Harnessing the purchasing power of parents via gift cards or paper scrip to support education was once a fundraising staple for Piedmont schools. Now, however, the Piedmont Education Foundation says the program is coming to an end in May.
The departure of Lisa Peters, PEF’s operations officer who oversaw the Scrip program for 20+ years, coupled with a decline in interest as peoples’ shopping habits have changed over time, made it a logical time to phase out the program.
“More and more people are using integrated digital wallets, and that extra step of ordering scrip cards through a third party organization like PEF is just not feasible,” said PEF Executive Director Heather Frank on Friday.
“We are so grateful for the people who worked to make scrip successful for so many years,” she said. “We’ve had thousands of volunteers providing tens of thousands of hours of service. They, the people that have signed up for and maintained standing monthly orders, the folks who come in a couple times a year for holiday and end of school gifts, and, of course, Lisa Peters and the PEF team, have made a huge impact on our schools. PEF will continue to focus our efforts on individual giving and events so that we can raise as much as possible for our schools with our current resources.”
Over the years, the Scrip program raised around $40,000 for the schools annually.
PEF will continue to sell the gift cards they have on hand and can order more through the beginning of May. (More about PEF’s Scrip program HERE.)