8 Elements of a Successful Contract

Whether you're working with grocery stores or farmers markets, a contract sets the stage for working together. This is your opportunity to be clear about roles and responsibilities -- both yours and the participating sites'. Regardless of retail environment, we believe focusing on the following 8 elements make for a successful contract.

1. How should funds be handled?
   • Eligible items
   • Tracking Double Up earning/spending
2. Outline participating site's responsibilities for on-site program implementation
   • Employee training
   • Working with customers
3. Establish expectations for record-keeping and reporting
   • What records should sites maintain and turn in to you?
   • How and when should sites report to you?
4. Do you expect sites to participate in program evaluation? If so, outline those expectations. You might require:
   • Customer surveys
   • Employee surveys
   • Manager surveys
   • In-store promotions
5. Double Up trademark
   • Boilerplate language about the trademarked brand
   • Always include this!
6. Reporting schedule
   • Explain your reporting schedule and methods for turning in paperwork
7. Fund disbursement
   • Explain how you will reimburse sites. Will you:
     • grant funds up front?
     • reimburse based on actual expenses?
8. Violation of agreement
   • Outline repercussions for violating the contract

Tracking Contract Funds

You'll want to track basic information about each of your sites. Having contact information and financial data in one place is helpful, as is tracking whether your sites have signed and returned contracts. This can be done in a basic spreadsheet, or it can be done in a database if your organization has one. We recommend, at the very least, tracking the information laid out in the "Contract Tracking Spreadsheet."

Amending Contracts

Sometimes, Double Up sites spend more than their contract amount. If a site is nearing its contract amount and you have funding to increase the contract, we recommend using a "Mid-Season Contract Amendment" to track the allotment of additional funds. Simply fill this out with the required information and have the site sign and return it. Be sure to track this information in your "Contract Tracking Spreadsheet", too!

Closing Out Contracts

At the end of a contract year, it's time to reconcile. Many program leads allow their participating sites to roll over any contract remaining contract balance to the next contract year. You can see a sample contract close-out document below.