Economic Development, Placemaking and Branding/Marketing Committee TO: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, DATE: May 18, 2023
PLACEMAKING AND BRANDING/MARKETING
COMMITTEE MEMBERS WARDS: ALL
FROM: COMMUNITY & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
DEPARTMENT
SUBJECT: fISCAL YEAR 2023/24 CITY SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM, January 1, 2023 – June 30, 2023, Value of $127,904, AND BIENNIAL TABLE SPONSORSHIP UPDATE ISSUE:
Review of the City Sponsorship Program recommendations for monetary funding and/or in-kind contributions, for charitable and community events produced by local non-profit organizations. Receive an update on City Department Table Sponsorships.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
That the Economic Development, Placemaking and Branding/Marketing Committee:
Receive, review, and provide input on staff recommendations for the City Sponsorship Program for the six-month period of July 1 - December 31, 2023; Recommend that City Council approve City Sponsorship support in the form of monetary funding and/or in-kind contributions of $127,904 for charitable and community events, which are produced by local non-profit organizations; and Receive and file Table Sponsorship report for July 1, 2022 - December 31, 2022.
BACKGROUND:
The City Sponsorship Program (Program) provides local non-profit organizations with the opportunity to apply for City Funds and/or in-kind services twice each fiscal year. The July 31 deadline covers applications for charitable and community events and meetings for the following January 1 – June 30 funding cycle. The January 31 deadline covers applications for charitable and community events and meetings for July 1 – December 31, 2023.
Individual organizations were notified of the process via e-mail notifications in December and January, prior to the January 31, 2023, deadline, and staff led a Sponsorship 101 webinar in December 2023. The City Sponsorship Program Agreement, Guidelines, and processes are posted on the City’s website and included as Attachment 1.
The Program is administered by the Community & Economic Development Department and the funds are located within the Arts & Cultural Affairs Division Budget as follows:
Sponsorships Program for
Fiscal Year 2023/24
Proposed Cash Sponsorships for
July 1 - December 31, 2023
$135,545
$66,000
The City Sponsorship Program is presented to the City Council on two occasions each year. This report covers the period covering July 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023. The City Council last approved the City Sponsorship Program, on December 13, 2022, for the period covering January 1, 2023 to June 30, 2023.
DISCUSSION:
City Sponsorship
The sponsorship applications were evaluated by various City departments, based on each organization’s ability to create or enhance its events in the spirit of Seizing Our Destiny, as indicated in the Sponsorship Program Agreement. Other factors that were considered include projected attendance (virtual or live, as appropriate), event/organization history, event budget, City Sponsorship history, and location of project in an underrepresented ward.
Forty-eight (48) local, non-profit organizations have applied for monetary and/or in-kind sponsorship during the current application process for events to be produced from July 1, 2023 – December 31, 2023, and forty-seven (47) organizations are recommended as sponsorship recipients (Attachment 2); one application was declined because it was outside the appropriate project period. A component of the recommendations for sponsorship includes funding from Riverside Public Utilities (RPU), which is included in its budget, as well as in-kind sponsorship awards from the Fire Department; Library; Police Department; Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department (PRCSD); Public Works; and Riverside Public Utilities.
New applicants for this funding cycle include: a Kids’ Day event produced by Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Redlands-Riverside; Mercy House’s National Night Out event; Deaf Riverside Community’s Deaf Awareness Day; and Casa Blanca Home of Neighborly Services’ Jacobs Spirit of Giving holiday event. These groups are known to the community, but these are their first applications to the City Sponsorship program.
A summary of the recommended sponsorship values for Fall 2023/2024 appears below:
Cash Sponsorships (Arts & Cultural Affairs)
Cash Sponsorships (RPU)
Total Cash Sponsorships
Total Value of In-Kind Sponsorships
Total Value of Sponsorship
FA 2023/2024
$66,000
$6,950
$72,950
$54,954
$127,904
All impacted Department Heads concur with this report: Chief, Fire Department (RFD); Director, Library; Chief, Police Department (RPD); Director, Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department (PRCSD); and General Manager, Riverside Public Utilities (RPU).
