Smart Money 101

Before you Shop -
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• What is Smart Money ?

• Where can you purchase Smart Money?

• What stores participate?

• The Nitty Gritty

• We Need You

Downloads:
Smart Money Order Form (PDF)
Smart Money Information (PDF)

What is Smart Money ?
Our Smart Money program is a way that we can benefit from purchases that we make each day.  There is no extra out-of pocket expense. Over 100 merchants make their gift cards or certificates available to us through this program.  We purchase gift cards at their face value and can spend them as we would any other gift card.  We benefit because the merchants "sell" their gift cards to the smart money program at a discount.  These discounts typically range from 2% - 12%.  One-half of these discounts go directly to OLP's Smart Money program to help defray the operating costs of the school, which ultimately keeps our tuition increases to a minimum.  The other half can be used as a tuition credit so you benefit immediately.  If the purchaser is not an OLP parent, he or she can give the credit to a family whose children attend the school.  If he or she does not, the school will retain the credit.

Where can you purchase Smart Money?
Smart money is sold at OLP on Tuesday mornings.  You can walk in to make a purchase or send in the yellow Smart Money envelope and your order will be sent home per your instructions.  Smart Money is also sold on the weekends after some masses and during the week at our parish offices.  Please contact the parish office for OLS, OLA or St Gregory's for the most updated information.

What stores participate?
Many stores participate.  You can purchase everything from groceries to sporting goods, from restaurants to gasoline, and even hotel stays.  Some local grocery stores and popular retailers are kept "in stock" and are almost always readily available.  Some of these stores are Weis/MrZ, Gerritys/ShurSave; Price Chopper, Schiffs, The Gap, Old Navy and Kauffman's.  We also have a generic Smart Money Certificate that is available on demand.  That is accepted as cash at many very generous local businesses.  Please see the attached Smart Money sheet for a listing of participants. (Listed as SMC)

For certificates that are not kept on-hand, we have a special order form.  It is great to keep this list handy.  If you can plan ahead for a purchase (especially a large one) you can really benefit.  Certificates can also make great gifts! 

The Nitty Gritty
If you choose to defray the cost of tuition by using this program you must turn in your receipts to the office.  You can do this throughout the year but the deadline for obtaining credit for the current school year is March 1^st.   It is advisable to make photocopies of your receipts before turning them in. 

If you use the FACTS Management Program, your Smart Money submissions will be credited to their system and will reduce the amount that will be deducted from your bank account on a subsequent scheduled payment date. 

If you pay your tuition in full, your credit can be deducted from your tuition for the following school year or you can receive a check for the amount of your credit.

Remember that if you chose to participate in the Smart Money Program when you signed your tuition contract you must meet the minimum purchase requirement   ($2400 for 05-06) or an additional $200 will be added to your tuition bill.

We Need You
The Smart Money Program is a powerful fundraiser with mutual benefit for the participant.  Our challenge today is to increase participation in this program.  Our goals this year are as follows:

1. To make it as easy as possible for both OLP and non-OLP Families to participate

2. To increase the number of vendors who will accept our generic Smart Money

3. To decrease the turnaround time for special orders.   Certificates

4. To improve the technology and the reporting used in the program.

Not only do we need our parents to participate, but ideally we need ambassadors for the program.  Several parents have approached retailers or restaurant owners of businesses where they were “regulars” and asked them about accepting our Smart Money Certificates.  This is a great way to expand our program with local businesses.  We will have a letter available soon so that we will have an easy way to approach a business owner.  The letter will explain our program and how the certificates work.  If you are at all interested in helping with this endeavor, or you are a business owner yourself who would like to participate in the program, please contact us.

Also, if you have a business and you make regular purchases with one of our participating local or national retailers, we can work to have those more readily available.  For example, if you need $500 of Staples on the 15^th of each month we can work with you and have ready what you need when you need it.

We sincerely thank everyone who has participated in our program throughout the years.  Because of the generosity of retailers and the hard work and support of our families, the Smart Money program is a success.