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Director’s Note – Quality vs Quantity
Hi CFT Supporters & Military Families!
I know you all don’t hear from me nearly often enough! I am working on doing more of these blog posts to tell you about what’s going on with Coups For Troops! First, a HUGE shout out to Pam & Stephanie! I couldn’t do this without these 2 great ladies. They handle much much more of the operations of Coups For Troops than I do. So please next time you interact with them via Facebook or email, give them a huge virtual hug!
I thought we would talk a bit today about Quantity vs Quality when it comes to Coupon shipments. As our Donors know, we ask that when you sign up to commit to sending at least a standard (size 10) envelope every 4-6 weeks to your adopted military family. We purposefully assign multiple donors to each military families, in hopes that they receive a new batch of coupons every couple weeks. We, of course, encourage our donors to send beyond the expected to give the military families as many coupons as possible to use and share. If you are mailing to a Swap Group Coordinator, then we ask that you send a box of coupons monthly, if possible, as they often support and share coupons between several families. Some of our Swap Group Coordinators have as many as 100 families within their swap groups.
While we appreciate donors who want to send to several families, we also want to make sure they are using their funds as effective as possible. A size 10 envelope, with up to a full ounce of coupons will cost about 50 cents to mail to your adopted military family. If you sent 16 1-oz envelopes, it would cost $8.00 in postage. While a single 1 lb, 0 oz small package could be mailed for $7.35. If you move up to using an APO/FPO medium flat rate box, you can mail up to 30 lbs of coupons for $14.35. This is the size of boxes that I use, and I can normally get roughly 14 lbs of cut coupons before the box is full.
We want to encourage you to maximize your postage. So if you have any questions about your current assignments or how you can better use your postage, please reach out. Pam, Stephanie or I would be happy to answer your questions regarding this or any subject.
It is my intention to post an informative Director’s Note at least monthly. If you have a question or topic you would like me to cover, please let me know. I’m here to serve you.
Lisa
Welcome Director Lisa Brown!!!!!!
Coups For Troops is excited to announce a recent change to their administrative staff. Coups for Troops was originally founded by a stay at home Mom who wanted to help support US Military families. Once she learned that US Military personnel and their families can use US coupons up to 6 months after they had expired, she knew she could help reduce their coupons bills by sending her expired coupons! Since April 2011, Coups For Troops has grown to serving over 900 Military families in 11 different countries, and literally thousands of US volunteers.
Coups For Troops is run entirely by volunteers, and it’s administrative staff is roughly 3 full time mothers, Stephanie Lener (New York), Kerry Rich (Florida) and Lisa Brown (Indiana). These 3 ladies put in hours of their time answering emails, matching donors with military families, and supporting our various satellite and drop off locations. This is easily a full time job for these hard working ladies! As life flows and bumps, changes need to be made to keep the volunteer spirit alive and help the organizations move forward. Stephanie Lener has served as Director of Coups For Troops and under her direction the Direct Mail program has grown, the hits on the website increased and we have a new database system for tracking within the program. Stephanie has been a wonderful access to the mission, but as life happens, Stephanie has asked to slow down. She’s not leaving Coups For Troops Admin Team, but she decided to pass some of the administrative duties off to give herself some much needed downtime. So, we would like to announce that as of Aug 1st, Lisa Brown will be stepping up as Director of Coups For Troops.
Lisa came to the group as a satellite location back in late 2011, then joined the administrative staff in Fall 2013. She has helped as the Large Donor Coordinator since that time. “I’m excited at this opportunity and also humbled that Stephanie trusts me to take on such a worthy cause. I hope to see Coups For Troops to continue to grow under my leadership, and see us take the next steps to become a federally recognized non-profit organization,” said Brown.
Stephanie Lener will continue as the Direct Mail Coordinator, while Kerry Rich continues as Coups For Troops Media Coordinator. We will also be looking for 1-2 additional staff members who are interested and willing to devote their time for this clause. We plan to apply as a non-profit organization and seek 501(c)3 status. It’s our goal that no coupons be lost, but each one goes to help a Military family! If you are interested in joining our staff, please send an email to info@coupsfortroops.com. This is an unpaid, purely volunteer position.
Join us as we welcome Lisa Brown to this new role!