ExecutiveVoice

From the Chair
Eileen Eakins, Attorney at Law

The role of the Chamber is to work on behalf of business.  Done right, Chamber membership is good for business. 

But what about the operation of the Chamber AS a business?  As a 501(c)(6) non-profit organization, your Chamber has an operating budget that is primarily based on membership revenues.  Operating funds are used to pay staff, run the Chamber office, and deliver programs and services to members.  Like you, the Chamber needs to continually promote itself and attract new "business" (members) to maintain and increase its bottom line.  This is particularly important as the Chamber considers substantial losses in membership over the last year, which could have a profound impact on its operations.

Like any business faced with economic challenge, the Chamber needs to improve its product and and run more efficiently.  As part of this effort, the Membership Retention and Recruitment Committee established this year will soon be recommending to the Chamber board strategies for targeting and recruiting new members in a consistent, measurable way, and for making sure that existing members' needs are being met.  Establishing simple, effective systems should ensure that strategies are consistently applied, even as board leadership changes annually. 

If you have ideas in this area, please let us hear from you. 

President's Message

Wilda Parks, ACE; President/CEO

Burglary violates Chamber spaces

Non profits, and the chamber is one, are probably experiencing a harder time than ever before, and all resources are precious.

Businesses, and educational units are experiencing a harder time than ever before.

And we all know that people are experiencing the same thing.  However, our offices, the OIT library and another office on the campus, fell prey to a person who must be suffering more than we all are.  We all hope that’s it, and not someone who needed to steal so he could sell items quick for drugs.

The Chamber offices were broken into and our laptop, projector, usb storage drives, keys, and (yes, really) postage stamps were taken. There may be more, in smaller items, but we haven’t run across them yet. You begin to reach for something and then find out it isn’t there – stamps as a case in point. Careful thinking of the purchase of a couple hundred “forever” stamps, so we wouldn’t have to pay the higher fee (this was before they went up to 44 cents); now gone, every last one of them.

Our Toshiba laptop should be fairly easy to recognize (we do have the serial numbers of equipment and gave those to the Sheriff’s Office) because it’s one of the few newer computers with Windows XP as the operating system, a special order for us.

The Epson projector is a conference room use projector, and we recently had it’s bulb repaired (and those of you who have experienced that know that’s about a $600 repair bill right there – talk about value added!).

The Sheriff’s office has a description, and pawn shops have serial numbers.

Yes, we’re insured, but, like most businesses and non-profits, with a high deductible.

What bothers me, personally, is my sense of security is slipped! I don’t feel as safe in my own office as I did. I’m cautious of people in the building. I’d like my sense of safety back.