Effective March 15th, 2011, these Official Rules govern Box Tops for Education and its Web site, located at www.boxtops4education.com. General Mills reserves the right to make changes to these Official Rules at any time. Please check www.boxtops4education.com from time to time to ensure you are aware of any updates or changes. Your participation in Box Tops for Education indicates acceptance of these Official Rules.
Eligibility
The Box Tops for Education® program is open to any accredited public, private or parochial school, containing any class with students from Kindergarten to 8th grade, in the United States and Puerto Rico organized and primarily operated for educational purposes and to any United States military school, containing any class with students from Kindergarten to 8th grade, worldwide. It is also available to home school associations, containing any class with students from Kindergarten to 8th grade, in the United States organized and operated primarily for educational purposes and have 15 or more students.
Box Tops for Education Overview
Box Tops for Education has four separate program components – Clip, Marketplace, Reading Room, and My Class Essentials.
- The Clip program allows you to earn cash for your school by clipping Box Tops for Education coupons from hundreds of participating products.
- The Marketplace allows you to earn cash for your school by shopping online through the Box Tops for Education website accessed at www.boxtops4education.com/marketplace.
- The Reading Room program allows you to earn cash for your school by purchasing books through the Box Tops for Education Reading Room.
- The My Class Essentials program allows you to earn cash for your school by purchasing items from the classroom registry.
Maximum Earning Amount
Each eligible school participating in Box Tops for Education may earn up to, but not more than, $20,000 cash per year (June 1 — May 31) from each of the four separate Box Tops for Education program components – Clip, Marketplace, Reading Room, and My Class Essentials – for a total maximum annual amount of $80,000 per school.
Promotions and Bonus Programs
From time to time, General Mills may run promotional programs whereby consumers and/or schools may
earn Bonus Box Tops, participate in a sweepstakes, receive coupons, special offers, or recipes. All
Bonus Box Tops earnings are counted over and above the maximum annual fundraising amount of $80,000
per school. Bonus Box Tops are issued through a printed official Bonus Box Tops certificate or automatically
credited to a school’s account. To receive payment for Bonus Box Tops, schools must be enrolled in Box Tops
for Education. General Mills reserves the right to limit the redemption of expired, invalid, or fraudulent
Bonus Box Tops.
Payments
Checks will be made payable only to schools enrolled in Box Tops for Education. Checks can be made payable to a school PTA/PTO if previously specified. Payments made to schools are not tax-deductible by schools, participants or purchasers. Payments will be made twice each school year, on or about December 15th and on or about April 15th. Each payment will include amounts earned by schools from Clip, Marketplace, Reading Room, My Class Essentials and Bonus programs. The December 15th payment will reflect the amounts earned from March 1st through the following October 31st, and the April 15th payment will reflect the amounts earned from November 1st through February 28th. Schools that accrue total earnings of less than $20.00 from March 1st through the following October 31st will not be issued a December 15th payment. Instead, those earnings will carry over and a payment will be issued for the entire school year to those schools in the April 15th payment. Allow 2 to 4 weeks for checks to arrive. Box Tops for Education will not replace checks requested more than 18 months after the original check was issued.
School Coordinators
Each participating school must designate a school coordinator in order to be enrolled in the Box Tops for Education Program. General Mills reserves the right at its discretion to remove a coordinator from the program at any time if it determines that the coordinator is a detriment to the Program.
Submitted Ideas, Suggestions and Information
All comments, suggestions, ideas, notes, drawings, concepts, recipes or other information disclosed or offered to Box Tops for Education shall be deemed and shall remain the property of General Mills. By submitting any suggestion, idea or other information, you consent to its use by General Mills, including but not limited to its publication. You understand and acknowledge that General Mills has both internal resources and other external resources which may have developed or may in the future develop ideas identical to or similar to the suggestion or comments and that General Mills is only willing to consider the suggestion on these terms. In any event, any suggestion, comment or idea is not submitted in confidence and General Mills assumes no obligation express or implied by considering it. Without limitation, General Mills shall exclusively own all now known or hereafter existing rights to the suggestions of every kind and nature throughout the Universe and shall be entitled to unrestricted use of the comments for any purpose whatsoever, commercial or otherwise without compensation to the provider of the suggestions.
