Gift Card Program

NFVB runs a gift card program as a fundraiser for parents to help cover the costs of their athlete participating in club volleyball. This is open to all NFVB families regardless of which team their child is playing on (house, local, or travel).  This program is coordinated by Marti Metzger.

In 2007-2008, 50 NFVB families participated earning a total of $6200 in net profit.

Overview of the Gift Card Program:

No time to read?  Here is a short summary of the gift card program.  Otherwise, please keep reading for more details.

• Families can save/earn money by purchasing gift cards through NFVB to pay for items they would normally purchase (i.e., Tops gift card for groceries at Tops, etc.)
• Families submit (mail) an order form once a month to Marti Metzger to purchase gift cards and submit a check for the full price of the gift cards
• The “contribution” percentage (see order form) is refunded to NFVB, and earmarked in a separate account for each family
• Families can then request a check to be issued for their “contribution” savings
• Families may save/earn money by simply purchasing and using gift cards for their own needs or may sell gift cards to friends, and earn money from those sales as well.
• It’s worth noting that many other subscribers to Scrip/gift card programs (like schools, sports clubs, churches, etc.) keep a certain percentage of the “contribution” to raise money for the organization.  NFVB keeps nothing – which makes us very rare in that respect – parents get the full percentage of what they earn. We are merely a vehicle (Scrip program participants have to be not-for-profit organizations) passing the earnings on to you

What Is It? And How Does It Work? A More In-Depth Look

In short, this program can earn you money by spending money you would otherwise spend.  How? Instead of paying cash, check or credit card at

Tops, Starbucks, Dicks, AMC, the Cheesecake Factory, or any of the 617 participating businesses, you purchase and use a gift card to pay for items.

Big businesses negotiate with (what are known as) Scrip companies to help those businesses sell their gift cards.  In doing so, the Scrip companies purchase gift cards at a reduced rate… for example, maybe they get a $25 gift card for $20.  Why would companies do this?  Because a gift card purchase is guaranteed money spent at the company.  It provides them with cash.

The Scrip companies then partner with not-for-profit organizations to pass on those savings.  They keep a certain percentage for themselves, and publish a “contribution” percentage for each card.  This percentage is called a contribution percentage because the Scrip company contributes this money (via savings earned by them from the original company) back to the not-for-profit organization.

In theory, not-for-profits then use this to generate income to help cover their operating expenses.  In the case of NFVB, we pass this savings directly back to you.  So the “contribution” percentage becomes a contribution to you.

Our goal is that you can use this savings to help pay for your child’s involvement in our club volleyball program (whether it’s player fees or travel expenses). You could even use gift cards to help you save money in season-related expenses (for example, by paying for your overnight hotel stays – on a travel team – via gift cards). 

Most fundraisers require you to sell something to other people.  The beauty of this fundraiser is that it doesn’t require that.  As stated above, you can earn money by spending money you would otherwise spend.  For example, lets say you and your family spend $300/month on groceries and you typically shop at Tops.  Tops is one of the gift cards sold.  Their contribution is 5%.  That means, you’d save $15 just by buying and using the gift card.  In other words, $300 in groceries at Tops actually cost you $285.

Now, the Tops Market contribution percentage is not that high.  Many of the companies here, like gasoline companies and grocery stores are in the 2% to 6% range. Admittedly, it takes a lot of spending there to make a little money.  But, over the course of the year, that $300/month on groceries would become $72 in 6 months, or $144 for a year.  Other industries and retailers provide higher rates in the 8% to 13% range, and at times, promotions are run (and listed on the Great Lakes Scrip site) to help certain businesses move more of their cards.  Special offers are also posted here.   For example, Staples ran the following promotion:

Great Lakes Scrip Center and Staples are pleased to offer a 5% bonus contribution from Saturday, September 6 through Friday, September 19, 2008. That means Staples gift cards will have a 10% contribution instead of the normal 5% contribution during that time period only.

Buying a Staples gift card between 9/16 and 9/19 saved 10% instead of 5%. NFVB will track and post special offers as well on our gift cards program incentives page.

Hopefully, our overview hear helps you see how you could use this to save money. To break it down further for you, consider this family budget:

That is, using gift cards, you could save/earn $378 in a year if this were your budget.  To examine this closer using your real budget, click here to go to Great Lake Scrip’s Revenue Calculator.  Make sure you set the “number of families participating” to “1″ to figure out the savings to your individual family.

Again, what you are seeing is money you save that can be applied toward your NFVB expenses, and you save it without selling.

Now, that being said, you can also sell gift cards to anyone you know and make even more money to help cover your costs.  Some parents in our club have paid for the entire yearly club fees for their athlete by using and/or selling gift cards in this program.

Available Gift Cards:

For a complete list of companies who offering participating gifts card, click here to access the list directly on Great Lake Scrip’s website. On it, you can search for specific retailers by name, by first letter, or by business type.

Several of the available gift cards have been displayed thoughout this webpage to give you an idea of the types of businesses for whom gift

cards are available.  As you can see, these are mainstream retailers, many of which you may currently use either in day-to-day activities, or in your travel and vacation plans (e.g., several gas companies and hotels, along with American Airlines, and even Carnival Cruises participate).

Any gift card available on the Great Lakes Scrip (glscrip.com) may be purchased.  If it is not listed on the NFVB order form, Just add it to the bottom of the form you are submitting.

Ordering Process:

Once a month, an order will be placed for gift cards.  Click here to see the order form NFVB uses (in Microsoft Word). You may also click here to see a pdf version of the order form.

You will notice that it contains the retailers (grocery stores, restaurants, etc.) available.  The form shows: 1) the denominations in which the cards must be purchased, and 2) the percentage that you (as the seller) will earn from selling each card.

Again, if there is a retailer you saw on the website as listed in the program, but that retailer is not on this order form, just write that businesses’ name in at the bottom of the form. With 617 retailers, it’s challenging to circulate a comprehensive form.

Once you complete your gift card order form, place it in an envelope along with a check for the total order and drop it off in the GIFT CARD DROP BOX on the wall outside the NFVB room at the BNCC.

Checks should be made payable to NFVB or Niagara Frontier Volleyball.  The checks should equal the face value of all gift cards ordered.

The percentage earned from your purchase will be recorded in an account set up for your family.  At your request, a refund check will be issued for the profit you have generated on your gift card sales.

Orders are placed during the first week of the month – all forms should be in by the Tuesday of that first week in order to make it onto that month’s order. Orders typically take one week for delivery, so plan accordingly.  Tops gift cards are an exception to our monthly order policiy. They may be ordered at any time if the amount of the gift card is $500 or greater.  Also, Kohl’s gift cards can be used to pay credit card balances (JC Penny’s no longer allows this, as of spring 2009).

Questions:

First, check out our summary of the gift card program.  Then, if you have questions, contact Marti Metzger.

Marti Metzger
marmet6[at]roadrunner.com
(716) 692-9362