There’s no job like running a BID. You have to be an expert in marketing and events, you have to understand a range of agendas from the national to the local, from security to transport to planning; you must be able to run political campaigns and sustain a transparent operation under the watchful eye of a board, your membership and the general public. It can be a thankless task with little support.

 

The BID packages we offer focus on the reality that most BIDs have limited time and resource to manage some very important tasks. Sometimes all you need is an external and independent review of your operation, or help with a big project, or advice on how to make it through the next ballot, or member engagement exercise.

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We can help. Below are a few examples of our support packages:

 

BID feasibility, ballot training and BID renewals

Developing a BID for the first time can be a little daunting. In reality, as long as you have all your ducks in a row, it’s fine. The key to getting it right is in the engagement. As long as you have enough of the business community with you, the focus then needs to be on technical and governance matters.  The BAS support package will help you through the following jobs:

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• Crunching the numbers in order to get a good idea of BID income across a number of scenarios

• Running the initial consultation so that the business community knows what you intend to investigate and contributes ideas for the BID delivery programme

• Developing your BID proposal and liaising with the council

• Launching your formal campaign and running the ballot. We can even help man the phones if this is helpful.

• Setting up the BID Company: governance, delivery, finances and relationships

 

You can also come to us if you or your team need a refresher before a renewal ballot, or you can give the whole BID renewal process to us to look after while you get on with the business of delivering the BID..

 

Member engagement and mid-term review

It’s not just during the ballot phase that your members need to feel involved. Aside from the regular newsletter and events, best practice suggests that BIDs should contact members one-to-one every year to offer a meeting and find out how they can help.

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This helps you learn about what’s happening in the area, who may be moving on, what the general feeling is about the BID. It’s much better to learn this detail away from the ballot context. Why not launch a mid-term review to poll your members on BID services? The support package includes:

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• Engagement strategy paper for your board to approve

• One to one contact in person or by telephone with every contactable member

• Development and deployment of key questions for member interview

• Engagement report and recommendations.

 

BID healthcheck

When you are in the thick of things, delivering a hundred projects at once, it can be a little difficult to stand back and get the answers to some of the bigger questions – is this programme meeting my members’ needs? Is the BID delivering on our strategic objectives for the area? Does the programme deliver good return on investment? Is it popular with members? Are we being sufficiently transparent?

 

The healthcheck allows you to get on with your day job while an independent expert reviews all aspects of your BID against a set of agreed criteria and best practice. Areas the healthcheck covers include:

 

• BID governance and transparency

• BID delivery – value for money, efficiency, whether it meets an identified need

• Strategic, long term vision

• Local relationships and networks

• Member engagement

 

We can look at all aspects of your BID, delivering a range of recommendations for your board to consider. The process will involve review of documentation, interviews with members, staff and your board, and confidential assessment against comparator BIDs we agree on.

 

Funding applications and project development

Applications for funding require focus, specific skills and the development of partner networks and local support. As such, the preparation of such funding applications are outside the capabilities of many BIDs. If you have some great ideas but no capacity to write a submission, talk to us.

 

We can find the right funds to meet your objectives, and prepare funding submissions on subjects as diverse as:

 

• Capital projects to develop buildings or facilities

• Employment and skills programmes

• Environment – greening, air quality and sustainable transport

• Retail centre improvements – shop front renewal, streetscape schemes etc

 

Governance review

The governance of BIDs is a hot topic, and it’s clear that not all BIDs are operating under best practice, nor is it to be expected that all BIDs would know how governance mechanisms should be set up. The industry needs to show that it is transparent and efficient, and your members need to see this too.

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• Board – constitution, renewal, voting, decision making, relationships with BID team, contracts etc

• Finances – auditing, reporting to members, financial procedures

• Staffing – HR procedures, complaints, redundancies, appraisals etc

• Data – GDPR obligations, data security

 

Call us today to discuss your needs.

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