CINCINNATI — A gift card matching program raised $75,000 for Cincinnati small businesses in less than a day, the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp (3CDC) announced Friday morning.
The Cincy Card Connection program, which launched Thursday at noon, invited Cincinnatians to buy gift cards for downtown and Over-the-Rhine businesses in exchange for a freebie. For each individual purchase, 3CDC, Procter & Gamble and Empower would buy another gift card in the same amount from a similar business and send it to the purchaser.
The groups had set aside a total of $37,500 for purchase-matching. The entire amount was spent by Friday at 10:30 a.m.
“Cincinnatians always come together in times of need, and the generosity they have shown to Downtown businesses through this program has been one more example of this community stepping up to support its own,” 3CDC president and CEO Steve Leeper said in a statement.
The organizations plan to raise money to continue the program in the future, but for now, no new gift card purchases will be matched.
Anyone interested in donating to refill the matching fund can do so online or contact 3CDC’s vice president of marketing and communications, Joe Rudemiller, at 513-253-9088.
