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How Chambers Remain Relevant

Published Monday May 9, 2016

Author REBECCA MAHONEY, MATTHEW J. MOWRY, AND ERIKA COHEN

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When the association that represents your industry questions whether what you do will be viable in 10 years, you know it’s time for some deep soul searching. Well that is the big concern when it comes to chambers of commerce, and it has led to an evolution in how chambers operate. In NH, that change has been accompanied by leadership turnover at one in five chambers, smaller chambers merging and a slew of new events and offerings aimed at enticing more businesses and nonprofits to join their local chamber.

It’s been a pivotal time as some of NH’s chambers of commerce struggle to maintain relevancy and membership in light of competition from other networking organizations and the Internet. Meanwhile others are evolving, thriving and attracting new members and sponsors.

Twenty years ago, the chamber of commerce was the organization of choice for savvy business leaders. Membership promised credibility, connections and maybe a chance to rub elbows with the town’s makers and shakers.

With the Internet came new ways to connect, lobby and advertise. Now there’s LinkedIn and social media, specialized networks based on interest and industry rather than geography, virtual training for business professionals, and limitless options to advertise and promote. Gone are the days where businesses have to join the chamber and pay an annual membership fee to access those types of relationship-building benefits. In addition, almost every organization hosts an event or two, making the competition for an executive’s time more pronounced than ever.

“Change is on the mind of every chamber executive,” says Michael Skelton, president of the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, one of the state’s largest chambers with about 900 members. Skelton took the reins of the chamber in 2014. “We know that in order to remain impactful and relevant, we have to evolve along with our members.”

Attracting New Members
Nationally, chamber membership has been declining for several decades. Still, about 80 percent of existing members still renew their memberships each year, according to the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives. While some NH chambers experienced a dip in membership during the recession in 2008, many have bounced back and are holding steady. Between 2012 and 2014, more than a dozen increased revenue from memberships, a half dozen by about 15 percent and one by an impressive 92.9 percent, according to data from Guidestar, a website that provides information about nonprofits.

Of the chambers with recent membership revenue data, the two best performers were Androscoggin Valley Chamber of Commerce in Berlin and the Greater Salem Chamber of Commerce in Salem. The latter was “struggling to reach 300 members” in 2008 but now has around 450 members, according to President Donna Morris. In fact, the Salem chamber staff used to decide which events to hold. Now they have flipped that model on its head, asking members what their interests are and letting that determine programming, says Morris. For instance, the Salem chamber changed its annual expo from being business-to-consumer to business-to-business in response to member input, she says.

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The Greater Salem Chamber of Commerce President Donna Morris and the Greater Derry Londonderry Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Will Stewart greet presidential candidate John Kasich. Courtesy Photo.


The Salem chamber also holds an annual women’s luncheon because a female bank president felt it would be beneficial and stepped up to sponsor and help develop it.

“The point is, what does your member want? If it’s customers, then give them visibility. If it’s B2B, then give them that,” Morris says. “We said, if you build it, they will come. But ask them what they want.” Morris says where the chamber used to hold two events a year when she arrived 10 years ago, it now holds seven, many of which arose from members who serve as sponsors and are involved in planning.

Perhaps the biggest comeback story in the state is in the North Country at the Androscoggin Valley Chamber. The chamber was formed in 2007 after the region’s previous chamber, the Northern White Mountain Chamber of Commerce, was shuttered. “It was a dying chamber. There wasn’t support from the business community. It was in the red,” says Mark Belanger, president of the board of the Androscoggin Valley Chamber.

The region’s economy had been decimated by the closing of several paper mills and manufacturers, so it came as little surprise when the chamber also fell victim to the strife that ripped through the North Country. A group of community leaders rallied to start a new chamber and invited Belanger to be part of that founding. Initially, launching a new chamber was a tough sell. “There was no credibility. I’d go for quick visit to convince [a business] to give us a shot, and I would stay an hour begging them to give us a shot. They all had nightmare stories,” he says.

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Androscoggin Valley Chamber of Commerce Board President Mark Belanger, right, at Capone Iron Corporation North Woods Division. Courtesy Photo.