Program Changes
General Mills reserves the right to cancel or alter the terms of the Box Tops for Education program at any time.
Rules for Clipping Box Tops Coupons
All submissions become the property of General Mills. Reproduction, purchase, sale or trade, or forgery of any Box Tops coupon, or Bonus certificate is prohibited. Box Tops for Education is not responsible for late, lost or misdirected mail. Box Tops for Education reserves the right to return boxes or envelopes mailed without sufficient postage.
Collect, Send and Earn
Clip Box Tops coupons from hundreds of participating products. Send your collected Box Tops coupons to an enrolled school of your choice. Your school coordinator will submit collected Box Tops coupons to Box Tops for Education for processing and verification. Each Box Tops coupon is worth 10 cents.
Qualifying Box Tops
Qualifying Box Tops coupons can be found on packages of participating General Mills Big G cereals, Betty Crocker® products including Betty Crocker® fruit flavored snacks, Yoplait® yogurt multipacks, Yoplait® Go-GURT® yogurt, Gold Medal® flour, Green Giant® frozen meal kits and frozen sides, Old El Paso® products, Totino’s® frozen snacks, Pillsbury® refrigerated and frozen products, Chex Mix® snack mixes, Cascadian Farm® cereals, Avery®, NESTLÉ®, Hefty ®, S.C. Johnson Ziploc® Kimberly-Clark, Welch’s and Land O’ Lakes products. Qualifying products are subject to change. For a complete list of participating products visit www.boxtops4education.com.
Redemptions and Program Deadline
To redeem qualifying Box Tops for Education coupons for cash, a school coordinator must complete an official Box Tops Submission Form and enclose the form with each shipment of qualifying Box Tops coupons. Submissions must be postmarked by October 31st for earnings to be included on December 15th checks and by March 1st to be included on April 15th checks. Schools that accrue total earnings of less than $20.00 from April 1st through the following October 31st will not be issued a December 15th payment. Instead, those earnings will carry over and a payment will be issued for the entire school year to those schools in the April 15th payment. All submissions are subject to verification.
Unacceptable Submissions
Box Tops coupons that have been defaced, mutilated, forged or in any way altered will not be accepted, nor will any UPC symbols. Any School or Coordinator promoting the sale of, or knowingly submitting fraudulent Box Tops coupons will be subject to expulsion from the Box Tops program.
Expired Box Tops
Box Tops coupons submitted after their printed expiration date are considered void and will not be honored.
Payments to Schools
Payments to schools resulting from eligible Box Tops coupon submissions will be made twice each school year, on or around December 15th and on or around April 15th. The December 15th payment will reflect confirmed earnings from shipments postmarked between April 1st through the following October 31st, and the April 15th payment will reflect confirmed earnings from shipments postmarked between November 1st through March 1st. Schools that accrue total earnings of less than $20.00 from April 1st through the following October 31st will not be issued a December 15th payment. Instead, those earnings will carry over and a payment will be issued for the entire school year to those schools in the April 15th payment. Allow 2 to 4 weeks for checks to arrive.
Shipping Charges
All postage and shipping charges are the responsibility of the sender.
Rules for Shopping at the Box Tops Marketplace and Reading Room
Through www.boxtops4education.com, General Mills operates an affiliate marketing program that enables you to access the Web sites of third-party merchants and purchase various goods or services from these merchants’ sites. The Box Tops for Education Marketplace and Reading Room allows you to designate a school to which a portion of your qualifying online purchase will be paid as the result of a commission payment earned from that merchant. (Your designated school must already be enrolled in Box Tops for Education.) The Box Tops Marketplace is active 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.