Last spring, the City Council Economic Development, Placemaking and Branding/Marketing Committee requested an opportunity to review the criteria used by City Departments during the evaluation process. ACAD Staff surveyed the participating Departments and created a universal form, to be used by all participating Departments during the review of eligible applications. That form includes the following criteria:
Projected Attendance
Previous Attendance (if applicable)
History of Service to Community (Y/N)
Connection to Specific Sections of the Strategic Plan
Eligible Monetary Request (50%, 35%, or 20%, based on Sponsorship Guidelines) Projected Cost per Participant
Cultural Program (Y/N)
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (Ability/Culture/Ethnicity/Families/Seniors/Children & Youth) Council Ward
Availability of Requested Resource (Y/N)
Table Sponsorship
City Council approved a policy on March 12, 2019, authorizing the City Manager to review and approve department requests for table sponsorships. The policy was implemented immediately, with process and tracking completed in the City Manager’s Office. Included in this report is the reporting cycle for table sponsorship from July 1 – December 31, 2022 (Attachment 3). Two events received a combined total of $1,155. During the pandemic, there were no applicable events, but event activity continues to increase. Staff provided an update on the City Table Sponsorship Program to City Council on December 13, 2022 reporting that one event received a $600 table sponsorship.
STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT
The City Sponsorship Program supports Strategic Priority 1 – Arts, Culture, and Recreation and Goals 1.1 and 1.2: learning, arts, culture, recreation, senior programs, and partnerships, as well as facilitation of requests for in-kind sponsorship related to various City amenities. Because of the diversity of requests, the Program also addresses Goal 1.5: programs and services related to literacy, health, and education for all ages. Strategic Priority 2 – Community Well-Being (Goals 2.3 – 2.5) are addressed through programs related to development of a sense of community, community engagement, neighborhoods, and partnerships.
This item aligns with each of the five Cross-cutting Threads as follows:
Community Trust:
Each round of City Sponsorship funding is documented fully in the reports that are presented to the Economic Development, Placemaking & Marketing/Branding Committee and to the City Council, including each request item and each staff recommendation item Sponsorship 101 workshops are offered to prospective applicants every six months to ensure that they are informed of the processes and requirements Equity:
As staff members evaluate applications, they give particular attention to organizations that seek to serve populations representing the diversity of Riverside Access is a key factor in the evaluation process; each event or project must include significant outreach, with a preference for events and projects that are offered at no cost to the participants, and those applicants that cannot do that must eliminate significant barriers to entry, usually by offering free or reduced admission prices for specific populations (children, students, veterans, and seniors) Fiscal Responsibility:
The City Sponsorship program is included in the Arts & Cultural Affairs Division operating budget, placing it directly within the sphere of accountability that encompasses each staff member’s work, through the supervision of City Management, to the City Council The events and projects do not, generally, provide revenue directly to the City budget; however, sales tax revenue is generated through budget expenditures related to the production of each event or project and through the commerce generated by an event or project participants Additionally, these Sponsorship dollars are leveraged through the funded projects to provide community-enhancing activities throughout the calendar year, which multiply the value and impact of those dollars On average, the nonprofit organizations that spend the City’s Sponsorship dollars utilize about one City dollar per each person who receives services, based on the estimated number of individuals served through these Sponsorship-funded programs and across a broad spectrum of causes Innovation:
Because the Program operates through two rounds of funding each year, there is broad opportunity for applicants to innovate in response to community needs, new trends, and fresh inspiration The frequency of the application process encourages innovation, because it mitigates risk in a way that a project of longer duration cannot, and that frequency also allows for flexibility in response to emerging needs in the community The Program provides opportunities (primarily during the Sponsorship 101 Training) for nonprofits to interact, opening doors to innovation through collaborations and partnerships Sustainability & Resiliency:
Funded projects promote the health of our nonprofit community, which makes this an investment in the capacity of the nonprofit community, as well as an investment in each life served by that community The nonprofit organizations in our community represent such broad and diverse areas of interest that they serve as a barometer of need in the community FISCAL IMPACT:
The total fiscal impact of this action is $127,904, which includes $72,950 in monetary contributions and in-kind services contributions (including facilities) of $54,954. Monetary contribution of $66,000 is from the General Fund, CD-Arts & Cultural Affairs, Sponsorships expenditure account 2850000-450302 and $6,950 is from the Electric Fund, PU-Admin Customer Engagement, Community Support expenditure account 6020000-456022. Table Sponsorship expenditures of $1,155 have no fiscal impact in this funding period.
Items in the above listed accounts are budgeted and will be presented to City Council in the Proposed Amendment of the FY 2023/24 Budget in June 2023 for adoption.
Prepared by: Jennifer Lilley, Community & Economic Development Director Certified as to
availability of funds: Edward Enriquez, Interim Assistant City Manager/Chief Financial Officer/City Treasurer
Approved by: Rafael Guzman, Assistant City Manager
Approved as to form: Phaedra A. Norton, City Attorney
Attachments:
Program Agreement/Guidelines
Staff Funding Recommendations for Fall, 2023/2024
Table Sponsorship, July – December 2022
Presentation for Summary of Funding Recommendations
City Sponsorship Program – FALL 2023/2024 Page 3