It hired firm to gauge support for a fundraising campaign in San Benito
It hired firm to gauge support for a fundraising campaign in San Benito
Having lost nearly a third of its budget with the dissolution of the Hollister Redevelopment Agency, the Economic Development Corp. of San Benito County now will gauge interest in a capital campaign that would generate community support for the agency.
Last month the EDC board approved the hiring of a firm that helps agencies raise funds. Two weeks ago, it signed an agreement with Convergent Nonprofit Solutions, which will check the community’s “capacity for support” of a campaign to raise money for the EDC, according to the agency’s president and CEO, Nancy Martin.
Phase 1 will include interviews with approximately 60 locals in March and April as well as data analysis, she said.
“By April 23 we will have a determination for our future,” Martin recently told supervisors at a meeting.
The second phase, if initiated, would be the campaign itself.
Martin could not be reached for comment prior to this week’s Pinnacle deadline for information on how much money the firm is being paid or how much the EDC would like to generate from a campaign.
Supervisor Anthony Botelho said during the board meeting that he thought hiring the firm “was a very good idea” to help “see what the community thinks about the EDC and how it’s going to exist in the future. Having this information is absolutely critical at this juncture.”
The EDC is expected to lose $75,000 annually with the demise of the redevelopment agency.
Supervisors Margie Barrios and Jerry Muenzer also said they supported looking into a fundraising campaign for the EDC, with Barrios saying, “I think it’s going to be great information for us” and Muenzer saying he is “thrilled to see it moving forward.”
During the board meeting, Martin said the long-awaited EDC website would be “up and running within three weeks,” and that plans call for the agency to eventually be part of a regional website with other economic development groups.
“This is a stop-gap,” she said of the anticipated website. “It’ll have a lot of good information. This is by no means the end of the trail for us – it’s only the beginning.”
