Large-scale Funding for Community Development

A PROview Article by Howard C. Benson, CEO/Founder

Identify and document the problems or opportunities facing your community, which your organization proposes to address. A “Situation Analysis” paper setting forth the observations, conclusions and statistics to prove your point is an excellent way to start the process. We have seen such easy-to-talk-about “problems” as high unemployment rate, business closures, declining tax revenues, population loss, and municipal bond rate slippage used to galvanize community action. However, too often we have seen staff executives assume everyone was familiar with and convinced of such situations. This is a critical mistake. Agreement by your board on the specific nature of the needs facing your market area is absolutely essential as a first step.

Develop general plans, programs, timetables and budgets that deal with the documented problems/opportunities. Even very broad strategies and estimated financial needs are acceptable at this stage. Provisional agreement by your governing board or executive committee as to the validity of such a program is important to the next very critical step.

Conduct a thorough, in-depth feasibility analysis of your proposed program and its funding. You must know precisely how key business, professional and corporate leaders feel about the needs and the program to address them. Also, it is absolutely essential to know the degree of financial support they will consider for understanding the proposed plan. Professional counsel is almost always utilized for this very sensitive and painstaking task. This is no time for guesswork and unbridled enthusiasm on the part of staff or volunteer leaders. Successful funding programs are often won or lost at this stage. Competent, ethical counsel will present a “go/no-go” recommendation and identify the exact amount of money that can be raised following their funding feasibility analysis. “Cultivation” of prospective investors also occurs during the feasibility analysis process.

Revise and refine the plan and budget based on input from the feasibility analysis. It is possible that funding potential is greater than initially envisioned. Or, it may need drastic reduction along with changes to priorities and the specific strategies “tested.” A final document, complete with all pertinent detail on the program, should be prepared. A “GO” decision by your governing board would follow. If insufficient support was found during the feasibility analysis, new plans must be devised.

Organize a campaign to generate the necessary funds to underwrite the proposed program. Again, professional counsel is frequently needed to assure success and make the fund-raising efficient and cost-effective. Buy-in of top community leaders from both public and private sectors remains a critical ingredient to the success of the campaign. Their “ownership” of the program translates into successful investor solicitation calls.

Experience shows that the work done before the campaign begins makes it possible to raise that big money for your bold new economic development initiative.