Not-for-Profits Love the Chamber Too

At a Chamber meeting last Fall, a new member asked me why a not-for-profit group would join the Chamber of Commerce. It's true that the word "commerce" conjures up images of hard goods being sold over a counter or delivered to the home. The reality is that service-oriented businesses make up about 80 percent of the U.S. economy* and are certainly well represented in our Chamber.

The Mary Culver Home for the Visually Impaired, where I am the Marketing Director, is one of those not-for-profit service organizations that has found a great resource in the Kirkwood •Des Peres Area Chamber of Commerce. In my five years of membership, I've been able to tell nearly 500 people that the Mary Culver is a 27-bed, not-for-profit nursing home in Kirkwood for elderly blind ladies. Just by sitting with me at lunch once a month, 500 people know that we have private rooms, excellent staffing ratios, and zero deficiencies in state inspections. Every time I participate in a tip topic giveaway, have a table at a Chamber Expo, or attend another Chamber function, I reach exponentially more people with that message.

A continual question is how all that PR translates into sales. When you consider that only 25 percent of the population over 85 will ever need nursing home care and further narrowing that population to females who are legally blind, the pool of Chamber members who might end up in the Mary Culver Home is pretty small. Setting that expectation aside, I still consider the Chamber a tremendous resource for our organization.

The Mary Culver Home uses the Chamber like an "Angie's List." We "shop" the Chamber for services such as banking, employee benefits, legal assistance, staff insurance, computer repair, construction, funeral flowers, and trivia night prizes. Many of our board members come from the Chamber. Other Chamber members have recruited their churches, school groups, or family members to give volunteer time and or donate money and other resources.

On a personal level, the monthly luncheon and Marketing Monday topics help me sharpen my business and marketing skills. At one membership meeting, I even won $500 worth of free advertising in a Money Mailer, which generated two leads for new residents. This is in addition to the candy basket, calendar, umbrella, wine, and batteries I've won for the home in other the tip-topic drawings.

Whether a business exists for a profit motive or a not-for-profit mission of community good, the reality is the same: both groups must make money to cover operating costs. I think sometimes people join the Chamber thinking they will see an immediate spike in sales and then quit when it doesn't happen quickly enough. A more realistic approach might be the not-for-profit view: Chamber membership is an investment in your business for the long haul, with many opportunities for building the goodwill value of your business along the way. Hopefully, you'll sees boost in sales too. After all, despite the odds, the Mary Culver Home admitted a new resident just this month from a Chamber referral.

*Source: "The Role of Services in the Modern U.S. Economy," by Douglas B. Cleveland, January 1999, Office of Service Industries, U.S. Department of Commerce.