Toolkit Home | Defining Eligibility
Defining legacy businesses in your program.
Early in the process of creating a legacy business program, you and your team need to create customized metrics to define the eligibility of legacy businesses in your community. These metrics are the foundation for your program, determining who qualifies and how, as well as which values are significant for businesses in the program. By defining these metrics early, you provide clear guidance to the community and the municipality on what businesses are eligible as “legacy,” limiting confusion and mistrust in the process. Having clear metrics, in turn, impacts how you target and prioritize businesses in your community for the program. These metrics also provide the guidelines for creating an application process and the eligibility confirmation process.
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Not all legacy businesses can
or should be preserved.
As you set up your eligibility metrics, keep in mind that some businesses may meet "legacy" criteria but may not be a good fit for a legacy business program. Not every long-standing business that meets some basic eligibility criteria—such as age or location—is necessarily a good fit for your program. These programs are typically designed to support businesses that contribute to a community’s cultural identity, sense of place, or social history. Businesses that do not engage with the community or align with your community's or program's core goals may be more difficult to support or not a good fit. More importantly, while we may want to preserve all long-standing businesses, pragmatically, businesses in your program should be able to sustain themselves with the support you provide. A longstanding business that is deep in debt or has a heavy tax burden is not a good candidate for a legacy business program. They may well fail regardless of your support, limiting the impact and effectiveness of your program. Be sure to consider these factors when creating your program's eligibility and application process.