eScrip (ESI) is a California-based corporation dedicated to establishing relationships between commerce and community — to provide resources to organizations and projects that support children. ESI introduced the eScrip program in 1999 and has distributed over $250 million to schools and youth organizations across the country.

This month, from the 2nd through the 25th, eScrip and Safeway have partnered on a significant campaign to give back to schools.   What I like most about this program is that you’re in charge of where your dollars go, down to the specific school of your choice.  Choose from over 2,000 items to add to your shopping list and, not only will you save money on your purchase, 10% of the item price goes to your cause/program of choice.
I also like the fact that they tried to break down the process into three simple steps, although it’s still seems quite dis-jointed from a customer experience standpoint.

The first steps to getting involved in the campaign involves creating an eScrip membership account on eScrip.com, selecting the group/school you would like to sponsor, and linking your store reward card to your eScrip membership.

Here’s where things got not so cool. When I went to link my store reward card to my eScript card I hit a wall. It appears that Randalls, Simon David, Tom Thumb and perhaps some other acquired brands were left with no love from the eScrip association list.  So now, I’m feelin’ a bit unloved myself. I was frustrated by being stuck in the middle of a registration process that is preventing me from getting engaged with giving.  Really, I was jazzed to check out how it all worked.

If weren’t so passionate about many things associated with this topic, I would have probably closed my browser window and forget about the whole thing, coughing it up to an ‘I guess it wasn’t meant to be’ moment.  It made be think about just how important first impressions are, even on the web.  The chance of people returning to a faulty conversion experience with a new brand, especially one that stops them dead in their tracks, is less than 3%.

So there are some things in this whole experience worth noting here that I think anyone trying hard to maximize participation in a cause-based interactive marketing campaign should consider:

1) Be proactive. Let letting you customers know what’s coming ahead of time, try a test market if you have to.  For programs that have a limited window, you’ll remove a lot of the gotchas through solid QA and pilots.

2) Be responsive. Sorry , but in my attempt to get things corrected, I received an email saying that I will hear from someone in 3 days.  Really?

3) Be cohesive.  In designing your user experience, immerse yourself in first-time visitor perception.  If things seem dis-jointed and call for the person to have to remember to re-visit, follow-up or engage in redundant behavior, then you need to get more creative in how efficiently you’re engaging your audience or how you better mesh into existing experiences.

4) Get more socially integrated! Whoa now,  no FB Like functionality?  How about a LinkedIn recommend button?  Anyone? Bueller?

All in all though, we’re delighted to see this program released so make it a point to get involved using these convenient links:

Sign-up for your FREE eScrip membership online

There are a lot more programs that need your help and benefits you’ll enjoy being a part of.

Get the details on 10% back to school program

Make note of the products you should be pulling off the shelves through the 25th.

Go shopping at your local Safeway or affiliate store!

If your school is fine, I guarantee that someone you know belongs to a school that needs support just to keep the doors open and the lights on.

Join Safeway on Facebook

One of my particular giving affinities is for innocent animals that end up neglected, abandoned, mistreated, and abused. I’m proud to live in a city that is making huge strides in making Austin a no-kill city.

The employees, volunteers and supporters that make up Austin Pets Aline community really inspire me to get more involved.  For me, it made all the difference when I went to visit their new facility.  The center is full of life and smiles waiting to see yours, but it’s not just the furry sets, it’s the people hustling about, too.  These folks have a visible passion for their purpose, you can see it in just how actively they move about the facility. You really get a sense that this organization is doing something right in their hiring process. Honestly, it’s not easy to get people to work that diligently, no matter what the pay these days.

Their marketing and web presence is something all non-profits should consider modeling after.  With daily guest appearances of our furry firends around town,  an organized volunteer program with clear roles and responsibilities, Austin Pets Alive has established a local and state wide brand that everyone knows or has heard about.  With regard to their web site, all content is easily sharable, ways to get involved are crisp and clear. It has a personal feel, giving you the opportunity to connect to each individual story. The donation process is integrated into the site and the numbers measuring the amount of social good are clear and prominent.  Nice work!

With all that jazz, comes the best stuff of all. 2010 was an extraordinary year for the no-kill movement in Austin with APA gettin’ down to business.  In fact, of the animals that were scheduled to die at Town Lake Animal Center over the past 12 months, Austin pets alive saved:

• Every puppy under 16 weeks old
• About 700 out of 1200 orphaned kittens
• 92% of all small breed adult dogs
• Hundreds of adult cats and dogs

So, if you’re in Austin, TX drop by Austin Pets Alive and if your not, check out no-kill shelters in your state or add to the list .

Now, if you’re feeling the affinity, we’ve got five easy ways to get involved online:

1) Like these organizations on FB

Let’s face it, 2010 was a tough year for a lot of folks and when you have a large family like mine, you’re bound to have been graced by its disgrace, shall we say. Big and small, our challenges called us to make some changes to our traditional gift giving.  Rather that adults picking names and exchanging gifts, we decided to simply focus on the children and not exchange gifts with each other.

In being an uncle to seven kids and not having any of my own, I really wanted to bring them closer to experiencing the joy of giving rather than receiving, but I wasn’t sure exactly how to do it without losing my street cred, especially considering that I had recently earned the title of “uncle funky”. I’d thought about it before but I thought this was the year to really get them consciously engaged in act of giving.  Even more poignant, at a time when most kids are fanatically focused on how much they’ll be getting.

Knowing the challenges that non-profits face in getting younger generations mindful of and involved in the act of giving, I decided to take a chance in losing my acclaimed title of uncle funky. Nevertheless, I followed through and split the amount I normally spend in half, purchasing a small gift with one half. With the other half, I bought a GiveNow card from the good folks at JustGive.org and inserted it into a card with a note expressing that my Christmas wish for them was to sit down with their family and give to something that was close to their heart.

I have to say, the whole experience was truly inspiring. Some of them already had ideas of things they wanted to give to, as if they were just waiting for someone to give them the gift of giving. Now coined as ‘Givfting’ in our family, I think we’re on to a new tradition. One that is destined to keep on giving.