WaMoola for Schools®

Pick a school, any school. Washington Mutual customers and employees are urged to pick a K-12 school they wish to support and Washington Mutual, through its WaMoola for Schools® program will make a donation to that school at the end of the year.

Here’s how this innovative program works. Customers and employees pick a K-12 school that they wish to support. Then, every time that customer or employee uses their Washington Mutual Visa® Check Card, their school earns points. Every purchase made with the card counts as one point, whether it is for groceries, buying a cup of coffee, buying a hammer at the hardware store, or even going to the movies.

At the end of the year the points are converted into a donation and Washington Mutual issues a check to the school to be used in whatever way the school sees fit. Washington Mutual puts no limitations on how the money can be used, believing that each school is best equipped to make that decision on its own.

The WaMoola for Schools program is not the only program for education that Washington Mutual supports. Since 1923 Washington Mutual has encouraged students to learn the basics of savings by starting a savings program through the schools. Learning how to handle money responsibly is an important part of a child’s education but one which is often neglected in schools. Washington works on a weekly basis with parent volunteers and with teachers to encourage students to make regular contributions to their savings account.

Washington Mutual’s participation in education doesn’t stop there. Washington Mutual employees travel from school to school making interactive presentations that help bring math and other living skills to life for students. By putting these skills into the context of real-life situations that are actually encountered by real people everyday, these subjects leave the realm of theory and become more meaningful and therefore more important to students.

Washington Mutual also offers classes for adults in how to open and use a bank account, how to create and stick to a budget, and how to use credit cards and other forms of credit wisely.

Many companies pay lip-service to education or to helping students become prepared for the real world – Washington Mutual puts both its employees and its cash on the line to foster these goals every day of the week.