to see if they have any Box Tops on them.

Something REALLY interesting I learned from the Box Tops University is that Box Tops for Education has a “marketplace”. You can shop online at store you normally shop at but for every $10.00 you spend your school will get “e-Box Tops”. When I think about how many times I have purchased online and how many potential e-Box Tops that have been wasted it makes me so sad. I wish I had known about that sooner.

To earn e-Box Tops all you need to do is register on the Box Tops for Education website. It’s free and easy to do.Once registered all you need to do is visit the marketplace on the Box Tops for Education website, find the retailer you wish to shop online from and click on it. Then shop like you normally would. You can even use gift cards and discount coupons. After your purchase your potential e-Box Tops will be pending for 90 days (pending product return). Once that time frame is up the e-Box Tops are automatically added to your school’s total.

I was SHOCKED at how many retailers participated in the Box Tops for Education program. Popular online retailers like Disney, Avon, Sears, Kmart, Old Navy, Victoria Secret, Ugg, Vista Print, Office Depot, JCPenney, Crate and Barrel, Expedia, HSN, Staples, Walgreens, Walmart, Land End and Barnes and Noble to name a FEW. There are over 100+ retailers. Some even offer special promotions. Your school can earn up to 20 e-Box Tops for every $10.00 you spend at one of the online retailers if you go through the Box Tops Market place. You cannot get any easier then that.

When I think about how many e-Box Tops our school could have earned from all the shopping I’ve done online it makes me so sad! Our school could have had a lot of e-Box Tops, especially around the holidays.

To learn more about earning e-Box Tops simply by shopping online like you normally do please visit www.BTFE.com/MarketPlace.

If you have a business, home office or home business and purchase supplies from places like Staples and Office Depot, please consider shopping through the Marketplace so a school can benefit from your purchases.

Teachers can purchase supplies through My Class Essentials registry to earn points for their school too.

If you are interested in becoming a teacher to help our children, check out special ed training.

I was checking our school’s Box Tops info. and see that NO ONE has taken advantage of the Marketplace to earn e-Box Tops. That is why I am going to send our coordinator all the info. I received from the Box Tops University.

Just for fun I calculated how much money a school with 500 students (for example) could earn through Box Tops for Education if every student collected just ONE Box Top per month. In one year that school would earn $600 which could go towards supplies, books, equipment and more. If those same 500 students committed to bringing in ONE Box Top each week that would bring the school’s earnings to $2,600! Imagine all the good that money would do for your school? If you factored in the online marketplace and your school will have THOUSANDS of dollars to spend on supplies that are greatly needed.

Imagine how much money could be raised if you enlisted your family, friends, co-workers and neighbors to clip the Box Tops and shop online via the Marketplace? It boggles my mind when I think about the monetary potential. WOW!!!

There are even opportunities to earn bonus points through a variety of different offers. Plus the Box Tops program has various campaigns throughout the year where schools can win even more Box Tops.

Hanes is now a partner with Box Tops for Education too. If you have shirt printed on Hanes brand shirts/hoodies and submit the invoice to Box Tops for Education you can earn .10 per shirt.

To help you make the most of the program you can even find coupons for products that have the Box Tops for Education on them on The Box Tops for Education website.  This month you’ll find coupons that total almost $11.00. There are coupons for Pillsbury breads and rolls, Kix cereal, Tostinos pizza rolls and party pizzas and more.

Everything you need to know about the Box Tops for Education program can be found at www.BTFE.com.

If you don’t have a child in school please consider collecting Box Tops and shopping the Box Tops Marketplace to support a local school. You can find one near you on the Box Tops for Education website.

If your school does not have the Box Tops program consider becoming a coordinator yourself or speak with your school’s PTA/PTO to get the program started in your school.

If Box Tops are already collected in your school please take a few moments and clip out the Box Tops and send them in with your child. It will make a world of difference.

For more information please visit www.BoxTops4Education.com. You can also “like” them on Facebook, www.Facebook.com/BoxTopsforEducation as well as follow them on Twitter, www.Twitter.com/BoxTopsforEducation.

Kimberly

*I was not compensated for this post. Any opinions expressed are my own. I was a guest of the Box Tops University.  I did recieve free product samples.

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