To earn cash for your school by shopping at the Box Tops for Education Marketplace and/or Reading Room, you must choose a link from www.boxtops4education.com to a participating merchant’s site, make a qualifying purchase, accept delivery, and pay the merchant for the purchase. The merchant must then send the correct commission payment to General Mills’ fulfillment center for processing and payment to your designated school. (If you access a participating merchant’s site in any manner other than by linking directly from the Box Tops for Education Marketplace and/or Reading Room, your purchase WILL NOT result in a donation to your school.) The amount of the donation to the school varies depending on the merchant and depending on the item or service purchased. The donation amount for each merchant in effect at the time of purchase will be posted throughout the Box Tops Marketplace and/or Reading Room. Please note that certain merchants place restrictions on the types of products that will earn donations or have a maximum donation amount per purchase. Visit www.boxtops4education.com and click on FAQs for more details. General Mills is not liable or responsible in any way for inaccuracies that may be displayed on www.boxtops4education.com relating to payment amounts or percentages, whether as a result of human or mechanical error or otherwise.
Online Power Earners Loyalty Program
When you shop the Marketplace or Reading Room, you will become an Online Power Earner. An Online Power Earner is anyone who has shopped at the Marketplace or Reading Room. This is a loyalty program that rewards you for shopping through the Marketplace and Reading Room. For every 100eBoxTops you earn, you will receive 10 bonus box tops. These bonus box tops are credited to your school as bonus payments.Earnings for Online Power Earners are effective from November 1, 2010 forward.
Earnings Update
After you make a purchase through the Box Tops Marketplace or Reading Room your earnings will be updated with a ‘pending’ status. This earnings update will occur within five business days from the date of your transaction. Your earnings will remain in ‘pending’ status for a 60 day period. During this time, if you make a return, exchange or modify your original purchase in any way, your earnings may be updated to reflect those changes. After the 60 day period, your earnings will become ‘confirmed’ and your schools earnings will be updated.
Confirmation Email
After you make a purchase through the Box Tops Marketplace or Reading Room, you will receive a confirmation email of your purchase. This email will be sent within five business days from the date of your transaction.
Shipping and Handling Costs
Sales taxes, shipping costs, gift certificates, packaging or handling fees, gift-wrapping services, governmental fees, and certain other charges may not be included in the calculation of the school donation amount.
Returns, Refunds and Cancellations
School donations are subject to adjustment if you later return purchased item(s), cancel your purchase, or obtain a refund from the merchant.
Qualifying Purchases
Purchases must be made from approved merchants and by users who have properly registered at, and linked from www.boxtops4education.com. No other purchases will qualify for inclusion in the Box Tops for Education Marketplace and/or Reading Room, and no donations will be made to a school for non-qualifying or fraudulent purchases. Purchases made by users who have not properly designated a school to receive payments will support the general Box Tops for Education program.
Cookies
The use of “cookies” is necessary to accurately track your purchases from participating merchants. If you set your Internet browser to disable or reject cookies, we will not be able to track and confirm your purchases and make the proper donation to your school.
Payments by Merchants
Online purchases made through the Box Tops Marketplace from affiliated merchants will earn a percentage of that purchase for a designated school, or, if a school is not designated, for the general Box Tops for Education program. Donation amounts appear next to the Merchant’s name throughout the Box Tops Marketplace and Reading Room site. Payments to schools will only be made once the commission payment has been received from the participating merchant. Commission payments from merchants are normally received by General Mills on a monthly or quarterly basis, but in some cases payments may not be received for up to six months from the date of purchase. If a participating merchant fails to provide payment of the proper amount for any reason (including, but not limited to, bankruptcy or a cessation of business operations), no donation – or only a partial donation – will be made to the designated school.
Payments to Schools
Payments to schools resulting from eligible purchases at Box Tops Marketplace and Reading Room merchants will be made twice each school year, on or around December 15th and on or around April 15th. The December 15th payment will reflect confirmed earnings from Feb 28th/29th through the following October 31st, and the April 15th payment will reflect confirmed earnings from November 1st through March 1st. Schools that accrue total earnings of less than $20.00 from March 1st through the following October 31st will not be issued a December 15th payment. Instead, those earnings will carry over and a payment will be issued for the entire school year to those schools in the April 15th payment. Schools can earn a maximum of $20,000 each school year from the Marketplace program and a maximum of $20,000 from the Reading Room program. Allow 2 to 4 weeks for checks to arrive.
