Download printable $CRIP forms from the Downloads Page.

About the Jenison $CRIP Program

$CRIP is a terrific way to save money on your everyday purchases, help the Jenison Band Program, AND reduce your child's band costs. Each time you make a purchase with a $CRIP Gift Certificate, a portion of that purchase is donated back to both the student's Band Credit Account and the Band Booster General Fund.

$CRIP is a term that means "substitute money"

When you purchase $CRIP, you're purchasing negotiable gift certificates that are used just like cash. The $CRIP is issued by the national and local retailers where many of our organization's families already shop. These merchants want to support non-profit organizations, and in return ask you to support them by shopping with $CRIP at their stores. Our organization members can use $CRIP to purchase everyday expenses like food, clothing, and other essentials, and with every purchase, they earn revenue for our organization.

How $CRIP generates revenue for the Band Boosters:

The Great Lakes Scrip center acts on behalf of churches, schools and other non-profit organizations to purchase large amounts of $CRIP from grocery stores, department stores, and other retailers. Because the scrip is purchased with cash up front, the participating retailers offer a substantial discount. Our organization buys the $CRIP from Great Lakes $CRIP Center at a discount, and re-sells the certificates to our organization members for full face value. The bulk of the discount - from two to fifteen percent or more - is retained by our organization as revenue.

$CRIP is "shopping cart fundraising”

The reason for the effectiveness of $CRIP is simple: families generate revenue through purchases they would make anyway. Groceries, clothing, toys, gifts, even gasoline can be purchased with $CRIP. An organization of 150 families easily spends between one and two million dollars per year on food, clothing and other essentials. If these families use $CRIP for these purchases, they can raise as much as $40,000 to $80,000 per year for their organization --without spending an additional penny.