The board of FloridaWest, Escambia County’s economic development authority, wants to add more private sector partners to fully implement its strategic plan, which was developed two years ago.
- The board voted to hire Funding Solutions to conduct the campaign. According to the audited statements for the fiscal year ended 9/30/23, local governments provided the organization $825,000 annually while memberships and investor dues chipped in $250,000.
And the surveys said:
Funding Solutions conducted a survey of area leaders and found:
- 55% of our respondents mentioned a lack of a cohesive economic development strategy that includes all the players – public sector, private sector, local and regional partner organizations.
- 69% of our respondents expressed the opinion that FloridaWest should be the lead convener, conductor, and collaborator of economic development entities – targeted within its three main strategic goals.
- Only five percent (5%) of our interviewees stated they had a solid understanding of FloridaWest’s success and impact; forty-six percent (46%) had limited understanding; and the largest group of forty-nine percent (49%) said they had no understanding
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- The marketing & communications report for the board’s January meeting found that Google Analytics was down by a third for FloridaWest – as were interactions on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
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Campaign Goal: The company believes it can increase the private sector investment by $500,000 annually – $3.7 million for five years.
The full report is in the January board agenda packet.
