Starting in September of 2011, the redistribution of funds from the Safeway Corporation to top schools participating in the eScrip fundraising programs will significantly decrease. The new policy redirects funds from the highest earning schools so they are made available for the lowest earning schools throughout the state.
According to Safeway management, the precipice of the policy change is due to rising obesity in children and Safeway's desire to positively affect change in the public school system.
Safeway notes that 35 schools of the 7,000 in the eScrip program will be negatively affected. These are schools that earned over $25,000 through the eScrip Safeway partnership in 2009.
Safeway's Director of Public Affairs for Northern California, Susan Houghton notes that the policy is driven by a desire to focus on helping the bottom fundraisers realize their opportunity to raise money for their depleting school budgets.
According to an article in WebMD Health News on August 16, 2010, an analysis including more than 8 million California children and teens showed encouraging declines in obesity following a peak in 2005 among Asian and white boys and girls and among Hispanic boys. But obesity continued to climb among African-American and American Indian girls and remained stable for Hispanic girls. "While the findings suggest that efforts to reduce childhood obesity are having an impact, they also suggest that these efforts are not reaching the most vulnerable kids, such as those from low-income families."
So How Will It Work?
All California eScrip groups will be allowed to raise any amount they can for the 2010-2011 school year and are being asked to allocate and self report 20% of these funds to programs involving nutrition, fitness and health education. In the subsequent 2011-2012 school year, they will be eligible for 50% of the earnings achieved in 2009 or $25,000, whichever is greater. For all subsequent years, their cap will continue to be at this rate. For example, in 2009, a school raised $150,000. In the 2011-2012 school year, they will be eligible for a maximum of $75,000. For all subsequent years, they can raise a maximum of $75,000. The 35 schools that currently make over $25,000 a year through the eScrip Safeway partnership will fall into this "grandfathering" program. New groups will only receive a maximum up to $25,000 per year.
"We are committed in helping these high achieving schools find other ways to raise money to account for the difference," said Houghton. The two programs Houghton referenced to help the large cuts are the Back to School promotion, that is not dependent on eScrip participation and the Employee Grants program. The Employee Grants program helps fund small, remote communities that might not have the population to fundraise, allowing Safeway employees to request a grant for their community group(s).
Safeway and eScrip have been meeting with the top performing groups throughout the summer and will continue to work with them to build up their Back to School campaigns, and participation in the eDining, Recycling and the eScrip Online Mall.
Houghton also said that Safeway contributes $20 million dollars nationwide, and over $9 million dollars is concentrated in Northern California. "This re-alignment of funds is more in tune with the four tenants of giving throughout our company. These tenants are Education, Hunger Relief, Health and Human Services (Breast and Prostate Cancer), and causes that help people with disabilities (Easter Seals, Muscular Dystrophy Association, and the Special Olympics)."
Miramonte High School is one of the top ten fundraising schools in Northern California and affected by the reduction in Safeway contributions. The Miramonte High School Parents' Club former Vice President of Fundraising, Jackie Moreau said this is a devastating blow to the Miramonte program, but our eScrip committee appreciates Safeway reaching out to our group and giving us time to adjust our strategies for fundraising.
"They are giving us a school year to reprioritize how we fundraise and for that we are very grateful. That said, this loss is significant and the new governing Board members will have to be even more clever and diligent in asking the community for financial support," she said.
eScrip's Executive Vice President Joanne Remillard has been working closely with the Safeway management team to facilitate the changes. "Our goals are Safeway's goals," said Remillard. "We will be working with the lower earning groups to identify ways they can achieve higher earnings. We are always building ready-made marketing tools; including flyers, training videos, press releases, and best case practices and making them accessible on the website so groups are better able to promote Safeway," she continued.
eScrip is a California-based corporation dedicated to establishing relationships between commerce and community to provide resources to organizations that support children. Community members enroll their whole family and eScrip will safely and securely track their spending with their merchant partners. A percentage of their gross spend is then contributed back by the merchant partners to eScrip. That percentage is then divided between eScrip and the group(s) you have selected on your account. To learn more about eScrip, go to www.escrip.com.
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