12 unusual ways to use Town & City Gift Cards

If you thought that Town & City Gift Cards were ideal for staff rewards, you’d be right! But there are many more ways to use local gift cards that you may not have thought about. And so, in the spirit of the season, on the first day of Christmas we give you…12 unusual ways to use Town & City Gift Cards.

1. Supporting those experiencing homelessness

In 2023, Cambridge non-profit Pay It Forward used the Love Cambridge Gift Card to distribute cards to local charities, helping service users to buy what they need – from new clothes for an interview to a warm drink.

2. Celebrating company milestones

When Chinese supermarket Chan’s wanted to celebrate the firm’s 38th birthday, they opted for the Glasgow Gift Card as they appreciated the fact that the card can be used with national retailers and independent businesses, offering flexibility for staff.

3. Helping students experiencing crisis

Choosing the Dundee Gift Card was a way for the University of Dundee to issue short term emergency payments to students in crisis, without using cash, giving students the means to top up electricity and gas meters or fill their fridge easily.

4. Easing the Christmas burden

The Big Night In Or The Big Night Out was an initiative from Renfrewshire Carers in December 2022. They gave carers a Renfrewshire Gift Card to have a worry free night at home, or out in their local area, without the worry of how to pay for it.

5. Encouraging competition entries

With a stand each year at the Skipper Exhibition in Aberdeen, Fraserburgh Harbour chose to use a £250 Aberdeenshire Gift Card as the prize in their survey for stand visitors, making it fun and worthwhile for visitors to complete the survey.

6. Challenging food poverty

The Perth Anti Poverty Task Force used the Perth Gift Card to support people with dignity. People could use the gift card in any way they chose, for food or to pay utility bills, whilst supporting local businesses at the same time.

7. Attracting staff

Social care resources have become stretched since the pandemic, ELCAP used the East Lothian Gift Card in their referral scheme, giving staff a £50 gift card for referring a new team member when they complete their probation period, boosting recruitment efforts.

8. Boosting a hyper local area

Back On The Map supports over 4500 residents in Hendon, one of the most deprived areas of the country. The charity used the Sunderland Gift Card to support local residents, encouraging use in a local butcher, baker and shop, keeping money in Hendon.

9. Helping staff with the cost of living

In 2023, accountancy firm Ashton McGill gave staff £50 Town & City Gift Cards as an extra layer of support during the cost of living crisis, using the trivial benefit Scheme. Firms can utilise the trivial benefit scheme more than once a year, as long as it doesn’t become a part of the employee’s regular salary or contract.

10. Reducing social isolation

When charity Grampian Opportunities wanted to boost service users’ wellbeing through their Listening Ear project, they reached for the Aberdeenshire Gift Card. Service users were able to use the card to go to a local cafe for a coffee and a cake, reducing social isolation and loneliness.

11. Helping people stay in their homes

Cernach Housing Association sustained 100% of  tenancies in 2022 by using the Glasgow Gift Card. Their housing management team gave the cards to tenants facing crisis circumstances to help them to stay in their home and also live a little more comfortably.

12. Clothing kids

As well as using the Moray Gift Card to easily distribute funding to families in need, Moray School Bank began encouraging people to donate the cards to their charity with the balance used to buy school uniform for kids in poverty.

We know that we’ve just scratched the surface of what Town & City Gift Cards can achieve to help people, places and communities. Make a positive difference in your community today!