| Number of company and partner presenters at Great Falls Ignite 2023: 18 Montana Specialty Mills oil seed plant expansion announced at Ignite: capacity increase from 50 tons/day to 150 tons/day Pasta Montana plant expansion announced at Ignite: $7 million Number of 2023 Fire Within female entrepreneur award winners: 26 New developments in West Bank Landing planned for 2023: $26 million Funds raised by C.M. Russell Museum’s Art and Soul of the West campaign: $40 million Number of apartments planned in Discovery Meadows development approved by Great Falls City Commission during quarter: 264 units Soon to be America’s largest producer of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF): Calumet Montana Renewables Brownfield cleanup grant GFDA approved to support Baatz Permanent Supportive Housing development in downtown Great Falls: $583,925 Number of manufacturers in Cascade County: 233 Number of manufacturers in surrounding rural Golden Triangle counties: 211 Total new companies added to our CRM during quarter: 194 Companies we actively engaged with during quarter: 517 Target activity this quarter (companies and developers we have targeted to try to attract into Great Falls trade area): 87 New targets we identified during quarter: 18 New project leads generated this quarter (companies and developers with planned investments that are considering Great Falls trade area): 77 Existing project leads we worked on during quarter: 24 New projects generated this quarter (investments in Great Falls trade area planned by companies and developers): 25 Existing projects we worked on during quarter: 48 Food, ag, and bio processing companies we worked with during quarter: 66 Business Pitch events we hosted across region during quarter: 2 Entrepreneurs, future entrepreneurs, and businesses in Great Falls trade area advised by GFDA during quarter: 125 Of these, number of new advising clients: 72 New capital secured by small business advising clients during quarter: $3,076,175 Entrepreneur and business training sessions offered during quarter: 10 Number of training participants: 116 Businesses active with our Procurement Technical Assistance Center during quarter: 171 Amount of government contracts won by clients during quarter: $43,200,807 GFDA gap and bridge loans approved during quarter: $7,200,000 Additional private investment to be leveraged by GFDA loans: $16,520,000 GFDA gap and bridge loans closed during quarter: $1,788,997 Additional private investment leveraged by GFDA loans: $1,016,263 SBA 504 loans approved by High Plains Financial: $142,000 Additional private investment to be leveraged: $327,870 New loan capital secured by GFDA during quarter: $2,802,275 Current SBA 504 fixed 25-year effective loan interest rate with 10% down: 6.329% Current 10-year equipment effective fixed rate: 6.768% Free Brownfield assessments completed during quarter: 2 Free Brownfield assessments in progress: 2 Nonresident tourist spending in Montana in 2021: $4.48 billion Nonresident tourist spending in Cascade County in 2021: $256 million Number of Montana businesses that will no longer have to pay equipment tax after legislature raised exemption from $300,000 to $1 million: 5,000 Montana top income tax rate change approved by legislature: lowered from 6.75% to 5.9% Montana ranking for Overall State Tax Burden before this change: 8th lowest Number of Montana economic development organizations and CDFI’s that have earned GuideStar Candid’s Platinum Seal of Transparency: 1 – GFDA! Economic development organizations that have earned international accreditation: 73 Number in Montana: 2 – GFDA and Big Sky Economic Development Percentage of cyberattacks aimed at small businesses: 43% Corporate executives ranking availability of skilled labor as important or very important as a site selection factor: 86% Ranking availability of energy as important or very important: 82% Quality of life: 87% Available land: 78% Raw materials availability: 61% Shovel ready sites: 56% Number of Russians arrested for protesting against the Ukraine invasion: 20,000+ Russians who have fled their country since start of war: 500,000+ Increase in number of people globally suffering an acute shortage of food in 2022: 62 million New world record for farthest flight by a paper airplane: 88.318 meters First recorded sighting of Loch Ness monster: 565 AD For info contact Jolene Schalper at [email protected] or 1-406-750-4481 PDF of GFDA 2023Q1 Index | 
