AGENDA PREVIEW: Twentynine Palms Events Grants Land at February 29 TBID Meeting
Tourism Business Improvement District Board to vote on Event and Sponsorship proposals

The months-long tale of the Twentynine Palms Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) accumulating $560,000 in reserves while denying requests for event funding comes to a conclusion on Thursday afternoon when the first round of TBID Sponsorship and Event Grants is presented for funding consideration.
Grant applicants Twentynine Palms Historical Society (Desert Rat Convention), Rediscover 29 (Area 29 Art Invasion), Desertrade (Sand to Sky), To 29 and Beyond, and Positional Projects (Conjuring Cathy Allen) will kick off the meeting with short project presentations, which are available for preview in the agenda packet. The meeting takes place at 3:30 pm on Thursday, February 29, at Twentynine Palms City Hall. A closed session evaluating the performance of TBID Marking Director Breanne Dusastre precedes the meeting.
The grants represent several milestones for the City: the first time City Council has directed the TBID to allocate a specific amount to fund events, the largest sum ever made available to City residents through a granting process, and the first review panel to include community members in the grant-evaluation process.
The efforts of Council members Joel Klink, Daniel Mintz, and Octavious Scott resulted in $200,000 being set aside in August 2023 to fund events beginning with the start of the TBID fiscal year on October 1, 2023. However, the anger generated by the mismanagement of funds by the TBID prompted Council to briefly deauthorize the entity in September 2023. After members of the public objected to the loss of the 1.5% TBID TOT assessment on accommodation guests and argued that the TBID could be fixed, Council reversed itself, promising changes to TBID management. A contentious workshop in October 2023 demonstrated little willingness by the Board to modify how it operates and other than the grants, changes have yet to materialize.
The TBID granting process was developed by a subcommittee assembled at the November 30 meeting. Subcommittee members Heidi Grunt, Patricia Knight and Cindy Bernard recommended two levels of funding: Sponsorships of $100 to $3,000 and Event Grants of $3,000 to $20,000. They also proposed that there be two grant periods, March 1 - June 30 with applications due on February 15, and July 1 - December 31 with a deadline of April 1. The proposals were accepted in January.
Several applications from community members were received for a grant review committee, and three members were chosen to serve along with TBID Board and subcommittee members Grunt and Knight. All event grants went through a scoring process that applied points to individual grant components such as event timelines and budgets as well as project descriptions and methods of evaluating success.
While event grantees are required to fill out an extensive application, match requested funds, and undergo scoring and review, the sponsorships have a more streamlined process with a simplified application, no public presentation requirement, and yes / no approval from the TBID Board. Both sets of applications, along with scores and panel review comments are available for review in the agenda packet.
A challenge before the TBID Board is the allocation of funding. Both sets of requests exceed the theoretical caps for the first round. The $200,000 is divided between the two categories of funding, with event grants at $160,000 and sponsorships at $40,000 for the March 1 - December 31 period. Dividing those totals by nine months yields first round potential budgets of $54,000 for events and $13,000 for sponsorships, yet the current asks total $67,100 and $17,550 respectively. If all requests are funded that will reduce the amounts available for the longer nine-month funding period, which is also likely to receive more publicity and yield more requests. While a clear system of grant scoring preceded the TBID meeting, the Board has the final call and has no obligation to consider the grant panel scoring in its event funding decisions. Similarly, no system of deciding who is or isn’t funded for sponsorships has been defined.
The grants and sponsorships aren’t the only items on the February 29 TBID agenda. The Board will also be considering marketing updates and proposals for social media services, an Inland Empire partnership, and advertising for Ontario and Palms Springs international airports.
General public comment is scheduled for after the grant presentations, approval of minutes, and marketing update. The public will have additional opportunities to comment on the agenda items, including item 5: Sponsorship and Event Grant Applications. If you cannot attend, email comments to bdusastre@29palms.org and specify the item for comment.
Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to to be a long and, hopefully, not too bumpy ride.
Editor’s clarification 2/27: The sentence “Realizing that the loss of the TBID would also result in the loss of the 1.5% TOT assessment on accommodation guests, Council reversed itself, promising changes to TBID management.” was changed to “After members of the public objected to the loss of the 1.5% TBID TOT assessment on accommodation guests and argued that the TBID could be fixed, Council reversed itself, promising changes to TBID management.”
Desert Trumpet Editor-in-chief Cindy Bernard is a member of the TBID Events Subcommittee.
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