Nonprofits director to file reports to track progress, goals

The City Council on Tuesday approved additional funding for marketing and other purposes the Oregon Technology and Business Center requested in the latest city of Beaverton budget, but the nonprofit business incubator will face stricter scrutiny by city officials in fiscal year 2012-13.

After a budget line item for marketing funding got the attention of city Budget Committee members last month, the City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a modified request from the incubator for $34,000 in additional funding for the new fiscal year. The amount includes $9,000 more in base funding than the Budget Committee originally approved, along with $25,000 for marketing purposes.

As something of a condition, however, the incubator will now be overseen by the city’s Community and Economic Development Department. At the request of Mayor Dennis Doyle, OTBC Director Steve Morris agreed to report to Don Mazziotti, the department’s director, on a quarterly basis to evaluate how funding is allocated and how the incubator’s goals are being met.

“We’ve determined most of the work will be done by the OTBC itself in terms of reporting,” Mazziotti said. “We would provide the oversight. “Given the investment made, I think it’s an appropriate expenditure of our time.”

Started in 2005, the OTBC is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that provides coaching, networking, office space, entrepreneurship programs and other resources designed to assist startup business ventures. Since its founding, the city has provided more than $1.9 million in funding to the center, conceived as a nonprofit incubator for high-tech startups. The incubator leases 7,000 square feet of office space at 8305 S.W. Creekside Place, off Hall Boulevard.

Although she supported the incubator’s budget request on Tuesday, Councilor Betty Bode questioned before the meeting how long the city should play a financial role in the organization.

“I think it’s served its purpose,” she said Tuesday morning, noting the number of successful tech-oriented startups in the private sector. “Now it’s time for the private sector to pick up the incubators.

“It’s been costly,” she added. “With (overall city) revenues what they are, I think maybe it’s time to put that into another project.”

During city budget discussions in the spring, City Councilor Ian King said he was surprised to see a request for additional funding in the budget and questioned if an earlier allocation of $35,000, leftover from the incubator’s move, was assumed to be an ongoing obligation.

On Tuesday, however, he indicated the $34,000 in funding that was eventually agreed upon was acceptable, particularly with the new level of oversight on the incubator.

“I appreciate you coming here,” King said to Morris during the presentation, noting a recent series of misunderstandings regarding the OTBC’s budget requests. “I’m looking forward to seeing progress on this so we won’t be here next year.”

Morris noted an online “Startup Summer Camp” the incubator is sponsoring this summer has 254 participants signed up as of Tuesday afternoon. The program guides those with ideas through steps to launch a startup, build an investor pitch and receive feedback and input from professionals.

“We kicked it off as an experimental program to increase our market reach and increase experiences in distance learning,” Morris said. “It offers considerable potential for grant learning.”