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The Downtown Development Authority met Thursday morning, where Director Amanda Glover spoke on Giverrang, a new community e-gift card program they will be offering that can be applied to any downtown business.

Glover informed the DDA this is something they are hoping to implement in the next month. The program allows both e-gift cards and plastic gift cards and is used through the MasterCard base.

“There is no charge to us or to the business,” Glover explained. “It would be the same as if you ran it as a Debit card, it would come out of that.”

Giverrang offers three options to communities looking to implement their e-gift card program. The gift cards can be specifically curated to certain stores, they can be used within the city limits or they can be used in the city limits with the exception of big box stores and chain restaurants such as, Walmart and McDonalds.

“What we would be looking at is the curated list,” Glover said. “The gift card would only be able to be used at downtown businesses that we specify.”

Glover informed the DDA that the Chamber of Commerce is also looking to provide Giverrang cards to their membership.

“The Chamber intends to keep their money local as well,” she said. “We don’t see an issue with both entities having them, because not every business downtown is a member of the Chamber.”

The Chamber of Commerce currently offers Bainbridge Bucks, which is a paper check to be used in only businesses associated with the Chamber.

“Bainbridge Bucks just doesn’t benefit those who aren’t Chamber members,” Glover said.

However, with both the DDA and the Chamber offering Giverrang, every business wins, regardless of their organization.

Giverrang also has a platform that can be embedded into the Downtown Development Association’s website, which is something Glover intends to do.

“When we embed it on our website, it’ll have a map of the downtown businesses and a little snapshot and brief description of the business,” Glover said. “It’ll also be great with the analytics, because we can track and see where people are spending their dollars and stuff.”

Glover is excited to begin offering this service to the community and informed the DDA she has moved forward with the process, and hopes to have the gift cards available by the time Holiday Open House rolls around at the end of November.