Innovation

According to the Community website, Cash for Schools is a program that encourages students and their families to collect proof-of-purchases from Community Coffee products in order to receive funding for the schools that participants are trying to assist. Participants may collect as many proof-of-purchases, as possible, even from “business-to-business” products that have a better value. The donations are then used by K-12 public/private schools to assist in areas that schools feel would benefit the best. There are no restrictions on the usage of the funding other than that the purchases are related to school functions, even extra-curricular activities.

Jodi Conachen, General Manager of Communications and Marketing, detailed one of the many stories that have come from the benefits of this program. She stated that many children in the Baton Rouge area do not leave the immediate neighborhoods in which they reside and never see the world outside their communities. To assist in these situations, the Cash for Schools program has been used as a means of providing students with an opportunity to visit Baton Rouge area attractions, such as museums and exhibits. She exclaimed, "It was interesting to see kids get engaged with art and other elements in the museum. Students had never seen that before!"

By all means, the program has benefited the goals of Community Coffee to better establish a sense of community by helping local area schools.

Inspiration

According to Ms. Conachen, Donna Saurage, a shareholder of the company, created the idea from an earlier loyalty program that used UPC codes. At the time, the company was considering reducing the activities of the loyalty program. She also stated, "The (loyalty) program was transformed into the current philanthropic program which became known as Cash for Schools."

Overall impact

"Community Coffee has been family owned for almost 100 years. Giving back has always been part of the company, but programs have evolved and pushed forward to continue legacy, since the inception of the company," Ms. Conachen said.

According to Community’s “Serving Our Community: Giving Efforts” web publication, the company and customers have helped raise $6.7 million for Louisiana schools. It helps between 800- 900 schools per year. In 2015, the program was able to assist 824 schools. Details include the establishment of a “robotics lab” and purchase of “state-of-the-art computers.” Janet Lathrop, a librarian with West Feliciana Middle School, said, “I don’t know what I would have done without [Community] Cash for Schools.”

Business benefit

The business benefits from this program by:

1. Increased revenues: Customers are given an ethical imperative to buy the company’s products because they know that quality education is a worthy pursuit to invest in. Since this could be considered an investment for the future of the local community, customers will in turn continue to buy Community products to ensure that some of those funds are being distributed to local schools. In other words, the possibility of increased revenues for Community Coffee are made possible by this program, or, in the least, it has retained revenues for the future, since this was originally a loyalty program to their customer base.

2. Increased “Legacy”: The company’s values and commitments have been unwavering and increasing since its founding in 1919. The Cash for Schools Program is an expression of Community Coffee's values.

Social and environmental benefit

Society benefits from the program because it helps local area schools. It is expensive to find the materials needed to provide a quality education. Tax dollars are limited in amount, distributed to each school, and restricted in how funding is used. The Cash for Schools program alleviates some of the stresses of finding extra funding, while simultaneously giving schools the freedom to choose how that funding is spent. Quality education is a precious and priceless endeavor. All schools can be improved academically, no matter what their standings are with the community.

Interview

Jodi Conachen, General Manager of Communications, Marketing