Accomplishments

"The Most Important Gift Catalogue in Santa Fe," an online gift catalogue featuring locally-produced gift items from locally-owned businesses, was available on our website just in time for holiday shopping!
The 4th edition of "The Link: Your Guide to Locally-Owned Independent Businesses" was released with 560 locally-owned businesses listed - our largest directory ever!
Our newly designed website is up and running and features our new logo.
Alliance bookmarks are available at all locally-owned member bookstores. The bookmarks feature a guide to independent member bookstores and explain "5 Reasons to Shop Locally-Owned!"
Southwest Planning and Marketing presented findings of their study, commissioned by the Alliance, evaluating community awareness and attitudes about the "Buy Locally-Owned" campaign being promoted by the Alliance at the request of the City of Santa Fe. This study provides a basis of comparison with future data to evaluate the success of the "Buy Locally-Owned" campaign.

The Alliance received funding from the City of Santa Fe to create a "Buy Locally-Owned" campaign as suggested in the city's Economic Development Plan.
The "Alliance Business Member Packet" was distributed to our business members. Packets include an Employee Education Guide, a poster listing "5 Reasons to Shop Locally-Owned," an updated window decal and template of Alliance logos for use in their advertising.
As part of a national awareness campaign, the Alliance sponsored the Independents' Week Challenge, July 1-7, during which Santa Fe City Council members were challenged to spend more of their money at locally-owned businesses. The winners, District 2 Councilors Rebecca Wurzburger and Karen Heldmeyer, had the highest percentage of locally-owned purchases during that week. In spring, 2005, District 2 will be awarded an Alliance hosted, neighborhood party which will showcase District 2's locally-owned, independent businesses
The third edition of "The Link: Your Guide to Locally-Owned Independent Businesses" was released. Boasting over 450 business members, the Alliance has become the fastest growing independent business alliance in the United States.

The Alliance met with representatives of Governor Bill Richardson's office to educate them about the potential loss to New Mexico of millions of dollars under the state's new Save Smart Program. This program is an attempt to save money on office products needed by the state by buying them from large, out-of-state companies. On-going discussions continue to help the Governor's office evaluate the impact of the Save Smart Program.

The Santa Fe Alliance received its 501(c)6 status from the Internal Revenue Department.
The second edition of "The Link: Santa Fe's Guide to Locally-Owned Independent Businesses" was published with 360 business members. This represents a 150% increase in membership over the previous issue.