However, a movement took root to diversify the North Country’s economy, including the opening of a state park—the Jericho Mountain State Park with miles of ATV and snowmobile trails—in hopes of jumpstarting tourism. The Androscoggin Valley Chamber  decided to be a leader in helping to develop the region’s budding tourism economy. It partnered with the Androscoggin Valley ATV Club to organize an annual ATV festival  and grew it into a major event that now attracts 6,000 visitors. The chamber has also grown to more than 200 members.

On the Seacoast, the Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce has about 560 members and increased its member retention rate from 87 percent two years ago to 93 percent, says Dover Chamber President Molly Hodgson. She says the chamber grew by implementing a member engagement plan, which includes a full year of onboarding new members.

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Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce President Molly Hodgson presents the Dover Chamber’s Citizen of the Year award to Dave Bamford, center, at the Chamber’s Annual Awards Gala in January. Courtesy Photo.


“There’s a series of steps we go through,” Hodgson says, which starts with Hodgson personally calling each new member. New members receive an information packet with log-in credentials for a members-only section of the chamber website and information about the chamber as well as an invitation to attend Chamber 101, an orientation session “that acquaints them with ways they can customize their membership relationship with us, putting them in the driver’s seat of their membership,” Hodgson says. “We ask a lot of questions. What are their priorities? What are they looking to get out of their membership?”

Every member of the Dover chamber is assigned an ambassador, a chamber member who answers questions and helps make introductions at chamber events. If a member has not participated in a chamber event or accessed the chamber web portal in awhile, a volunteer will call to check in with them. “We’re noticing and paying attention. We try to be a high-touch organization,” Hodgson says.

Increased Demand for ROI
Businesses are always examining their return on investment to make sure precious resources are being spent in the most effective way. And they are bringing that critical eye to their chamber memberships.

In a typical chamber, businesses pay an annual fee that generally starts at around $300 but can range much higher, upwards of $20,000 annually depending on the size of the business, number of employees and the industry. In return, businesses receive a variety of benefits, from access to networking events like morning mixers and after-hours receptions, opportunities to meet with political and business leaders, sponsorship opportunities, listings in the chamber directories, direct mailing benefits and marketing avenues, and the ability to connect and build relationships with other businesses in the community.

“You have to define the value,” says Karmen Gifford, president of the Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce. “To join a chamber is an investment, and you want a return on your investment.” She says chambers need to make sure they provide enough resources so all members find their investment is worthwhile. She also points out that members need to make sure they are taking advantage of those opportunities.

An unwritten benefit is that chamber members also promote other chamber members. “We build our businesses by having relationships with other businesses familiar with us,” says Bill Webb, owner of the Inn on Golden Pond in Squam Lake and a board member of the Central NH Chamber of Commerce. “There’s nothing like being able to go into downtown Plymouth or Ashland and doing business with someone I not only know, but trust, someone I have a personal relationship with because I’ve had the opportunity to deal with them in some other fashion than just as a customer.”

Increasingly, however, businesses are pressuring chambers to justify membership fees. “The challenge is that [the investment] isn’t always about day-to-day involvement but the actual outcome of what the chamber does, from lobbying and legislation efforts” to developing a favorable business climate to attracting talent to a region, says Ian Scott, vice president for communications and networks at the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives. “It’s unique to each community.”

With businesses ever more mindful of expenses, many NH chambers are struggling to respond, with some shifting focus and others taking a closer look at their events and offerings to better suit member interests.
Nationally, many chambers are experimenting with membership fees. One major trend is a shift from an annual fee based on size and industry to a tiered model that allows businesses to choose from a range of membership levels at different prices.

The Manchester chamber shifted to this tiered model about six years ago, says Skelton, offering members seven levels of benefits ranging from $375 up to $20,000 annually. Each level offers unique benefits and sponsorship opportunities. “It gives members incredible control over what they want to get out of their chamber, how they can align their goals with benefits, and transparency as to what their chamber membership entails,” he says.

Members in Greater Manchester responded enthusiastically to the change, he says. But it’s an approach that may not work for all chambers. In Central NH, Webb says, one of the smaller chambers tried that approach but members found it confusing. Rather than paying a low membership fee and adding on sponsorships or other events throughout the year, businesses were required to pay a lump sum up front. “For our area, it didn’t catch on as well as it could work in a more urban setting,” says Webb, where there may be larger businesses with bigger budgets.

Making it Personal
Another approach chambers are taking is to make membership more personal. Rather than the one-size-fits-all approach in the past, chambers are working to be more responsive to what individual members want.

The Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce, which serves more than 450 members in 19 communities, is one of many chambers that took this approach, and revenue has increased more than 21 percent between 2011 and 2014.  

“It’s always important to know who your membership is. Our membership is changing. It’s not the large corporations any more. It’s small businesses and entrepreneurs,” says Chamber President Karmen Gifford. She credits her board with driving the success of the chamber and that includes empowering her to respond quickly to member needs.  “I see many times when a board will not empower their director or staff. If that staff has to wait to have decisions approved, it’s too late. You have to be in the moment … If I see a need for an event and I can pull it off, I can plan it. I don’t need to wait a month for board approval,” Gifford says.

The Greater Derry Londonderry chamber is dealing with the opposite challenge. Business development near the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport has led to four to five large new members, each with over 100 employees. Giving these larger members an appealing value proposition was part of the thought process behind holding two annual political events, one at the beginning of the legislative session and one at the conclusion, to connect legislators and members.

“Frankly when your customers are in Singapore or Dubai, there aren’t a lot of buyers down the street, so these businesses have different interests,” says Will Stewart, president of the chamber since September 2014.  

Nonprofits are also becoming an important part of chambers memberships, and chambers are responding. Gifford notes that more than 60 of the Lakes Region chamber’s members are nonprofits and, as such, the chamber is focusing this year on offering more programming geared to those members, from finding sponsorships to creating effective boards. “We always make sure we’re relevant and always connecting,” Gifford says.

The Derry Londonderry chamber recently started a nonprofit academy offering a series of events geared to nonprofits and the Greater Manchester chamber organized a nonprofit council for nonprofit CEOs to network, and the first meeting will be held this spring.

The Manchester chamber has a chairman’s club for C-level executives. The group meets four to five times a year and offers programming and networking exclusively for high ranking leaders. “People want to see unique elements to events because there are so many options,” Skelton says.

Creating Community Events
In addition to networking events, chambers are increasingly taking on large-scale community events to attract visitors to downtowns.

The Lakes Region chamber adopted the NH Pumpkin Festival, which Let it Shine, a nonprofit, brought to the region last year after Keene stopped holding the event. “It’s bringing 40,000 people into the Lakes Region,” Gifford says of the October event, adding local businesses saw a 100 to 150 percent boost in sales that day.

The Greater Dover Chamber produces most of the major community events in the Garrison City, including the Cochecho Arts Festival in the summer, Apple Harvest Day in the fall and the Festival of Trees in the Winter, which bring thousands of visitors to downtown Dover—60,000 for Apple Harvest Day alone. “These are large scale community events intended to enhance quality of life,” says Hodgson. “Those community events allow our business members to help shape their community.”

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The Cochecho Arts Festival, produced by the Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce. Greg West Photography.


Belanger of the Androscoggin Chamber says the chamber has built on the ATV trails as a growing tourism attraction by incorporating ATV activities into other major events. Wingzilla, it’s annual chicken wing cook-off, now includes a luau-themed ATV poker run and the River Fire Festival, held in October, features a zombie-themed ATV poker run to lure ATV tourists back.

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An ATV decorated for the zombie-themed ATV Poker Run during the River Fire Festival put on by the Androscoggin Valley Chamber of Commerce. Courtesy Photo.


The chamber also took over the Northern Forest Heritage Park, which was intended to be a tourist attraction highlighting the region’s logging history. It floundered, but the chamber uses it to attract visitors in another way—as the staging ground for its major community events. The events have been so successful, the chamber now has businesses approaching it to be sponsors rather than having to seek out sponsors, Belanger says, and the chamber has been able to command higher sponsorship prices. “We have people’s attention,” he says.

In addition to community events, chambers are leading economic development efforts. The Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce has promoted the city’s creative economy and advocated for the recent Main Street revitalization project. “It’s knowing what opportunities are out there and stepping up to the plate. You need to be willing to use resources to get things done,” says Concord Chamber President Tim Sink. With a list of the city’s cultural amenities and a revamped downtown, the chamber is planning to increase efforts to market the downtown as a cultural destination, Sink says.

Giving Businesses a Voice
As businesses struggle to keep up with changes in state law, chambers are stepping in to fill that void. That is why many chambers now create events to engage members in pending legislation and, in some cases, lobby on behalf of them.

