October 5, 2008

Drive for Economic Development
Millions in Donations Sought for Five-Year Cycle of Greater Richmond Partnership

By John Reid Blackwell, Richmond Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

Local business and civic leaders will kick off a public campaign this week to raise $9 million in private donations for regional economic-development efforts.

The Greater Richmond Partnership Inc., a business-recruitment organization for Richmond and Chesterfield, Henrico and Hanover counties, seeks the funding to support its work for five years starting in 2009.

The group's goal is $18 million for its 2009-14 budget cycle. Half of the money would come from local governments and half from private donors.

Five years ago during its last fundraising campaign, the partnership raised $16 million for its current budget cycle.

For several months, the organization has been quietly asking its past business donors to renew their financial support. With Tuesday's public campaign launch, the partnership will widen its scope and solicit support from the entire business community.

"What we are doing is going back to our current investors and hoping they will re-up, and calling on some new companies that were not part of the mix in the last five years," said Gregory H. Wingfield, the partnership's president and chief executive officer. "Now we will be talking to smaller companies out there."

The campaign is accelerating just as the economy is increasingly troubled, a fact that isn't lost on Wingfield. In his phone calls to potential donors, "I've said that now more than ever, we do need to invest in economic development."

Wingfield declined to disclose financial commitments to the partnership so far, saying campaign leaders would reveal more details Tuesday.

Founded in 1994 as a cooperative effort of local governments and the business community, the partnership also helps existing businesses expand, and it promotes the Richmond area internationally.

The partnership's goals for 2009-14 include attracting new businesses that bring 8,500 jobs and $1.5 billion in capital investment, and supporting the creation of 7,500 jobs and $250 million in investment by existing firms.

The group also wants to assist new, small businesses in creating 1,250 jobs and $35 million in investment.

In its current five-year cycle, the partnership has worked with companies that brought more than 5,200 jobs to the region and $1.8 billion in capital investments. It also has worked with more than 500 existing companies on expansion projects.

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