Thank you for your support! Together we’ve driven over $110,000 in revenue into Oakland to date and secured over 79,000 donated meals to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
Update 4/15/22: All orders have been shipped or made available for local pickup. If you have questions about your order, please refer to your confirmation email for instructions on how to reach out to our order fulfillment partner. Thank you.
Update 4/8/22: We have successfully shipped half of all orders placed after 3/20 and will be shipping the remaining half on Friday 4/8, Saturday, 4/9, followed by a small balance of orders on Monday 4/11. When your order ships, you will receive an email notification. And when your order is ready for local pickup, you will receive a text message.
Update 3/31/22: The program ended at midnight on March 31, 2022. Sales are now closed. Orders are being processed the week of April 4-10 (which entails coordinating the creation of hundreds of new cards as part of our inventory closeout process with all participating businesses, so please bear with us!) Most orders should be received earlier than April 15, but please feel free to email our order fulfillment staff at giftcards@oaklandbid.org with your order number if you are still waiting on receipt after April 15. If you chose the “local pickup” option, you can expect to receive a notification that your order is ready for pickup by the weekend of April 9-10.
We’ve got more initiatives in the works – including your final opportunity to support over 50 local, independent artists through Argyle Studio, and another new Central Oakland gift card program in the coming weeks, so be sure to follow us on social media to stay in the loop.15
Note: This site will be maintained as an archive until all orders have been filled.
About the program: Our small business community continues to endure countless hardships brought on by the ongoing pandemic, and with federal aid programs long since expired, small businesses and charitable organizations everywhere are relying on their community’s support perhaps now more than ever. In an effort to drive as much impact for the food bank and the central business district as possible, the Shop2Help Oakland gift card program has been extended through March 31, 2022.
Thanks to the generous ongoing support of the Richard King Mellon Foundation, our community partners, and recent support from Dollar Bank to help extend the program’s reach, shoppers can grab an extra 40% bonus incentive on gift cards to more than twenty of your favorite Oakland small businesses – redeemable any time in the future. That means for $25 you’ll receive $10 more – a total of $35 to spend in Oakland! Mix-and-match, and grab a few while this incentive lasts! We’ll mail them to you, mail them to friends/family as gifts, or you can pick-up right here in Oakland!
Thanks to funding from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, Dollar Bank, and the generosity of business owners throughout Oakland’s central business district, not only will you be turning your $25 into $35 and helping our small businesses economy on the road to recovery, you’ll be helping your neighbors in Pittsburgh overcome food insecurity by unlocking a 25-meal donation to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank with every $25 spent.
Terms & Conditions:
Gift cards you purchase today can be redeemed at any time in the future and are subject to the terms and conditions of this program, and to each individual merchant’s own rules or policies.
Please Note: Availability of the 40% bonus funds is limited! Gift card purchases from this site will be terminated when the program funding has been depleted, so act fast! While our site administrators will act quickly to stop taking new orders from this site at that time, of course it’s possible that your transaction may still go through after the bonus funds have been depleted. If that occurs, our Program Administrator will contact you to determine the best course of action.
For Business Owners:
This program is open to all members of Oakland’s Business Improvement District. If you qualify and would like to participate, start by completing the Business Registration form, and the Program Administrator at OBID will contact you as soon as possible to coordinate further!
Your contribution now will help Oakland small business and the food bank through the winter ahead!
Last winter saw several shops shutter their doors permanently as they struggled to make it another month, and the emergence of yet another new variant means that most small businesses – especially restaurants, bars, and cafes who have been hit particularly hard during each new wave – are once again enduring severe economic hardship and desperately need our help to persevere through another long winter. Gift cards go a long way to providing immediate revenue that can help them keep staff on through the winter and ensure our favorite businesses are here to continue serving customers in the spring.
While program funding from the Richard King Mellon Foundation and Dollar Bank lasts, these twenty businesses are giving customers an additional 40% on every gift card sold through this program while supplies last!
As food and fuel costs continue to increase for everyone in the region, the food bank also needs the community’s support now more than ever, so every one of our participating businesses is donating 25 meals to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank for every gift card sold through this program – over 55,000 to date!
Another way to help is to spread the word! Share this website with your friends, family, and coworkers. Heck, shout it out from behind your mask when you’re on the street. Let’s do everything we can to help Oakland’s small business owners, employees, and their families as much as possible, and to do our part helping Pittsburghers overcome food insecurity!
Program Partners
The Shop2Help Oakland Gift Card Program is administered by the Oakland Business Improvement District and its community partners. Thank you to all our friends and family at the Richard King Mellon Foundation, Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Facture, Dollar Bank, Community Human Services, Mero Restaurant Group, participating Oakland businesses, and everyone living, working, going to school, and visiting Oakland for your contributions in helping to make this program possible.
Have you heard about the Oakland Safety Compliance Program and OBID's Support Oakland initiatives?
In an effort to help curb the unprecedented negative impact on public health and the economy since the start of the pandemic, OBID partnered with Qualaris Healthcare Solutions, UPMC, and the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association to create the Oakland Safety Compliance Program – funded with a grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation.
Providing resources to the district since July 2020, this program was designed to aid in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 by delivering digital tools that help businesses implement all applicable, up-to-date guidelines from the Center for Disease Control, Pennsylvania Department of Health, and Allegheny County Health Department.
A list of all businesses still actively implementing safety guidelines as a part of the Oakland Safety Compliance Program can be found here. Visit the Support Oakland website to learn more about what these incredible businesses have been doing to keep their customers and employees safe through the pandemic.
Formed in 1999, the Oakland Business Improvement District is the region’s second largest place management organization in Pittsburgh, representing a diverse group of decision makers including property and business owners, universities, hospitals, city government, community and cultural non-profits.
Since 1947, the Richard King Mellon Foundation has invested in the future of Southwestern Pennsylvania, and in the protection and restoration of America’s environmental heritage.
Founded in 1855, the independent community bank, Dollar Bank, has worked to empower the people and communities they serve to do the things they hold dearest. Over 165 years, they’ve grown into the full-service, regional bank renowned for providing the highest quality banking solutions and services.
With your support, the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank bridge communities and resources throughout southwestern Pennsylvania to help neighbors overcome food insecurity and lead happy, healthy lives.