STAFF REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
DATE: Regular Meeting of April 26, 2022
TO: Members of the City Council
VIA: Dante Hall, City Manager
SUBMITTED BY: Edwin Gato, Director of Finance
SUBJECT: Authorization To Execute a Contract With Yiftee for a Shop Local/Gift Card program for an amount not to exceed $65,000 funded by American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funds Recommendation
Adopt a resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute an agreement with Yiftee for a Shop Local/Gift Card program for an amount not to exceed $65,000 funded by American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funds.
Fiscal Impact
The Gift Card Program will be funded through the ARPA funds.
Background
On February 22, 2022, City Council meeting, the Council received a report on the FY 21-22 mid-year budget. It adopted a resolution approving various mid-year budget appropriations and adjustments, including appropriations for several ARPA priority items. One of the priority items approved was to utilize $65,000 towards a pilot Gift Card Program.
Municipalities use three community digital gift card platforms, including Factor4, Giverrang, and Yiftee, with Yiftee being the most popular and with the best customer service rating. Yiftee, based in Menlo Park in the Silicon Valley, is currently doing community digital gift card programs in many Bay Area and Northern California cities, including Alameda, Benicia, Berkeley, Brentwood, Cupertino, El Cerrito, Fremont, Hayward, Lafayette, Livermore, Martinez, Merced, Nevada City, Newark, Oakley, Pinole, Pleasanton, Sacramento, San Leandro, Selma, and South Lake Tahoe. Several cities (Benicia, Brentwood, Cupertino, Fremont, and Sacramento) initially funded their community digital gift card programs from the CARES Act and, because they have been so successful, have funded additional rounds utilizing ARPA monies.
Yiftee Gift Card Program
The Yiftee Community Digital Gift Card program is a cost-effective way to stimulate the local economy and assist small businesses in recovery. It also provides additional savings to residents who shop locally. As an example, the proposed gift card pilot program would have a resident buy a gift card valued at $50, with the initial investment from the resident being $25. Then they receive a ‘purchase bonus’ amount of another $25 paid by the city through ARPA funding. In other words, it is ‘buy one and get one free’ for residents. Attachment 1 is a presentation Yiftee uses to introduce its program to new clients.
To initiate the program, the City would enter into Yiftee’s Community Card Customer Agreement (Attachment 2). There is no set-up or monthly costs. Staff is recommending that the approved allocation of $65,000 of ARPA monies be utilized to pay for:
The $1+5% eDelivery fee (purchaser fee) plus a $1 bonus gift fee per card A bonus gift card to incentivize use of the program and provide a benefit to all community members Branding costs associated with development of the “shop local Hercules” campaign Marketing costs for advertisement and promotion of the program and related point-of-sale signage and posters for participating businesses Staff recommends approval of the proposed resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute an agreement with Yiftee for a Shop Local/Gift Card program.
Attachments
Resolution
Yiftee Community Gift Card Customer Agreement
Yiftee Community Gift Card Presentation