You’ve hopefully seen the announcement about Box Tops going digital by now.
This post will focus on how to round up physical box tops.
Many of the same tactics for digital collection apply, but you’ll have to tweak your strategy slightly to focus more on promoting the program to remind parents of the program.
You’ll also need to communicate how easy it is to participate in the digital program.
Moving on to collecting the physical Box Tops…
Sketch out a plan
Being the Box Tops Queen will not happen on its own. Parents won’t remember to send in the little pink labels on their own. Nope. You’re going to have a solid plan to get parents to cut them out, bag ’em up and then send them in.
This post is going to dive into what that plan should look like!
First, confirm the submissions deadlines for the year on the Box Tops for Education website.
Once you have those dates, work backwards to figure out when you want to have the biggest push to collect.
Then decide how often you want to collect. Monthly? Quaterly?
Because of the busy schedules so many families have, monthly collections make the most sense.
Put collection boxes everywhere
Start with putting collection boxes everywhere. This was one of the best tips in the blog post I wrote a few year back, How to Earn Even More Box Tops.
And by everywhere, I do mean everywhere that’ll let you!
Think beyond the school.
What businesses or community organizations could you get on board with collecting Box Tops?
City Hall?
YMCA?
Library?
Joe’s Pizza Place?
The local parents’ center?
All community organizations have a vested interest in the schools in their community being fully funded.
So don’t hesitate to approach local business owners and ask if they’d collect Box Tops for you!
Be a social media queen
Schedule out messages on your PTO’s Facebook page so they’ll pop up as periodic reminders.
Ramp up the messages as you approach submission deadlines.
Remind, remind, remind
This point cannot be stressed enough!
Parents have so much going on, so you’re really going to have to make a special effort to remind the heck out of people so they remember to send in their Box Tops.
Otherwise, they’ll forget and the Box Tops will be no good!
You can send home flyers to remind, make it a part of the morning announcements or use your PTO’s email newsletter.
In fact all of these three options are good to use to be most effective.
The more you repeat your message, the more likely it is to be heard.
Have a goal
Make it into a little game by setting and then advertising, the annual goal for your Box Top collection.
Then each year or submission period after that, you can set a goal to beat it!
Who doesn’t like meeting or beating a goal?
The competitive people at your school will be hitting up their neighbors and co-workers to try and make that goal!
Have incentives
Who doesn’t like to be rewarded for helping raise money for their school?
There’s plenty of ways to incentivize students individually and collectively as a class or even entire school to help more Box Tops get turned in.
What could you offer as a whole school reward if the goal is met?
Communicate
Give regular updates with your progress at the monthly PTO meetings.
Have a tip sheet with ways families can participate available to give out.
Believe it or not, some people don’t even notice those bright pink labels, so take the extra step to explain the program and make it easy for them to participate.
Lead a committee
Being in charge of Box Top Collections doesn’t have to be a one woman show.
Forming a committee to help promote collection dates, empty collection containers and organize and trim labels is a great way to get volunteers involved with a relatively low commitment.
Celebrate
No matter your results, make sure to celebrate your results.
Send home a flyer with end of the year results (along with a bag so they can collect labels over the Summer, of course).
Let families know how much you appreciate their involvement: Box Tops quickly add up to make a big difference.
Tell them what the money from Box Tops was used for and thank them for helping to make that happen.
Acknowledgement of everyone’s contributions will make them more likely to continue to participate than if they turn in the labels and never hear anything about them again.
Don’t squander the opportunity to celebrate your success at every level!
Watch this!
Over to you!
The tips shared in this post are sure to make you a better, more effective Box Top Coordinator, no matter which of them you’re able to implement!
What other tips do you have about being the very best Box Top Coordinator?
Share below in the comments!
I know you have a few more brilliant ideas to share, so let’s hear ’em!
