News
Capital One Program
Posted on 11.30.2009 | Filed as Bulletin
We have a few items to update you on, all of which involve ways that you can lend financial support to TSC without changing your current budget. Allow us to explain.
Following on the heels of the Kroger Neighborhood Reward Program (more on that below), we have another fund-raising opportunity to tell you about. Capital One has just approved us to participate in a program in which any individual can apply for a Capital One Visa credit card with TSC’s logo on it (see attached image). Every purchase made on these cards will provide us with financial support, as Capital One will donate 1% of every purchase to our ministry. There will be no additional charge to any of you; the donation will be made by Capital One. The TSC image and logo on the card could also serve as a conversation starter whenever you use your card, which would help us in our work of spreading the word about special-needs orphans in this world. So, if you are interested in a credit card with no annual fee, a comparatively low APR, and a chance to help TSC financially, then please click here in order to find out more about this program or to apply. The application process is easy and fast, typically taking about ten minutes to complete. If approved, it will take seven to ten business days for the card to get to you, which should be in time for at least some Christmas shopping.
Even if you are not interested in applying for a Capital One credit card that would support TSC, you can still help as you shop for your Christmas gifts. For those of you who do some or all of your shopping online, we encourage you to visit GoodShop (http://www.goodshop.com) as you start to browse. GoodShop works with over 1,000 stores to provide special discounts and deals, as well as donating a percentage of the purchase total to the approved charity of your choice. (The charity has to be registered through GoodShop.) The steps to this are really very easy. Once you navigate to GoodShop’s homepage, enter The Shepherd’s Crook in the charity field and click “Verify”. Then, once the page reloads, you should see TSC’s name in that field, which means that you are ready to click on a link to one of the stores listed and to begin your shopping. So, for example, if you want to make a GoodShop purchase through Barnes & Noble, just follow the steps above and click on the link to Barnes & Noble (or search for the store name if it doesn’t appear on the page). Once you’ve completed your order, 3% of your total will be donated to TSC. (The amount donated to charity varies by store, with many falling between 2% and 7%, though some donate as much as 30% of the total spent.) Again, this costs nothing extra on your end. The donation is made by the retailer and is based on what you spend. It’s very easy and does help our ministry. We have been registered with GoodShop and GoodSearch (part of the same philanthropic endeavor) for over a year now, and we recently received a check for approximately $60 for the past year. This money is the result of people making purchases through GoodShop and searching the Internet through GoodSearch. Sixty dollars isn’t a grand total, and we are thankful for every penny that God sends us. We would, however, like to see that total increase, which seems to be a very realistic goal. According to GoodSearch’s Web site, if 100 people each perform two searches per day for their charity, that charity will receive over $700 for the year, on average. So, thank you to those of you who have used GoodShop and GoodSearch before, and we ask that you at least consider using them again this year. And remember, you can use GoodShop and GoodSearch to help TSC all year long, not just during the holiday season.
We also want to thank all of you who have been using Kroger gift cards as part of the Neighborhood Reward Program for your support. This program has been helping to sustain our work over the past few months, and we praise God for that. There is enough activity each month for us to receive a check from Kroger, and the past few checks have been in the neighborhood of $250 each, which is a significant blessing to us. And, in addition to thanking you for your support, we have a bit of an addendum to make to the program guidelines that you have received. We were initially told that a card could not hold more than $250 at any time, but we then found out that some of you have been able to load your cards with amounts larger than that, even up to $500. According to the customer service representative that I spoke with this afternoon, the limit to what you can put on a card varies by store. The typical maximum is $500, though some stores might allow you to put more than $500 on your card. Our advice to you is that if you need to put more than $250 on a card at one time, you should attempt to do that. If your store is unable to put the desired amount on your card, then you will at least know what the limit is at your store.
For those of you who do not have a Kroger card through this program and would like one, just send a check made out to The Shepherd’s Crook for $5 per card you would like. (Please be sure to write “Kroger card” on the Memo line.) Also, please include your e-mail address, if you have one, and we will send you a PDF that explains the program in more detail when we put your card in the mail. (The card will arrive with $5 already on it, so you will not have “lost” $5.)