Ben Franklin group faces funding drop
June 26, 2009
Peter Key, Philadelphia Business Journal
Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania has helped a lot of entrepreneurs in its day. Now, it's asking them for help.
The organization and its three sisters in other parts of the state are enlisting the aid of their local entrepreneurial communities in a battle over funding for their parent, the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority.
The BFTDA, which is part of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, received $50.7 million in the fiscal year that's about to end.
That's $10.7 million more than the $40 million that Gov. Ed Rendell's budget calls for giving it and $30.7 million more than the $20 million the State Senate's budget calls for giving it.
The Bens began the fight to preserve their parent's funding when the governor announced his budget earlier this year and ramped it up when the Senate's budget surfaced.
Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania , which is based at the Navy Yard, has posted a "Call to Action" page on its Web site. The page tells visitors how to find contact information for their local state legislators, gives links to form letters they can send to the lawmakers, and allows them to download information to help them make their case.
In addition to entrepreneurs they've advised or funded, the Bens are turning to people and firms that have co-invested with them, service providers that have worked with their companies and universities that have partnered with them in one way or another.
The argument they want those groups to make for them - and are making for themselves - is that in a time when nearly everyone is looking for ways to stimulate the economy, they're one of the biggest stimulators of all on a dollar-for-dollar basis.
Each dollar the state spent on the Bens from 2002 through 2006 generated $3.50 in state tax revenue, according to a study by the Pennsylvania Economy League that was released earlier this year.
"We return revenue to the state in multiples," said RoseAnn B. Rosenthal, president and CEO of Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
The Bens are having no trouble finding supporters in their battle.
"I personally have written to both my assembly men as well as to the governor and I know there are people from throughout the startup ecosystem in the Philadelphia area who have been campaigning extremely hard to prevent what would be a devastating blow to the startup community," said David Bookspan, who is a partner in DreamIt Ventures and the chairman of Monetate Inc., both of which have received funding from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
"The total amount of cash available for early-stage companies in Philadelphia right now is very limited and Ben Franklin is a very significant player in that stage of funding," Bookspan said.