[share]

The Board of Directors of the Great River Economic Development Foundation today announces the creation of a new membership program called The Investor Program. GREDF staff, under the direction of the Board’s Membership and Nominating Committee, has developed the new program with the goal of maintaining and increasing private membership investment.

Growing membership investment will allow GREDF to fulfill its mission to maintain and improve the economic vitality of the Quincy and Adams County, Illinois, region through the retention and expansion of existing businesses and the attraction of new businesses to our region.

“Over the past year, GREDF has developed a new strategic plan that better aligns the organization’s goals and strategies with our annual budget and work plan,” says Dan Henke, Chairman of the GREDF Board of Directors. “One of the key goals we identified was to develop a private membership investment program to help support our activities.”

GREDF currently has 200 member investors. The new program provides an updated, more clearly defined structure and calculator for determining membership investment levels. “We have always received great support from our members and for that we are very grateful. Now we are asking members to align their investment with their business operations and success,” says Glenn Bemis, Chairman of the GREDF Membership and Nominating Committee.

The staff has developed a recommended annual investment calculator that bases levels of giving on a combination of three criteria:

1. Number of local employees
2. Company revenue
3. Percentage of regional customers

The recommended level of investment for financial institutions is based on deposits.

GREDF is the only organization solely dedicated to economic development for Quincy and Adams County. Although the organization receives annual contributions from both the City of Quincy and Adams County, over 50% of GREDF’s income is raised through private membership investment.

“This is about partnerships with our region’s businesses,” says GREDF President Marcel Wagner. “Our goal is to add value to our area’s business and industry through things like business retention and expansion and workforce development. Our new Investor Program is a way for companies and organizations to invest in these efforts and be a part of our region’s success.”

The new levels of investment are as follows:

• Chairman’s Club $10,000+
• President’s Club $5,000+
• Executive’s Club $2,500+
• Manager’s Club $1,000+

In addition to the benefits that go along with supporting economic development activities in our region, based on the level of investment, member investors may receive a members-only e-newsletter, invitation to a members-only annual breakfast, listing and link on www.gredf.org, listing on the annual report, recognition at the annual meeting and an invitation to the board of directors annual dinner.

GREDF is pleased to announce that three local organizations have stepped up to become the first $10,000 Chairman’s Club members: Adams Networks/Adams Telephone, Blessing Health System and The Knapheide Manufacturing Company. 

“For 166 years, Knapheide has proudly called Quincy, Illinois and Adams County home,” states Harry Marcionetti, Senior Vice President of Operations, at The Knapheide Manufacturing Company. “Our involvement and support of GREDF will help ensure that we have the economic growth and development within the region to support our endeavors for tomorrow and beyond.”

“The Blessing Health System considers its GREDF membership as an investment in Quincy, Adams County and the tri-state region,” says Maureen Kahn, incoming President and CEO of the Blessing Health System and a GREDF board member. “We need a strong economic development organization to support job creation so that those of us who benefit from economic development can continue to grow our own enterprises.”

“As a cooperative we understand the focus of investing our time and assets locally and GREDF is no different,” says Jim Broemmer, Chief Executive Officer of Adams and a former GREDF board member.  “At Adams we continue to make investments in communication services in our region to support our communities growth and sustainability and we see GREDF as a partner in this mission.  We are proud to be a supporter.”

In addition to these investments, GREDF has received commitments from a number of other area companies to increase their levels of giving. “We’ve been knocking on a lot of doors to find out more about our region’s business community, thank them for their past support and ask them to consider becoming a bigger partner/investor,” says Wagner. “We have had very positive feedback.”

Past and current members will be receiving an electronic survey in their email inboxes in the coming days. The quick, 8-question survey asks for feedback on GREDF’s strategic plan and asks recipients to answer a few confidential questions about their business which will help GREDF staff prioritize business retention and membership visits.

For more information about the new GREDF Investor Program, click here, or call Maggie Strong at 217.223.4313.

[share]Dear Partner in Economic Development,

Economic development is not an endeavor of a single person or single organization. Successful economic development is a collaborative and aggressive process. That’s why GREDF places a high value on partnerships and welcomes the opportunity to work with businesses and organizations like yours for the good of our region.

2013 has been a transitional year for our organization. The staff and I, with the support and direction of our board, have been hard at work developing a strategic plan and 2014 work plan. We’re not quite ready to share the entire plans yet (you’ll have to wait until our Annual Meeting on January 8, 2014), but here are the highlights:

1. Business Retention and Expansion – Conducting regular visits with our area businesses to help identify opportunities and threats is key to our region’s overall economic growth.
2. Workforce Development – We must work with our businesses and educational institutions to ensure existing and new businesses alike will have the qualified workforce they require to grow.
3. Business Attraction – We’ve already begun to promote our region to prospective businesses and site consultants and we’ll continue to do this on a greater scale in 2014.
4. Marketing and Branding – It’s important that we communicate a clear and concise Quincy and Adams County brand to potential investors and businesses.
5. Entrepreneurship – Providing assistance to individuals and small business owners helps grow our economy.
6. Membership – This is where you come in. We need income in order to maintain a qualified staff and provide exceptional economic development services.

If you haven’t done so already, please consider becoming a GREDF member or renewing your GREDF membership today. Although we receive funds from both the City and County to carry out economic development activities on behalf of both, half of GREDF’s budget comes from private members like you. You are an essential part of our economic development program. You care about the Quincy and Adams County area, so we’re asking you to invest in our efforts. We think you’ll like the return.

I look forward to getting to know you better in 2014. Our door is always open at GREDF and we welcome the opportunity to work with you more closely, so please don’t hesitate to contact us if we can be of service.

Sincerely,

Marcel

Marcel W. Wagner, Jr., CEcD

P.S. Just click on the Become a GREDF Member graphic above to download a pdf of our current membership investment form.