[1] When the MAGIC Fund was originally established, it was designed to operate with minimal guidelines to allow for the high level of flexibility necessary when assembling financing and incentive packages to benefit potential businesses and the community of Minot.
Local leadership acknowledges that throughout the life of the MAGIC Fund it has been a challenge maintain openness with the public about specific spending while at the same time respecting the confidentiality of business information.
[1] In 2005, new MAGIC Fund guidelines were set in place to clearly define “full time” and to require a breakdown—not an average of—salaries of proposed positions.
Historically MAGIC Funds have been used in three main areas of primary sector economic development: knowledge-based employment, agriculture and energy.
Choice Hotels International was one of the first businesses to be recruited using the MAGIC Fund in November 1990, selecting Minot as the location for the company's largest reservation center.
Eight years of particularly high productivity later, Choice capitalized on the advantages of the area again and began construction on a $1 million expansion to bring the number of year-round employees in Minot to over 400.
Drawn also by the MAGIC Fund, Sykes Enterprises came to North Minot's technology park to offer technical support to customers of major companies such as Fortune 500 firms.
MLT Inc., a Northwest Airlines Corporation company, was offered one of the most aggressive incentives packages at the time and it soon followed suit by coming to Minot in 1999 and a year later expanded their workforce to approximately 600 as well.
Started by two entrepreneurs in Mohall, ND, MTI now has employs over 450 people in seven centers in rural communities including Bottineau, Kenmare, Stanley, Beulah, Langdon, and Grafton.2002 annual report Companies often cite an available, quality workforce and infrastructure for why they chose Minot to conduct business and expand.
A measure was proposed to divert money from a one percent sales tax for Northwest Area Water Supply and extend the fund but it was defeated.
The Port anticipates to benefit businesses in an approximate 150-mile (240 km) radius of Minot stretching into Montana, South Dakota and Saskatchewan by offering identity preserved bulk transportation at the intersection of two Class One railroads, two major state highways and airport runway facilities, all near the geographical center of North America.
Construction began in 2006 (citation), and in March, the project took a huge step forward when BNSF Railway announced its cooperation with a proposed statewide rail strategy to reduce rates for containers of bulk commodities shipped from the Minot and Fargo-Dilworth areas.
Another major project the MAGIC Fund is aiding in is in the Value-added Ag Complex, an agri-business park also located in northeast Minot.
In late September 2008, California-based C&F Foods closed on the purchase of MG Grain, an unfinished lentil processing facility in the Ag Park.