Shop Downtown App Makes Giving Tuesday A Year Round Event

Press Release (ePRNews.com) - MEDFORD, Ore. - Nov 30, 2022 - Shop Downtown, a leading provider of digital downtown city-based merchant discount cards, today unveiled a new way for nonprofits to fundraise via the firm’s new mobile app, available on Google Play and the Apple App Store, just in time for this year’s Giving Tuesday.

The new Shop Downtown app presents a unique opportunity for non-profits. Here’s how it works: shopdowntown.org offers nonprofits a way to fund their own projects by selling ad space on the App to downtown businesses and sharing in the annual revenue created. A non-profit that signs-up fifty local businesses stands to make up to $10,000 per year for their cause. “We see the affiliation with local non-profits as a community-minded way to grow our footprint in cities and towns across the country,” said Wells.

The new fundraising platform offers participating organizations digital consulting, nonprofit formation, Google Ad grant application support, and a bevy of other features designed to make the process easy and transparent.

Additionally, the firm can white label and automate the creation of digital discount programs (https://shopdowntown.org/pages/partner.php) for charities and nonprofits for a small percentage of revenues generated – providing yet another avenue for local nonprofit organizations to raise funds.

About the app:

Available for iOS (Apple App Store (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/shop-downtown/id1630570265)) and Android (Google Play (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.intouchmobile.shopdowntown)), the Shop Downtown app turns traditional physical merchant discount cards, long used to promote local, downtown businesses across the country; into a convenient, easy-to-use mobile application – bringing the concept and service into the 21st Century. Users unlock a bevy of downtown discounts ranging from five-to-fifteen percent on their purchases. “In a time of rising inflationary pressures, discounts have become increasingly attractive,” said Wells.

How it works:

Downtown businesses pay $400 per year, a little over $33 per month, for ad space on the app and in the directory. For that investment, businesses are listed in the app directory with their logo; contact information including, phone, email and directions; links to the business’s website and social media accounts which drives traffic to local stores.

The backstory – evolution of the app:

In 2013, Wells’ wife Heather opened a yarn shop in downtown Medford, Oregon. To help support the shop and other neighboring downtown businesses, the Wells started shopdowntown.org to offer shoppers a tangible discount for patronizing local businesses. First focused on Medford, Daniel Wells quickly began creating a database of downtown business directories nationwide. Wells expanded the footprint of the domain to create a directory of shops, restaurants and hotels for every City in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

At the same time, Eric Reimer and his partner Sean Nielsen were building a company to help small businesses, downtown communities and non-profits create their very own custom Mobile Applications. While doing their research, Reimer and Neilson encountered shopdowntown.org, which appeared at the top of most Google searches for downtown businesses, and immediately contacted Wells. In short order, they were collaborating and the new shopdowntown.org mobile app is the result.