General Mills, Minneapolis, ratchets up its long-running Box Tops for Education program with a co-branded Visa card that lets consumers earmark one percent of all purchases to be donated to the school of their choice (up to $10,000 per school per year).
General Mills also is adding an online Box Tops for Education Marketplace, a portal with 100-plus retailers including Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, Eddie Bauer.com, and Petsmart.com. Purchases there qualify for school donations of up to 10 percent (again with a $10,000 per maximum).
"We wanted to expand the program so schools could earn even more cash while keeping the low-work, high-reward ratio," says General Mills promotions manager Geoff Johnson. The additions could raise three times as much money for schools, which have received $50 million since the program’s 1996 via Boxtops.
