Ithaca BID: A Case Study

Some BIDs offer loans to members. The Webster BID, for example, allows members to borrow up to $2,000 interest free for property improvements, seasonal inventory funding and/or general business needs.

Ithaca is bigger, but its market is just 53,000, not hundreds of thousands. It has a topography that lends itself to concentration of assets in its 22-block downtown. Like Geneva, however, its main employers are nonprofits, not well-heeled private corporations with deep pockets for civic donations. In sum, there are some lessons about its founding, mission and growth that may inspire some new Geneva thinking. When it began, the Ithaca BID, which calls itself the Downtown Ithaca Alliance, generated an assessment of just $134,000. Today, the same area generates $700,000 for Alliance operations or roughly 50 percent of a roughly $1.2 million annual budget. The remaining revenues come from both City and County support, grants, and a relatively small profit generated by a relatively large event-revenue operation. It is clear both the city and county count on the Ithaca BID to be a significant player in economic development. While among its 11 employees it does include a cleaning crew, it sees its main mission as an “Economic Development Organization. ” It conducts

two strategic planning operations, one for its own planning and a second it leads for the downtown merchants group. In sum, it sees itself as leading the largest commercial and retail operation for the community.

Other interesting details:  It owns and circulates its own information, publishing regular guides to downtown activities and services for local residents and visitors and generates revenue from advertising in those documents and web pages.  It plans and executes events that bring in $250,000 per year, but generates only $65,000 in profits from those activities.  Its event operation, in partnership with the city and county, maintains event equipment it makes available to BID members for their special events and, when possible, offers technical assistance to encourage more downtown events not sponsored directly by the BID.  It operates solely as a 501(c) 3 and audits independently each year.

Potential Lessons

 Downtown is an economic engine that, if harnessed creatively, can generate significant marketing money, and attract and promote growth.  Collaboration with the City and County will generate increased sales taxes.  The BID’s ambition and mission determine its eventual revenues and impact.  Events are valued for traffic, not revenue.  As “owners” of a downtown, its merchants and property owners are shepherds of a community asset harnessed and curated for growth and activity.  Nonprofit status seems to help Ithaca generate grants and wider support.  Perhaps “BID” is an oft-putting and technical term. Maybe a rebranding would improve public awareness of mission. What follows is the 2022 Ithaca budget, minus a $200,000 Employee Retention/COVID grant that also helped gird the operation this year. It gives a more detailed look at spending and revenues.

See the Downtown Ithaca website for more on its mission and services: