Do you participate in "free" company donations?

[downtoearth]

Do you or don't you participate in free company-based donations? I'm talking about Box-Tops for education, Yoplait lids for breast cancer, automatic donations to schools for Target purchases, etc.

Why or why not?

[jlt19]

I probably will do the Target thing once my kids are school aged, but I hope to not live in our current district so I guess I don't participate b/c I don't care about the district? That sounds horrible.

I don't eat Yoplait or many things with box tops (and again, no school aged kids yet).

[Melissa W.]

I do Boxtops, Target and the local grocery stores points. I don't purchase anything based on them but I figure every little bit helps.

edited to say: At work we use the paper that has box tops so I get a ton of box tops that way.

[statlerwaldorf]

I do the Target red card, but I don't do Yoplait or box tops. I don't buy many of those kind of products.

[passthewine]

Not too much. I save the boxtops if I see it on something that I'm using and give them to my girlfriend for the school she teaches in, that's about it though.

[pamela]

My mom has guilted me into saving the boxtops for her classroom. I'll save them for DS's school once we know if we're moving and where he'll likely be going.

[pixy0stix]

I do boxtops at work because for some reason our copy paper has them on them. Someone put out a jar to stuff them in.

[epphd]

Like most cause-related marketing promos, those things are usually much more beneficial to the company than to the charitable recipient. Yoplait gets to look charitable by donating a fraction of a penny to SGK, Target gets to look like they care about schools in the same way. It's not to say they are BAD - indeed, my organization is a beneficiary of many CRM type activities. But you can bet that when I approach a company about such a partnership they are looking at it with a "what do we get out of this" lens, and not a "what can we do for you" lens. Which is their job.

Anyway, just a roundabout way of saying that if you really feel like making a contribution to a school, a cause, etc - cash to the organization is the most effective and efficient way of doing it

[downtoearth]

Sept 17, 2012 15:26:54 GMT -5 epphd said:

Like most cause-related marketing promos, those things are usually much more beneficial to the company than to the charitable recipient. Yoplait gets to look charitable by donating a fraction of a penny to SGK, Target gets to look like they care about schools in the same way. It's not to say they are BAD - indeed, my organization is a beneficiary of many CRM type activities. But you can bet that when I approach a company about such a partnership they are looking at it with a "what do we get out of this" lens, and not a "what can we do for you" lens. Which is their job.

Anyway, just a roundabout way of saying that if you really feel like making a contribution to a school, a cause, etc - cash to the organization is the most effective and efficient way of doing it

See this is sort of what I was wondering. I've never been one to participate much (unless someone else in the office or a friend is doing the legwork of sending them in, etc.).

Instead, I do things like buy my kids artwork from his elementary school at their annual art fundraiser for like $150. I also donated the supplies he and his class used to make the art, so I'm hoping that a more direct donation like that is better.

[Melissa W.]

Sept 17, 2012 15:26:54 GMT -5 epphd said:

Like most cause-related marketing promos, those things are usually much more beneficial to the company than to the charitable recipient. Yoplait gets to look charitable by donating a fraction of a penny to SGK, Target gets to look like they care about schools in the same way. It's not to say they are BAD - indeed, my organization is a beneficiary of many CRM type activities. But you can bet that when I approach a company about such a partnership they are looking at it with a "what do we get out of this" lens, and not a "what can we do for you" lens. Which is their job.

Anyway, just a roundabout way of saying that if you really feel like making a contribution to a school, a cause, etc - cash to the organization is the most effective and efficient way of doing it

I absolutely agree with making a cash contribution but if my work has box tops laying around on copy paper I am sending those suckers in.

[laurenpetro]

the yoplait think skeeves me out.

i do boxtops because grace loves all that shit so we may as well save them. i don't go out of my way to buy things with box tops on them, though.

i LOVE the artwork fundraiser! my iphone cover is grace's masterpiece from last year. it looks like she was tripping while drawing cupcakes but it's SO cute.

[craftymrs]

I do box tops for my school. We have teams that are very harry potter-esqe and I get points for my team. I don't buy anything specifically for the tops but do clip them when we have them.

[StrawberryBlondie]

We do a pop-top collection for the Ronald McDonald House at work. I do that, if I remember to take the tab off before I throw it in the recycling.

[jena]

Yes. DD's school collects box tops for education, labels for education, coke reward points for playground equipment, and pulltabs for Ronald McDonald house. And target red card and Kroger card rewards.

It's 4 weeks into school and I'm exhausted already! Lol! I don't really mind or see any harm, but I don't go out of my way to buy things just for their collections.

They've also had a fundraiser, but we made a donation instead.

Sent from my HTCEVOV4G using proboards

[basilosaurus]

What's a box top fundraiser? I've heard of the yoplait thing but nothing else. Is it boxed food? I've either never noticed the directions, or I've not purchased the correct box.

[epphd]

Sibil - you'll notice it now that you know what it is... a lot of mass market cereals and other products have them: www.boxtops4education.com/

[Deleted]

We do box tops at our school. Our copy paper has them. That is where I get most of them.

Most school supplies do as well.

[princesscal]

The Yoplait thing really grosses me out . . I picture people licking the lid then mailing it. Eewwwwwww.

[ringstrue]

I have no idea how the box top thing works. I don't patron the other 2 enough to matter.

I usually don't do the donate the dollar thing at checkout- can we talk about that? I do for our food bank at dollar tree but not for like, the homeless pets at petsmart. I guess I should tho cause my old excuse of volunteering with the rabbits doesn't apply any longer.

[Deleted]

I'm still bitter that my kids' school said they were doing a "write the check" campaign and there would be no other fundraisers this year and then posted a reminder on FB to save your box tops. I don't do boxtops partly because I don't buy many boxtop products but I also regularly get carpal tunnel in my hands and hate cutting.

I do the grocery store card because it is a simple as giving them my school's code once a year.

[Deleted]

How old are your kids? I'd make the kids cut them out if they are old enough

[Melissa W.]

Sept 18, 2012 6:24:50 GMT -5 @irishbride said:

How old are your kids? I'd make the kids cut them out if they are old enough

Right?! I just rip them off the box and throw them in a jar until I get motivated enough to send them in.

[penguingrrl]

My daughter's school collects box tops so if I happen to buy a product with them on it I'll cut them out and send them in, but in 5 years of having kids I haven't gotten an item with box tops yet, so I have a feeling we won't be winning the contest for the kid who brings the most. What little processed food we get is usually from Trader Joe's, not brand name stuff, because it's cheaper, so it's unlikely we'll send some. I don't do the yoplait thing because we don't eat yoplait yogurt (again, TJs is cheaper, plus I only eat plain, not sweetened).