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GFDA Investor Letter
Greetings!
Good morning!
I’m going to try to get back to sending out quarterly investor letters to give a 30,000-foot view of what GFDA is doing with your investment dollars, though I know my last letter was on March 11th. Therse letters assume you are skimming our weekly Top 10 and monthly Board and Council reports. If you are not on the Board and Council distribution list and would like to be added, please email Tracy Heggem at Tracy@GrowGreatFalls.org
We’re making progress on housing development, primary sector business attraction, business start-ups and expansions, downtown revitalization and much more. Since my March letter, there are three new things that I’m pleased to report:
Energy
Investing in the creation of an Energy Business Development Officer is producing results far earlier than I expected. We have generated exciting new leads in producing more energy in the region and in using that energy within Montana. We also helped launch the Montana Energy Business Alliance with key businesses across the state to advocate for energy transmission capacity to assure affordable and reliable energy for Montana. We have also been using the regional Freight Logistics market assessment to attract interest in new logistics facilities serving local businesses.
Tourism, Recreation & Entertainment
The market assessment for our region was so strong that last month we created a Business Development Officer position to focus on growing these industries. I am confident this will result in new leads and growth. Our region has the potential to expand tourism which helps support recreation, entertainment, dining and shopping that retains and attracts workforce.
Loan Capital Campaign
Last week we successfully completed our five-year loan capital goal, securing $8 million in new loan capital in 18 months! This provides us with the capital we thought we needed to fill capital gaps in business start-ups, expansions, housing and commercial development. We will continue to raise more capital because we have more economic activity with greater capital gaps. However, we are in a much stronger position than we were when our Board adopted our Financial Growth Plan in December 2023. Since 2020 we have grown our loan capital base from $11 million to $41 million.
Next up are three things I’m excited about:
Defense
This quarter we plan to launch the new defense mission support and advocacy effort, creating the Central Montana Defense Coalition. I invite you to become a partner in this critical effort. We will also be commissioning a defense industry market assessment to explore ways that we can attract private sector defense business to our region.
Impact Investment Fund(s)
I’m going to be asking many of you to engage in assessing the interest and feasibility of creating some form(s) of impact investment funds to ensure that we can make more deals come together by providing the equity capital, filling equity gaps in a similar fashion to how we fill debt gaps. These have proven to be a powerful tool in other communities across the country. In the meantime, if you would be interested in reallocating some of your investments from out of state to local deals, please let me know. I would love to introduce you to housing developers looking for equity investors.
New Tools
Like every creative problem solver, we can never have enough tools in our toolbox to help entrepreneurs, businesses and developers to achieve their dreams. The more tools we have and the more creatively we use them, the greater chance we have of helping our clients produce the results you hunger for.
Montana Opportunities in Rural Communities
We’ve been approved as both a lender and an economic development partner to offer this new loan participation product statewide. The Montana Department of Commerce will have about $8 million a year to put to work.
Great Falls AgriTech Park
We’re purchasing another 42 acres to expand the Park and we’re working with the City of Great Falls to construct infrastructure to create four more shovel-ready lots. We already have two companies interested in two of these lots.
Childcare Market Assessment
We’ve commissioned an expanded update to our 2021 childcare market assessment. We believe this will prove even more useful than the 2021 report in providing the market data to convince existing Operators expand and new operators to offer high quality childcare services. This is all about the workforce talent you need.
Opportunity Zones
We’re gearing up for Opportunity Zone 2.0 which I think can be even more powerful for our region than the first round. The program is now permanent and there is a new incentive for rural zones.
You know me. I could go on and on. I’ll end here with a profound THANK YOU for your investment, your time and your partnership. And a huge handclap and appreciation to the outstanding staff team we’ve put developed. Working together, we’ve changed the trajectory of our local economy and set our sights even higher.
If you are ready to re-invest or join TEAM Great Falls as a GFDA Investor, please call or email Jennifer Gallmeier at 1-406-781-9499 or Jenn@GrowGreatFalls.org
Please let me know if you have any questions, concerns or leads!
Thanks!
Brett
Brett Doney
President & CEO
BDoney@GrowGreatFalls.org
1-406-750-2119
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