Augusta Regional Collaboration Corp

What it reported doing in 2020

600 Broad: ARCC completed construction of 600 Broad in 2015, and obtained all necessary permits from the City of Augusta. ARCCs RFP for potential users remained open, and ARCC began tenanting the space with small businesses. In addition, ARCC offered event space for the community, pop-up retail opportunities for new businesses, free meeting space for non-profits and a community gallery for emerging artists. ARCC directly managed, tenanted and operated the building. Cultural District: oMomentum: ARCC continued in its support of the 2-year Momentum program in partnership with the Community Foundation for the Central Savannah River Area, Georgia Center for Nonprofits, Knox Foundation, Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, Trustees of the Academy of Richmond County, and the Georgia Council for the Arts via funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. The goal of the Momentum project is to increase the impact and sustainability of arts nonprofits across Georgia by improving their capacity to think and act more strategically, and to function more effectively as a leadership team. Momentum is the first and largest project of its kind in Georgia and supports the work of nonprofits addressing complex issues in communities around the state. The process actively supports and measures growth at the individual, team, and organization-level around the following goals: enhancing organizational strategic capacity, developing effective leaders, fostering collaborations and promoting sustainability. ARCC was a lead funder of the initiative as well as providing 600 Broad as a gathering and classroom space for some of the sessions.oCommunity Gallery: The gallery at 600 Broad hosted local and emerging artists on a monthly basis, timing its openings to be coincident with a monthly downtown event, First Fridays. Each artist was given a full month of exhibition time, with costs defrayed by ARCC. The Community Gallery was run four times per year as a partnership with the Greater Augusta Arts Council, whom ARCC also offered space grants and services to in order to support their mission. During the other 8 months of the year, ARCC partnered with other local artists, curators, Augusta University and local non-profits to offer the space to the community. oLive From Downtown: With the opening of 600 Broad, ARCC began hosting a monthly family-friendly event to coincide with the gallery opening. The event was modeled on other such events in downtowns that used cultural activity to attract families to less active areas of the downtown in the evenings, and through that foot traffic making those places both safer and more attractive to local businesses. ARCC partnered with local food vendors as well as hiring local musicians to create an outdoor event that complemented the monthly Community Gallery openings. Attendance built steadily over the year, supported by partnerships and sponsorships of local radio and PR firms. Mills District: After months of searching, ARCC found a potential developer for the Mills District and entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with that developer in March of 2015. The developer would seek to create a data center, office and education campus on the Sibley Mill. ARCC worked with the developer to evaluate feasibility of the program. ARCC provided past studies on the Mills that it had contracted for from professional architects and construction managers. In addition, ARCC assisted in evaluating financial feasibility, including in reviewing business and financing plans. ARCC connected the new developer with the same resources at National Development Council that ARCC had provided previously to the City in exploration of Historic and New Market Tax Credits. Foundry Place: In 2015, there was a new Mayor and Commission in Augusta. ARCC briefed both the Mayor and the Commission members on the current status of the Foundry deal and requested whether the City wanted to proceed. A green light was given to proceed, and an official Mem

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: Limited
• Program expense ratio: Limited

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -449.2%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.34; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 1; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 34.2%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: Limited
• Revenue growth: Limited
• Asset growth: Limited