Community members and parents need not buy subscriptions or popcorn tins anymore. Instead, they can continue shopping as usual, and as a result, give a portion of the money back to their local schools.

eScrip, an offshoot of San Mateo-based Electronic Scrip Incorporated, is an online fundraising program that allows contributors and businesses across the country to partner up via the Internet. Consumers register online, providing grocery loyalty, debit or credit card information to enable eScrip to track their purchases. Retailers then kick back a percentage—anywhere from 1 to 10 percent—of that generated revenue into the school or youth organization that the contributor represents.

The program, which began in 1999, has been very popular, within Saratoga as well as across the country. "eScrip has risen to the top of fundraising programs," said Joanne Remillard, executive vice president of eScrip. "Everyone involved in eScrip makes this program work. The merchants, the school volunteers and the families are all working together for something truly special—our kids. "

Many businesses within Saratoga currently participate, including Gene's Fine Foods, Safeway and Chevron. A host of Saratoga organizations and private schools participate, and nearly all of the public schools, including Argonaut Elementary, Redwood Middle School, Saratoga High School, Prospect High School, Foothill Elementary, Saratoga Parent Nursery School, Saratoga Elementary, Marshall Lane Elementary, Blue Hills Elementary and McAuliffe Elementary.

eScrip has been quite successful, with the total contributions for 2001 totaling $65,000, and $45,000 in just the first half of 2002. McAuliffe, Blue Hills and Marshall Lane are currently the top earners, each grossing more than $1,000 per month on average.

Cathie Thurmond, a former board member of the Saratoga Education Foundation and soon to be a Saratoga Union School District board member, believes the online nature of the program has been the motivating factor for community involvement.

The district used to belong to a somewhat similar system, but it was a "paper scrip" program that used gift certificates for the sponsoring stores. "I think this is a great opportunity and a much simpler way for retailers to support the school than using paper scrip," Thurmond said. "It is a win-win for everybody."

Mike Parker, the coordinator of eScrip at Marshall Lane, agrees that the new system is far better than old programs. "There is almost no work involved," Parker said. "It is drop-dead easy." He does point out, however, that there is some difficulty in getting members to initially sign up. This is likely due to the requirement of a credit card number to join. "It is the only way to track the money, but people are concerned, and rightly so, about fraud." Parker said. "I have had no problems, and I think the people at eScrip are very straightforward and clear-headed."

Another obstacle was the $10 signup fee, which the company has recently waived. The fee is still taken out, but is now subtracted from the total proceeds before going into the school. This was done to encourage more parents and community members to participate in the program.

In addition, the company has redesigned its website to make it more accessible. The site now includes a listing of participating retailers and their contributed percentages, tracking of the fundraising account for members and ideas for promotional flyers.

"It is very easy," Thurmond said. "I've been using it for two years, and it is quite a reputable operation."

For more information, visit www.escrip.com.