The Administration receives sponsorship requests throughout the year from various entities ranging from $10,000.00 - $250,000.00.
Currently, the Administration lacks the process to properly evaluate each proposal received as it pertains to identifying proper financial allotment amounts, as well as ideal cultural fit for Miami Beach.
Due to the fact that these requests continue to come in throughout the year, the Adminstration is unable to adjudicate the proposals against each other, which does not put us in a position to identify the strongest proposals from the beginning. Almost all granting and sponsorship bodies have due dates for applications, so that proper evaluations can take place and you can compare all applications against each other to ensure the strongest proposals are properly funded.
In addition, the Administration does not have a set allotment of funds for these sponsorships, like our Cultural Arts Council, which allows them to better understand the amount of money that a requestor should be awarded, based on the overall amounts requested and return to the City (Resort Tax) and the Community (Resident Benefits). The Administration is working on identifying a set dollar amount that is available for sponsorships each fiscal year, as well as setting two application dates, so requestors can submit their proposals during those set times, and the administration can properly evaluate and make recommendations against the approved budget.
The Administration is currently working on updates to the Sponsorship Guidelines as currently outlined in Sec. 12-7(a) of Chapter 12 (Arts, Culture and Entertainment) of the City Code, the process currently states that any request for City Sponsorship of an event of $25,000 or more shall only be considered through the City Commission's annual budget process.
All other requests for City sponsorship, pursuant to 12-7(b) shall require "(I) an advisory recommendation of the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee; and (ii) by a five-sevenths (5/7th) vote, of the City Commission," and 12-7(c) states that 'in considering approval of a Sponsorship for an event, "the City Commission may consider:
(I) whether the event organizer has exercised good-faith diligent efforts to apply for grant funding that may be available from the City's Visitor and Convention Authority ("VCA" or Cultural Arts Council ("CAC");
(ii) the Event organizer's history and performance in delivering quality Events,
(iii) any benefits being directly provided to the general public with respect to the Event, such as free or discounted tickets to persons residing in the City of Miami Beach, seniors, veterans, or member of disadvantaged groups;
(iv) whether the event is accessible to the general public (either as a ticketed event or otherwise);
(v) the demonstrable economic impacts associated with the Event;
(vi) the demonstrable media commitments secured by the Event organizer for the Event; or
(vii) the efforts undertaken by the Event organizer to mitigate any quality of life impacts associated with the Event, including noise, littering, traffic or parking impacts associated with an Event."
The Administration will be proposing an update to the sponsorship guidelines in order to make better fiscal decisions and to put processes in place that will require sponsorship requests to be submitted at specific times of the year, so that the Administration is able to evaluation all requests together and make strong recommendations to the Mayor and Commission.