At the Greater Keene Chamber of Commerce, leaders in recent years have expanded from focusing on networking and promotion to becoming a more vocal advocate for their members on public policy. Though the organization doesn’t have a full-time  lobbyist on staff, the Keene chamber has begun holding workshops for members and meeting with state and local officials about issues affecting the Monadnock region, such as workforce housing, workforce development, public transportation and access to broadband Internet.

“We represent roughly 500 member organizations and can be a conduit between public policy and those businesses, with the goal of helping them be economically competitive in the 21st century,” says President Phil Suter. “We’re trying to bring to the attention of policy makers the kinds of things we’re hearing from our members” and others in the communities it serves.

Chambers around the country are generally nonpartisan but have long played a role in advocacy and lobbying when there’s an issue affecting the business environment. Some chambers—including Concord and Nashua—employ full-time lobbyists who work at the state, and sometimes federal, level. Others have government affairs committees and do not formally lobby but will take a stance on issues affecting their regions.

In Salem, home to Rockingham Park, the chamber of commerce has advocated for expanded gambling, Morris says.

Chamber officials from Portsmouth recently advocated unsuccessfully for reallocating the funds raised from the state’s rooms and meals tax. They wanted it to no longer be based on population but rather as a share of those taxes raised by communities, according to the interim president of the Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce, Valerie Rochon. They plan to take up the bill again in the next session.
 The Greater Manchester chamber considers advocacy one of its core missions, says Skelton, and has a contract with a law firm to provide lobbying services. The Manchester chamber has supported state initiatives such as increasing the gas tax and has successfully lobbied Manchester’s City Hall to improve sidewalks throughout downtown, he says.

The business community also has a powerful advocate in the Business and Industry Association, NH’s statewide chamber of commerce. While local chambers may have multiple missions, the BIA’s sole focus is to lobby the state government on behalf of NH businesses, says BIA President Jim Roche.

The BIA has four registered lobbyists on staff and a political action committee dedicated to funding pro-business candidates, and it keeps its 425 members apprised and involved through emails, political scorecards and other electronic tools. “Our mission is ensuring our climate for job creation is a healthy one and advocating for a strong New Hampshire economy,” Roche says.

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Jim Roche, president of the Business and Industry Association, lobbies at the NH State House in Concord. Courtesy Photo.


The Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce has put legislative advocacy more front and center in its efforts, Sink says, and contracts with a law firm to assist in its lobbying efforts. “We submitted legislation to get the Statehouse opened on Saturdays during high tourism seasons,” Sink says.

The Derry chamber introduced a Legislative breakfast last spring. This year, the chamber held a Legislative meet and greet breakfast in January to introduce members to area legislators and will hold a follow-up breakfast this June.

“This year the chamber took positions on nine or 10 bills. It was the first time the chamber has done that,” Stewart (who was a full-time lobbyist for the Manchester Chamber before moving to his current position) says. “It begins to position the chamber as letting the Legislature know we are here, and we are going to start getting involved in things for our members.”

Becoming More Regional
Another trend is mergers. The Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce has gone through several iterations, from being a Weirs Beach chamber to a downtown chamber to merging with the Franklin chamber and becoming a regional chamber serving 18 communities.

“We merged, and we are an example of successful merger. We looked at our members and made sure our board was geographically representative. We offer [events] in multiple locations,” Gifford says. She points out many chambers serve multiple communities and the challenge is to be visible in those communities and offer opportunities for members to connect in those communities.

Declining membership and fluctuations in leadership at three chambers in the Plymouth-Squam Lakes region led to the creation of the new Central NH chamber last year. With one entity representing the entire region, the new organization now has 175 members who can work together to promote the area as a tourist destination, says Webb.

“Resoundingly, everybody kept saying we’d be better together, promoting this general area, which has an interesting personality, rather than trying to do that individually,” he says. The new focus has energized membership and created a higher level of engagement, he says.

Scott Stephens, the former executive director of the Central NH chamber who left to take another job after the merger, says forming a new chamber was necessary in order to survive, gain traction with members in 21 towns and offer greater value. “We divided the region into five areas. We had equal board representation from each area no matter membership size from those areas,” says Stephens.

