Scrip, a popular concept in fundraising, is available at Cardinal Mooney High School. Originated on the west coast, Scrip has been widely used as a fundraising method in the parish schools that are in the Mooney "feeder" district. It is because these parents are already familiar with the program from to their elementary school experience and the inherent success of the program that Cardinal Mooney has decided to offer it on a voluntary basis.

Scrip is a term that means "substitute money." When parents purchase scrip through the school, they are purchasing gift certificates and prepaid gift cards that can be used just like cash at the retailers they normally frequent. Parents do not have to sell anything. Scrip is provided by a wide variety of merchants to the school to sell to parents to purchase everyday items like food, clothing and other essentials. With each purchase, parents earn revenue for the school. The school in turn shares the revenue with parents in the form of tuition credits based on the volume of scrip they purchase.

The revenue for the program is generated by the merchants discounting their gift certificates and gift cards to the school. The school then sells those certificates and cards at face value. Simply by using the scrip for normal purchases, parents are able to benefit through the discounts the merchants provide to the school for bulk buying of the merchant's certificates. There is no additional cost to the parents when they use scrip and depending on the level of their use of scrip, parents can reduce their tuition bill by hundreds of dollars.

For example, a family who purchases $5,000 in groceries a year using scrip instead of cash can lower its tuition bill by $100. Multipy these savings by the many additional savings available from other normal daily retail purchases and you can see the impact that using scrip can make on tuition costs. Of course, parents that choose to pay cash at the retailer and not use scrip, do not earn any tuition credits either!

Alumni and friends of Cardinal Mooney can get more information about participating in the Scrip program by calling 330-788-5113 or sending an email request to the alumni office at paul21045@hotmail.com.