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Menlo Park, CA – August 25, 2020 – Today Yiftee, a leader since 2012 in eGift Cards for local businesses, released a white paper about the impact public-private partnerships are having on gift card-based COVID-19 local business recovery efforts. In 2020, Yiftee has kept more than $1 million in local dollars local through their community eGift Card programs. The company has seen a spike from 30 community accounts in March to more than 100 in August. Each community is made up of tens to hundreds of diverse local shops and restaurants. Yiftee data indicates this growth in revenue that is dedicated to help small businesses survive is due to the many public-private partnerships created in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The white paper, titled “Saving Main Street: How Public-Private Partnerships Stimulate Small Business COVID-19 Recovery Efforts,” discusses a variety of strategies communities are using to address the economic challenges small businesses face due to the COVID-19 shutdowns. “It is great to see so many corporations, hospitals, professionals and concerned citizens teaming up with chambers of commerce, downtown associations and city governments to funnel dollars into their local businesses,” said Donna Novitsky, Yiftee CEO. “COVID-19 has created a call-to-action bonding private and public entities together in long overdue programs to support the local businesses that are the backbones of their communities. The white paper features those stories, with the goal of providing inspiration for other communities and a long-term benefit for independent businesses.”
The 17-page white paper covers these partnerships in cities as large as Detroit, MI and as small as Geneseo, IL. The programs range from bonus gift programs (e.g. buy-one-get-one incentives), to employee rewards, to gift raffle promotions. Often, the private entities are simply redirecting current budgets from national brand and ecommerce gift cards to local community cards that offer a myriad of options for the recipient. The sponsors of said programs range from tech companies, to mortgage lenders, to city offices and chambers of commerce.
Programs and Results Illustrated
The white paper shows that “when communities come together in a united ‘shop local’ movement, the power of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” The programs discussed, many started only months ago, have generated a million dollars for small businesses already and continue to give back. Yiftee hopes the paper will inspire more communities to take action to protect their small businesses that make their community home.
In Nashville, one of many case studies included in the paper, “Thirty companies have rallied to support our work, and together their support totals more than $100,000. These raised funds will underwrite bonus gift promotions for card purchasers, and will help us give away thousands of cards to kickstart the program. By the time all sponsored dollars are spent, more than $400,000 will have been pumped back into local shops and restaurants,” according to Jeanette Barker, VP of Strategic Development for the Nashville Downtown Partnership. “Several of [the] sponsors are also eager to include the community card in their employee appreciation efforts and holiday gifting, which will exponentially add to the cards in circulation around our community. Their partnership allows them to be a part of our collective recovery efforts, and shows our community that this city bands together to help neighbors in a uniquely Nashville way.”
Nashville is not an isolated example of this type of unique programing. Across the country, communities large and small are adopting similar strategies to help their valuable small businesses. The paper details the public-private partnerships that make these programs possible as well as the impact said programs have on the COVID-19 small business recovery efforts.
You can download the free white paper here.
About Yiftee
Yiftee (Yiftee.com) is the award winning, no hassle eGift card and promotions solution for local businesses and communities. With no special technology or POS integration, no revenue-share and no special accounting, it’s easy for merchants to offer eGift Cards on their website and Facebook pages. Merchants gain additional sales, foot traffic, and an eGifting capability like big retailers. Consumers, corporations, and merchants use the Yiftee mobile and online website to send thoughtful, unexpected gifts via email, text or print. Recipients pick up their Yiftee gifts using their smartphone at their favorite local restaurants and shops, driving profitable business to those merchants.
Yiftee currently has two unique eGift Card systems. The Yiftee Community eGift Card is a single custom-branded eGift card that can be used at many participating locations in the local community. Communities can also set up a Yiftee eGift Card Marketplace that serves as a digital collection of individual merchant eGift Cards.
For more info see Yiftee.com or email sales@yiftee.com.