Your Account
You can access a record of the donations you have earned for your school through the Marketplace program in the “Progress” section of the Box Tops for Education Website. Your earnings will be updated with a pending status within five business days from the date of your purchase. Your schools earnings will be updated on or around the 15th of each month to reflect the activity from two months prior.
If you have made a purchase and do not see it reflected on your account after 60 days, please go to www.boxtops4education.com and click on “Contact Us” to report the error so that we can investigate. Please keep all records of your purchases from participating merchants for at least six months just in case there is a problem with the merchant or your account.
Please note that it may take up to six months for some merchants to report your purchases to General Mills. Additionally, it is not possible to track purchases at an individual user level at certain merchants. (Earnings from these merchants will be tracked at the school level, however, and will be included in your school’s total program earnings.)
Merchants are Responsible for Their Own Products
General Mills is not responsible for and does not control the products and services offered by participating merchants in the Box Tops for Education Marketplace or Reading Room. Merchants accessed through the Sites are responsible for all aspects of their order processing, order fulfillment, shipping and handling, billing, and customer service. General Mills is not a party to the transactions entered into between you and the merchants with which you choose to do business. If you buy products or services from merchants through the Box Tops Marketplace or the Box Tops Reading Room, you become a customer of those merchants and therefore should direct any comments, complaints or inquiries regarding your purchases to those merchants, and not to General Mills.
Rules for the My Class EssentialsTM Program
Through www.boxtops4education.com, General Mills operates the My Class Essentials program. And, through the My Class Essentials Program, parents will be able to contribute in two ways: either by donating money to the registry piggy bank which allows the teacher to purchase items for their classroom through the classroom registry, or by making a purchase for the classroom directly from the classroom registry to be given to your designated school and paying the merchant for the purchase. The designated school at which the teacher teaches will earn a 2% donation on all products purchased.
Piggy Bank Credit Use of Credit
The Piggy Bank credit must be used to purchase items from the My Class Essentials registry. The credit may not be cashed out and credits cannot be transferred from one registry to another. The credit stays with the registry and the creator of that registry.
Expiration of Piggy Bank Credit
Piggy Bank cash expires 12 months from the time it is posted in the piggy bank at which time the money transfers to the school via a Box Tops check – see check timing section for key dates.
School Earnings
The designated school must be enrolled in the Box Tops for Education Program. All purchases made for My Class Essentials registry qualify for a 2% cash back to your designated school. If a school has not been designated, the earnings will go directly to the Box Tops for Educaiton general fund.
Payment to Schools
Payment to schools resulting from purchases at Class Registry will be made twice each school year, on or around Dec 15th and on or around April 15th. There is a $20,000 maximum earnings each school year from the My Class Essentials program.
Shipping and Handling
Shipping costs, sales taxes, packaging or handling fees are not included in calculating the school donation amount. School donation is calculated only on purchased products.
Returns, Refunds and Cancellations
School donations are subject to adjustment if you later return purchased item(s), cancel your purchase, or obtain a refund from the merchant.
Return Policy
30 day money back guarantee. If you are not satisfied with the merchandise for any reason contact the merchant for an RA # to ship the product back to the merchant. Credit will be posted to the piggy bank or credited back to the purchasing credit card. Shipping on the return may be the responsibility of the sender. Due to health concerns headwear and food items cannot be returned.
Merchants are Responsible for Their Own Products
General Mills is not responsible for and does not control the products and services offered by participating merchants in the Box Tops for Education My Class Essentials Program. Merchants accessed through the Site are responsible for all aspects of their order processing, order fulfillment, shipping and handling, billing, and customer service. General Mills is not a party to the transactions entered into between you and the merchants with which you choose to do business. If you buy products or services from merchants through the Box Tops for Education My Class Essentials website, you become a customer of those merchants and therefore should direct any comments, complaints or inquiries regarding your purchases to those merchants, and not to General Mills.