Overview
Gold Belt Tour Scenic & Historic Byway (Gold Belt Tour SHB) was approved to participate in the Reimagine Industry Associations Program by the Colorado Tourism Office in October 2022.
The purpose of the Gold Belt Tour SHB is to conserve cultural heritage and history along a series of rural highways from Florissant to Florence in southern Colorado. Gold Belt Tour SHB is dedicated to preserving the rural lifestyle, natural environment, and rich historic heritage along the byway through cooperative collaboration of individuals, businesses, government, and nonprofit organizations.
Gold Belt Tour SHB was paired with Kyle Blakely, a CRAFT Mentor with experience in tourism marketing, communications and strategic planning, to deliver 75 hours of consulting to conduct the activities listed below.
The purpose of the Reimagine Industry Associations Mentor project was to develop a fundraising plan that will provide consistent and sustainable funding for the organization. An additional purpose was to develop presentation materials Gold Belt Tour SHB can use when presenting to local governments and communities to garner ongoing support.
Project objectives included:
- develop a fundraising plan to increase stable funding opportunities
- develop a presentation for use when meeting with local government entities
Gold Belt Tour SHB achieved the following results with its Reimagine Industry Associations Mentor:
- fundraising plan that includes goals, strategies, and implementation steps
- presentation materials for stakeholder and government entity engagement
- list of grant opportunities that includes state agency grants, private foundations, trainings, and capacity building
About Reimagine Industry Associations Program
The Reimagine Industry Associations Program supports Colorado tourism industry associations to foster long-term resilience. Awarded industry associations receive 75 hours of consulting and a $10,000 creative asset production shoot from the Colorado Tourism Office.