Follow these steps to get started quickly in your school store, so you can say goodbye to tedious data entry and manually reporting member info to the state.
First, click the Online Store link on the left menu.
The first major step is setting up your payment gateway.
Get set up to take payments online.
Time to complete: A few minutes, if you have your PTA’s EIN and bank account info handy
This step is important because it allows you to sell memberships and process payments online.
- Select Store Settings on the online store page.
- Under Stripe Settings click the blue Setup Stripe account now button.
- Follow these steps to complete the form. You’ll most likely get instant approval.
Subscribe to Givebacks.
Time to complete: Seconds
When you subscribe to Givebacks, your organization can place special offers from businesses in your e-store and reward families with savings, while you earn up to 20% donated back on every sale. Your school will benefit in a brand new way. Plus, when you refer local businesses to participate, your organization gets $50 for every completed offer while you support your local business community when they need it most. Learn more about Givebacks.
- Select Givebacks on the left menu
- Click the Givebacks settings button
- Click Subscribe.
- Go back to the Givebacks page View and add your new offers
- If you want to place the offer in your PTA's e-store, just click the offer and choose to Add to store. Your contacts will get an automatic notification about your new offers on Tuesdays.
- Spread the word. Share new offers with your social networks and in your PTA communications. The more people know about your offers, the more your PTA raises without any work or volunteers!
Customize your PTA memberships & add items and donations to your store.
Time to complete: A couple of minutes, or as long as you want! This depends on how many membership types you create and how many items you add.
- After clicking the Online Store Module on the left, click the Products button.
- Click Memberships.
- Here, you’ll see your standard state member types. They’re already posted in your store, so all you have to do is click the 3 dots to the right of the membership then click Edit and adjust pricing and other details.
- You can also customize PTA membership types and pricing for your school store.
- Once you set up memberships in your school store, you should add items like spiritwear, donations, event tickets, and no-fuss fundraisers to get the most out of your store and provide the ultimate flexibility to parents.
- Let shoppers name their price or donate any amount they choose (you set the minimum).
Note: Here's how to change your settings for payment processing fees -- you can pay them, or have your shoppers absorb the fees.
Tell everyone in your school community!
Time to complete: This depends -- but with template drafts, all you need to do is finalize the content and send an email or post to social media.
Get started with these sample communications for back-to-school night and for general store promotion. You can promote your store to school families by email, newsletters, or social media!
Back-to-school night and the start of the new school year are great times to promote your PTA and your store to school families!