Innovation in Effective Compassion Home > Changing Lives > Targeting Human Needs > Economic Development and Public Private Partnerships

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	Compassion Spotlight
	Since 2002, the Economic Development Administration (EDA), within the Department of Commerce, has increased the average annual number of projects with FBCOs by 60%. Since 2001, EDA has invested more than $175 million in 236 faith-based or community projects. The anticipated economic benefits include more than 88,000 jobs and $3.8 billion in private investment. In 2007, nearly one million small businesses received assistance from the Small Business Administration’s nonprofit counseling and training partners. Since 2001, GDA has cultivated over 680 alliances with more than 1,700 individual partners and attracted investments of more than $9 billion in partner resources.

The Need
The Response
   U.S. Department of Commerce
   U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)
   U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

The Need

• Economic development is integral to strengthening communities and ensuring national economic vitality.
• Successful economic development requires strong partnerships between government, the private sector, and nonprofit organizations.
• Communities may need assistance to help empower themselves to develop their own economic strategies based on local and regional institutions.

The Response

FBCOs are a strong asset in the national strategy for local economic development. They are important contributors to revitalizing communities, establishing sustainable economic development initiatives, attracting private investment, building wealth, and encouraging entrepreneurship.

The Department of Commerce, Small Business Administration (SBA), and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) all play a role in promoting national and world commerce, business, and economic development by assisting communities to achieve economic growth and prosperity. Through creative partnerships with FBCOs, these Federal agencies work to leverage public resources and enhance the effectiveness of their programs.

Department of Commerce
The Economic Development Administration (EDA) is the principal agency within the Department of Commerce that invests in social service organizations. EDA helps business, social service, and local government partners across the country to create wealth and minimize poverty by promoting a favorable business environment to attract private capital investment and higher skill, higher wage jobs through capacity building, planning, infrastructure, and research grants, as well as other strategic initiatives.

• EDA emphasizes regionalism, innovation, and entrepreneurship as the building blocks for successful economic development. EDA investments are focused on locally developed, regionally based, high-value, cutting-edge economic development initiatives that achieve the highest return on the taxpayers’ investment and that directly contribute to regional and national economic growth.
• EDA has a long history of providing grants to FBCOs. Since 2001, EDA has invested more than $185 million in 255 faith-based or community projects. The anticipated economic benefit of this investment is to create more than 91,000 jobs and realize $4 billion in private investment. Since 2002, EDA has increased its average annual number of projects with FBCOs by 60%.
• In 2008 alone, EDA invested more than $16 million in 32 such projects, with an anticipated benefit of more than 3,700 jobs created and more than $198 million in private-sector investment.

Small Business Administration (SBA)
The SBA partners with nonprofit organizations in both its financial assistance programs and entrepreneurial development programs. Nonprofit credit unions, microlenders, and certified development companies provide SBA credit assistance to small businesses unable to obtain credit at reasonable terms. Through its nonprofit partners at Women’s Business Centers (WBC) and the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) “Counselors to America’s Small Business,” SBA provides management counseling and training to small businesses, including nonprofit FBCOs. Technical training includes developing a business plan, managing and growing, identifying appropriate sources of capital, continuity of operations, and other key issues. These programs focus on assisting underserved and rural communities and people in need, including minorities, veterans, Native Americans, and women.

In 2008, over one million small businesses received assistance from SBA’s nonprofit counseling and training partners.

• The WBC provides grants to nonprofit organizations located throughout the country to aid and encourage the development and growth of small women-owned businesses. In FY 2008, the WBC assisted 159,879 entrepreneurs and helped create 1,038 new small businesses.
• SCORE is a nonprofit association dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and to supporting the formation, growth, and success of small businesses nationwide. SCORE has 10,500 volunteer counselors located at 389 chapter offices across the country. In FY 2008, SCORE served 360,559 small business clients. Learn more about SCORE
• " In FY 2008, SBA partnered with 405 credit unions that made 2,419 SBA guaranteed loans totaling $161,987,751; 167 Microloan Intermediary Lenders that made 2,682 SBA loans using approximately $20 million in funds advanced by SBA and another $11 million non-SBA capital and retained earnings; and 272 Certified Development Companies that made 8,833 SBA loans totaling $5.3 billion.

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
USAID’s Global Development Alliance (GDA) works to forge alliances among the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to stimulate economic growth, develop businesses and workforces, and address a range of other needs. By linking the assets of companies, foundations, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) with USAID’s resources, GDA helps all sectors work together to improve lives, provide employment, and expand opportunity. Since 2001, GDA has cultivated over 680 alliances with more than 1,700 individual partners and attracted investments of more than $9 billion in partner resources.

• FBCOs bring much to these public-private partnerships, including existing networks of relationships, knowledge of customs, and local buy-in from the communities they serve.
• GDA partnerships that actively involve local leadership and local beneficiaries in design and implementation are most likely to be successful and sustainable.