The new chamber was hearing from members that they wanted a focus on marketing the region as a tourist destination, Stephens says. However, some of that work has stalled as the once smooth merger hit rockier times. Stephens took a new position, which left the chamber run solely by a board of volunteers. The board also found that revenue was lagging, creating financial hardship, says Chandra Engelbert, who was elected board president after the merger. “The projections were more optimistic, and we should have been more cautious about revenue,” she says.

The question facing the board of the new chamber then became whether the region needed a chamber. “The decision made by the board was, yes we need a chamber. We are having growing pains, but there is a role for the chamber,” Engelbert says.

Being more regional doesn’t always mean merging but rather collaborating. The Derry and Hudson chambers partner on a golf tournament, making it more successful. The Concord, Manchester and Nashua chambers have long worked together on the annual Tri-City Expo in Manchester.

The Next Generation
A few years ago, there was an explosion of Young Professional groups, some connected with chambers and some independent. Seeing the success of other Young Professional groups, the Lakes Region Chamber started one of its own, but it was set up as a committee of the chamber. Young professionals, it turned out, were really looking for philanthropic and social activities, so the chamber helped create Fusion, an independent organization for young professionals in the Lakes Region. Fusion is partnering with the Lakes Region chamber to present Shake the Lake, a half-day leadership summit in May to help companies develop and retain younger talent.

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Members of Fusion, an independent young professionals group in the Lakes Region, volunteer at a Children’s Auction. Courtesy Photo.


The Concord Chamber of Commerce launched the Concord Young Professionals Network in 2006 to better retain and attract young professionals to the capitol. “It wasn’t really established as feeder to the chamber but to fulfill a mission so young professionals have a network and realize they are not alone in the community,” Sink says. The impetus was seeing the success of the first YP organization in the state, the Manchester Young Professionals Network.

“We were uniquely positioned to pull it off. To get the organization going, it needed administrative support. It put the chamber in the right place. If we had sat back, a young professionals group may have evolved and been more of a competitor to the chamber,” Sink says.

The Concord Young Professionals Network now counts about 1,000 members, 60 percent of whom belong the companies that are chamber members, Sink says. The chamber also has one of its own young professionals, Christina Baker, chamber events coordinator, assigned to provide staff support to CYPN. “Chambers are uniquely positioned to convene and to generate the next generation of leaders,” Sink says, pointing out that seasoned professionals from the chamber often attend CYPN events to connect with the next generation.

An Uncertain Future
Though chamber executives are working to respond to trends and member needs, some are also uneasy about the future. A report published last year by the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives noted, “The jury is out on whether business people ten years from now will pay dues to affiliate via a heterogeneous, economy-centric membership entity. We may all hope so, but some forward-looking chambers have anticipated that the answer may be ‘not so much’.”

Of particular concern is whether millennials and younger leaders will be as eager to join a chamber as the older generation. “For older leaders, it was expected that they would support their local chamber because that was the right thing to do ... That is slowly ebbing,” says Roche. “It doesn’t mean chambers can’t get younger leaders involved. I just think the value proposition has to be stronger and perhaps more direct than in the past.”

Despite that concern, many chambers hold traditional activities that continue to sell out. In Keene, the annual dinner had nearly 400 people and, like the annual golf tournament, sold out a month in advance. At the Manchester chamber, the annual dinner had over 700 people and also sold out.

Looking forward, the same ACCE report, called “Horizons Initiative: Chambers 2025,” noted some bright spots, including the likelihood that smaller towns may have an easier time retaining memberships than larger urban areas.

That may be good news for NH, where small towns far outnumber bigger cities. At the Littleton Area Chamber of Commerce, the organization has held steady with about 300 members for more than a decade, according to President Carrie Gendreau. Though the organization has become more tech-savvy, she says, it’s still seen a “solid, well-recognized brand” in the area and is considered a “go-to” entity for educational opportunities, business promotion and development, and  networking.

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Littleton Area Chamber of Commerce President Carrie Gendreau, front row left, participates in a collaborative session in which representatives from area organizations share information about their scheduled events for the upcoming year. Courtesy Photo.


While chamber leaders in larger cities are optimistic, they’re also keenly aware of the need to stay relevant. Says Rochon of the Greater Portsmouth Chamber, “I think we’re never going to stop asking ourselves, are we lean and mean? Are we laser focused and providing the services that are relevant to the members?”

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