Chambers of Commerce
Table of Contents
Objectives & Goals
- Building communities (regions/states/nations) to which residents, visitors and investors are attracted
- Promoting those communities to community members, as well as potential visitors, investors, and new businesses.
- Striving to ensure future prosperity via a pro-business climate and community business education
- Representing the unified voice of the business community
- Reducing transactional friction through well-functioning member networks
Where do They Operate?
- The scope varies by chamber; however, most are at the city level.
- Some chambers are community chambers; however, these serve very small populations and may cap the amount of members.
- Every state has a state chamber of commerce and there is a national chamber as well.
Since the geographic regions covered by chambers vary by chamber and community, it is likely that your library district may overlap geographically with multiple chambers.
Services Offered
Chambers of commerce offer a variety of services and programs, all aimed at developing the community and promoting business. Some common programming is member networking events, workshops on topics important to the business community, such as marketing, finance, and recent events and issues facing the community such as Affordable Care Act Compliance and Tax Preparation.
Additionally, chambers provide education and advocacy around the role of business in the community. They do this through programs designed for children and young adults, such as Junior Achievement. Additionally, chambers lobby and advocate for local businesses with the local government. Chambers also promote the local community to outsiders in hopes of attracting tourists, investors, and new businesses that will spur the local economy.
Libraries and Chambers can work together to promote and build the local community. Consider hosting a member networking reception to better connect with the business community and show off the value of the library and show they can use it to improve their businesses. Other potential partnerships could focus on education and employment. Consider working with your local chamber to provide business education to children and young adults through programming at the library and offering business education materials in your children’s and young adults collections. Local businesses employ a large amount of the workers in the local economy and are often looking to hire. Through working with the chamber, you could improve your job skills training and placement by creating a partnership that will help place job seekers with chamber member businesses.
Constituents/Clients
- Small and medium sized businesses
- Local governments
- Investors
- Tourism agencies
- Children and young adults receiving business education
A majority of those served by chambers are often not seen as core library patrons, but have the potential to be very active with the library. Outreach to these people through the chamber has the potential to increase library use and help to develop the public library and surrounding community.
Funding and/or Sources of Revenue
- Dues from small and medium businesses
- Contact your local chamber in order to get specifics on how they charge as it varies greatly
- Chambers often put on large fundraising events as well as other smaller ones
- They receive funding from private donors who value their work.
- There are grant opportunities for chambers as well.
- The larger the chamber the less they try to rely on dues to fund their activities
- The vast majority of budgets are under a half million dollars
- A vast majority of chambers are 501(c)(6) non-profits. While operating similar to charities and other non-profits, their designation as a 501(c)(6) grants them the authority to represent their members in public policy debates.
Chambers are not likely competition for local funding, but may compete for donations from private donors and individuals. Library funders may also be funders of the local chamber, but at the very least members involved in the business community are very likely to be members of the local chamber. Chambers and libraries who partner on grant applications can show funders that they have cross-community support and are leveraging other resources, and are likely to have success in receiving grant funding.
Staff
- Depending on the constituency served, areas of focus, and overall populat5ion size, chambers have staff ranging from 5 to 100.
- Staff may be employed for communications, marketing, finance, member service, and event planning
- Chambers with special focuses will likely employ staff in areas such as tourism, economic development, research, and/or advocacy
- Some chambers provide staffing and management for economic development focused government agencies
Leadership Structure
- Community leader s who represent a cross section of the business and professional community serve on Board of Directors
- The boards is responsible for:
- Set the overall policy of the organization
- Determine the goals of the chamber through an approved Program of Work
- Provide adequate funds to do the job through the annual budget
- Establish the dues structure
- Approve the structural organization to include an organization chart
- Provide elections of directors and officers in accordance with the by-laws
- Recommend changes in the by-laws
- Approved in advance all expenditures not included in the budget
- Fill all vacancies occurring on the Board of Directors in accordance with the by-laws
- Meet as required in the by-laws, or more frequently on the call of the president, or on the board's own motion, and set the dates for such meetings
- Provide adequate facilities and equipment
- Employ and annually evaluate the performance of the Executive Director
- More information on the role of the board can be found here.
Key Metrics Used
- Staffing
- Average number of members per full time employee
- Average revenue per full time employee
- Financial Metrics
- Total Revenue
- Total Expenses
- Average event net income
- Average expense per member
- Membership
- Average current membership
- Average member retention
- Average first year member retention
- Average member retention dollars
- Market penetration rate
- Average revenue per member
- Average member dues investment
- See more on key metrics
National Organizational Structure
-
Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives
- Supports chamber of commerce executives
- Provides support and professional development opportunities for chamber of commerce professionals
-
U.S Chamber of Commerce
- Represents over 3 million businesses and organizations
- Includes local small businesses and large corporations, as well as chambers of commerce and industry associations
- The US Chamber advocates for pro-business policies at the national level and lobbies to advance the business community’s interest
- They also provide access to resources, information, and best practices for their members
-
International Chamber of Commerce
- Serves as an international organization that promotes the strengthening of commercial ties between countries
- ICC offers dispute resolution services, such as arbitration and mediation
- ICC has an anticrime arm that works to tackle international piracy and commercial crime
- ICC includes the World Chambers Federation, an organization of 12,000 member chambers who work to improve individual chambers
- ICC also provides publications, conferences, and training to improve its members.
Key Terms
- Economic Development Agency or District – An organization (agency) that promotes the continued development and growth of an area (district) through marketing, relationshi0ps with businesses, advocacy, and other means.
- 501(c)(6) Organization - A federal tax designation that allows an organization to operate as a non-profit and gives the organization the authority to advocate for, lobby for , and represent its members in public policy debates. Read more on 501(c)(6) Organizations.
Potential Partnership Ideas
- Chambers of Commerce are great partners in business education. Consider events centered on teaching core concepts to minority groups and/or youth.
- When looking to engage your local business community, the local chamber is a great partner and way to reach a large amount of local businesses easy.
- Consider holding a chamber networking event at your library and use it to educate chamber members on the resources your library provides.
- Work with your local chamber to develop a business collection based on local needs.
- Partner with your chamber to offer workshops for local businesses on topics such as tax, Affordable Care Act compliance, worker training, etc.
- Partner with the chamber to develop a workforce training program that helps the unemployed find jobs with member businesses.
Find Your Local Chamber
Use the Chamber of Commerce Locator from chamberofcommerce.com.
Take a Colleague to Coffee
Reach out to the CEO/Executive Director of a local chamber of commerce and invite them to coffee. Here are five questions you might ask your colleague who works at a chamber of commerce to inspire conversation about how the public library and the chamber might partner.
- What are some of the major business issues facing our community?
- What types of programming does your chamber put on for young adults and children?
- What should our community be doing to educate our community on business issues?
- What specific challenges do you feel minority business owners, or minorities looking to start businesses face in our community?
- What are local businesses looking for in new hires? How can we help connect your members that are hiring with those we are helping look for jobs?
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