Partnership leaders report on ’sound’ alliance
September 30, 2009
By CHRIS TRAINOR/ ctrainor@indexjournal.com
A look back.
A look ahead.
Those who attended the Greenwood Partnership Alliance 2008-09 Annual Report meeting Monday night at Piedmont Tech got a little of both.
Partnership executive in charge of operations Mark Warner and board chairman Thornwell Dunlap III each addressed a room full of local politicians and governmental leaders during the report. Also, Convergent Nonprofit Solutions principal Tom Ralser addressed the group in regards to return on investment.
Dunlap told those gathered that Partnership Alliance is on solid footing despite the stagnant economy.
“The Partnership is financially sound,” Dunlap said. “We’ve reacted to the current economic cycle we are in. Our staff has been good stewards of our investments and has managed those well and put those to good use. We are in good financial standing.”
Dunlap also intimated the economic development group is adhering to its five-year strategic plan.
“We have that plan in place and have been working that plan for about a year now,’ Dunlap said. “We are making progress in every area of that plan.”
In terms of business development activities, Warner said 2008-09 has been a solid year for product development.
“One thing that came out of our strategic plan that was unveiled in in 2008 was that we needed to continue to develop product,” he said. “That is land, industrial sites or buildings. In the 2008-2009 year, we have added almost 1,600 acres of certified property that we gained control of or have done a feasibility studies on.”
The annual report detailed that five buildings totaling 244,296-square-feet have been added to Partnership’s inventory of available sites.
Warner’s report also outlined 902 jobs impacted in the 2008-09 fiscal year. Within that number, new job announcements made up 50 percent, 32 percent were jobs created by existing industry expansion and 18 percent were jobs maintained through existing industry retention.
According to the report, the county has seen nearly $43 million in capital investments in the last year. Of that, 99 percent of the investments were made by existing industry
In terms of the firm’s activity from January through June of this year, the report showed Partnership worked 30 new projects or leads, completed 32 requests for information, hosted 25 project meetings, made 25 business retention and expansion contacts, held 20 consultant meetings and went on four marketing trips.
“It has been a busy half of a year at Partnership Alliance,” Warner said.
Warner also touted the re-branding of Partnership in the last year, as the company has unveiled a new logo and a new Web site in that time period.
Meanwhile, Ralser painted a picture of the return on investment the local area gets from the work done by Partnership Alliance. The study unveiled by Ralser touched on the jobs and earnings data of 14 companies with which Partnership had extensive involvement between July 2007 and August 2009.
Partnership’s expenditures in connection with those companies was $1.9 million. The reported total of new jobs was 1,800, and the reported total of new job earnings from that was $46.3 million, with capital investments of $129.1 million.
As such, the cost per new job created was $1,044 and the capital investment per job created was $71,747. The weighted salary of each new job created was $25,751.
“You are very cost efficient in creating jobs here,” Ralser said. “The challenge is in the wage levels and, folks, it is tough out there. Every organization, like the Partnership, is trying to do the same thing. They are trying to steal your companies and you are trying to steal theirs. It is very competitive. And when it is competitive like that, especially in this economy, it drives wage levels down, so you’ve got another thing working against you.”
