Developing Short-term and Long-term Fundraising Strategies for DUMBO Improvement District

The DUMBO Improvement District is one of 60 Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in the City of New York. The BID is funded by local commercial property owners, and its budget is used to provide improvements such as keeping the streets clean, advocating on behalf of the community to public and private stakeholders, helping DUMBO go green, and bringing more public art to the neighborhood. The BID's provision of services and role in bringing capital improvements to the neighborhood exceeds the organization's primary revenue source ? the annual special assessment. Accordingly, the BID sought the assistance of the Capstone team in articulating a development and fundraising agenda. The team researched various corporate, foundation, and governmental grants suitable for the BID, analyzed the feasibility of increasing the annual assessment, and conducted a peer group analysis of NYC BIDs. The report details the Capstone team's findings and recommendations on how the BID could expand its fundraising strategies to achieve its goals.