New Fundraising/Payments Card Offers "Win-Win" for Entire Community
In today's economic climate, educational institutions and their booster clubs — as well as local businesses — need more financial support than ever. As such, several K-12 schools across the country are stimulating their own financial health — as well as that of their surrounding communities — by adopting a new, innovative fundraising program.
The program, developed by one of the nation's largest payments processors — Heartland Payment SystemsTM — features an automatic fundraising component as well as cutting-edge technology that enables payment by contactless tag. Heartland is the first company to bring this payment functionality to the United States.
Heartland's OneCard System — powered by the Give Something Back NetworkSM, a growing, nationwide network of cardholders, sponsors, donation recipients and merchants — centers around the "OneCard", a prepaid card that works like cash. Parents and staff can use the OneCard to make purchases at participating merchants around town. The OneCard System provides cardholders — in addition to students — the option of using a contactless tag that adheres to a cell phone or other mobile device. The tag provides the ultimate convenience and works just like the OneCard.
"Students embrace the tag and the simplicity it offers them," noted Ron Farmer, Heartland's executive director of campus solutions. "Likewise, this state-of-the-art technology helps distinguish schools who offer this convenience as leading-edge institutions."
Every time a cardholder makes an off-campus purchase with the OneCard/tag, the sponsoring school receives a charitable contribution of a portion of the purchase price. The cardholder can then donate an additional portion of the purchase price to the school or other participating school organizations ... like athletic teams and academic clubs.
"With automatic charitable contributions from everyday purchases, the OneCard is a highly effective way for academic institutions and booster clubs to gain financial support," Farmer explains. "We are very excited to bring this cutting-edge technology to parents and students. It's a great way for parents to support their children's activities while teaching them financial responsibility. We're encouraging parents to put their students' allowance on the cell tag and start teaching them about money management."
Parents can easily load funds and manage their students' accounts online — and since students can only spend the amount of money loaded onto the card and tag — there are no overdrafts. The OneCard/tag is protected by the most secure technology available in the market today, ensuring the safety of personal, account and transaction data. And, the Give Something Back Network is Regulation-E compliant.
"This program not only benefits schools, parents and students, it also drives traffic to local business owners and offers them reduced, fixed pricing for processing OneCard/tag transactions. This helps reduce their out-of-pocket expense on every purchase ... a win-win for all," concluded Farmer.
To learn more about the OneCard System, contact Heartland Campus Solutions at 800.332.4835 x6257 or email CampusSolutions@e-hps.com.
About Heartland Payment Systems
Heartland Payment Systems, Inc., a NYSE company trading under the symbol HPY, delivers credit/debit/prepaid card processing, payroll, check management and payments solutions to more than 250,000 business locations nationwide.
Heartland is the founding supporter of The Merchant Bill of Rights, a public advocacy initiative that educates merchants about fair credit and debit card processing practices. For more information, visit www.HeartlandPaymentSystems.com and www.MerchantBillOfRights.com.
Contact
Pamela Gussow
Heartland Payment Systems
888.798.3131 x2242
Pamela.Gussow@e-hps.com