Government - Byway Partnerships
Take Many Forms
Byway-government partnerships come in many forms – formal and informal, contractual and by handshake agreement, detailed or loosely defined. The byway representatives at the roundtable discussions on byway financial sustainability shared the following examples of government-based sources of funding, and in-kind and morale support.
Byway Organization Leverages Tax and Grant for Byway Project - Learn more
Capacity Building via Senior, Youth and Prison Worker Programs - Learn more
Contracts Cover Employee Commitment to Byway
Some byway organizations enjoy the services of government-paid
or Extension employees required by contract to dedicate a certain
amount of their work time to byway interests. In other cases, the
dedicated time is verbally understood.
DOTs: Much More than Grant Conduits - Learn more
Economic Development Alliances
Equal Powerful Partners
Byway organizations can easily be part of an economic development
alliance that creates public-private partnerships with Chambers of
Commerce, government, airports, port authorities,
and businesses to facilitate byway infrastructure development and
improvement, signage, job creation, tax incentives, and grants access.
Friends Finance Byways
Several byway organizations have or are considering developing
nonprofit Friends groups to generate and receive funds from government
sources on behalf of the byway.
The National Parks Conservation Association offers information on How to Develop a Friends Group. The Friends of Libraries USA also offers suggestions for developing a Friends Group.
Government Designations Add to Marketing Value - Learn more
Agencies as Intrinsic Quality Development Partners
Several byway representatives mentioned byway-government
agency partnerships that bring the byway organization in-kind value
through free-of-charge technical assistance and other donated services.
Examples of services include physical trail development and maintenance
and GIS training for byway organization staff. One byway representative
suggests learning more about endangered species grants available
from the U.S.
Fish & Wildlife Service for interpreting natural resources.
Learn more about goverment funding of natural
resource interpretation projects.
Government Landlords
Several byway organization representatives mentioned lease
arrangements with government agencies that provide the byway organization
with low-cost or free headquarters space and, in some instances,
space for a welcome center gift shop or other byway attraction. Learn
more
How to Develop Government Partnerships - Learn more
Lottery Funds Byway Line Item
One byway organization receives a $50,000 state budget line
item funded by lottery income that is funneled to the byway organization
through the state Department of Transportation. Another byway organization
annually asks Town governments for line item support based on the
byway organization’s calculated cost per mile to operate multiplied
by the number of miles of byway in each Town.
Matching Funds Make Promotion Possible
Several byway organizations access matching state funds
for tourism promotion, marketing and advertising, and, in some cases,
for printing promotional publications.
Memorandum of Understanding Defines Government-Byway Partnership (PDF)
One 501-c-3 byway organization asks 10 municipalities for $250/year each and plans to increase the asking amount as the byway’s impact on those municipalities becomes more clear. Other byways charge anywhere from $10 to $13,000 for municipal memberships; some fees are based on length of the byway in the municipality’s jurisdiction, others are based on population or size. Learn more about byway organization membership campaigns.
National Rural Development Partnerships May
Provide Resources for Byways
The National Rural Development Partnerships (NRDP) facilitate
the exchange of information and services affecting rural communities
and work through a system of State Rural Development Councils. Byway
organizations that oversee routes in rural areas may be able to access
resources by joining a local partnership. NRDP-Bureau
of Land Management Partnerships have created relationships for
creating databases, cost-sharing, technical assistance, implementation
and marketing planning, cooperative studies, public education programming,
consensus building, etc. See examples of other
successful partnership efforts.
Partners Outdoors: Why Not Byways Outdoors? - Learn more
Taxes
Various forms of recreation, restaurant, lodging, and other
taxes are dedicated to the benefit of byway organizations. Learn
more
Resources:
Don’t Be Afraid to be Creative with Government Fundraising – a best practices article by Jim Dornan, March 2005; offers basic tips for approaching your federal legislators
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