After more than three decades of leadership by a single president, the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce is recalibrating what its future should be, with strategic planning and possible reorganizing.
The 440-member organization is undertaking a strategic planning effort before it goes about replacing Ann Hamilton, who has been in the role of chamber president for 32 years.
Hamilton, who over the years has been hailed by legislators, government officials and business leaders from around the state for building a healthy organization that serves, advocates for and connects its members with one another and with ways to better succeed, urged the 330 people attending her last monthly chamber breakfast in December that the organization needs their continued support.
“There are challenges that are new,” she said. “Many businesses feel like all they need to do to succeed is to have a web page or a Facebook presence. I would say that’s not the case, that chamber dues are a small price we pay to do the work that we do to create community, for community engagement to stimulate the local economy, and to distribute thousands of notices about happenings here. Our base is our members, and just like you, we need to grow.”
In fact, current Chamber membership is down from a high of about 500, Hamilton said, reflecting businesses that have closed, consolidations and that “We’re not as aggressive as we should be in getting out and selling.”
In addition to a community survey about how people and businesses feel about the chamber, board members plan to talk with what Hamilton believes are successful chambers — possibly including Cape Cod, Cape Ann, Central Massachusetts, Brattleboro, Northampton and Keene — to see what they do that could be incorporated locally.
“We’re trying to make the next steps as positive as possible,” said Hamilton, adding that her departure comes at the same time as that of Caitlin von Schmidt, who has managed the Greenfield Business Association. It also comes as a new downtown retailers effort is being organized.
“I think the challenge we have for the Franklin County chamber and chambers nationally is always working to serve businesses in our region as effectively as possible,” said chamber board Chairwoman Linda Dunlavy. “Chambers around the country are struggling to understand, what’s their role in business assistance when there can be so many options and alternatives to local chamber membership on the Internet. We want to look at what are strong, healthy and vibrant chambers doing to stay strong, healthy and vibrant? How do we make sure we are creating a future that ensures that? This breakfast is an indication of how vibrant the chamber is, but we need to make sure we maintain that into the future and we need our next leader to be ready to embrace that.”
Noting that the Franklin County chamber is one of only a few that doubles as a state-designated regional tourism council, adding to its responsibilities, Dunlavy said businesses here may be drawn to state and national business support groups and affiliations.
Yet the chamber needs to convey “the value of being local, supporting local, being part of the local economy and the local voice,” said Dunlavy, who plays a similar role as executive director of the Franklin Regional Council of Governments.
Working together in an otherwise overlooked rural area, she said is “a huge strength of Franklin County, and one we have to maintain. The partnership the COG has with the chamber, and that the chamber has with (Regional Employment Board) and with Greenfield Community College, and that loop of support systems that exist here is so important. It’s very easy for Franklin County to be forgotten because we’re so small, and yet with the leaders we have in the region, it’s not.”
The recent survey had 221 responses, of which 70 were from non-members, Dunlavy said. And while 91 percent of the chamber members saw membership in the organization as valuable or somewhat valuable, others did not.
The survey found that the three most important benefits cited were marketing and promoting local businesses and attractions, helping make connections and serving as a clearinghouse for businesses and residents.
A large proportion of chamber members are sole-proprietor or other small businesses, with many non-profit organizations also represented — another indication that rather than a group of business “heavy hitters,” the mix of players represents a diverse economy, with a diverse set of needs.
“It may be that one- and two-person shops in Franklin County don’t see the value of the chamber because they’re working so hard to get through another day,” said Dunlavy. “How can we help those small businesses? Statistically, we know it’s those small businesses that become big businesses in Franklin County and are employers in the future. We need to get them supported and into the chamber and help them however we can.”
Chamber employee Lisa Davol, who will be playing a key role until the chamber board conducts a search for its new director, said, “This transition is a really good opportunity to see what’s working and how to bring the chamber into the 21st century. Chambers are different than they were 20, 30 years ago, and there’s so much more opportunity. I think it’s exciting … We do so much that’s being done behind the scenes that helps everybody, so what do we actually do. Part of this plan is being able to crystallize that in a statement. How does it all fit together?”