Small-town chambers focus on community

Some of the smaller chambers of commerce may not be as robust in payroll as their bigger cousins. But they believe they make up for it in member involvement.

“I think the chambers in the smaller communities have a greater opportunity to enhance the quality of life because so many of our members and their spouses and families and employees get involved in (community) activities,” Anamosa Chamber President Bill Feldman said.

Here are some numbers:

•  The Marion, Williamsburg, and Anamosa chambers employ a total of four part-time and two full-time employees.
•  The Anamosa Chamber has 91 members, with additional in-kind members such as the Jones County Economic Development and Jones County Tourism.
•  The Marion Chamber has 260 members, while the Williamsburg Chamber tallies more than 100 members.
• According to Williamsburg Chamber President Brad Schaefer, “Most of (the members) are ma-and-pa type shops with one to two employees.”
•  The Williamsburg Chamber employs only a part-time executive assistant.

Schaefer himself has held this elected position for three of the four years he has been a member of the chamber. He works as a registered representative with Principal Financial Group.

Feldman, owner of Feldman Yard and Garden in Anamosa, has been a board member of the Anamosa Chamber, which also employs one person in a part-time position, for five of the seven years he's been a member. Serving on the board, even multiple times, is just part of belonging to a small-town chamber of commerce, part of that grass roots atmosphere, Feldman explained.

The Marion chamber, on the other hand, employs President Jill Ackerman, a director of member services and two part-time administrative employees. In addition to the staff president, it also has a president of the board of directors.

With such small staffs, especially compared to chambers in larger cities such as Cedar Rapids - with approximately 9 full-time staff - and Iowa City - with 7 FTEs - these small-town chambers focus on “mobilizing volunteers,” according to Feldman. He cited the example of the bicycle tour RAGBRAI coming to town, explaining the chamber helped (connect) the city council and the community to help with the event and, of course, promote their community.

The Williamsburg Chamber of Commerce favors community events that highlight the participation of business members.

“Everybody already knows everyone else. We're in a community where you go to church with (community members), you do business with them every day, your kids go to the same school,” Schafer said regarding the lack of business-to-business networking events.

Instead, the Williamsburg chamber holds holiday events for the entire community.

“It's a way for our members to be visible, (to) be seen out in the community helping. In a small town, I think that's key,” Schaefer said.

The Anamosa chamber holds a monthly community breakfast, along with ribbon-cuttings for new and expanding businesses, and “a forum for continuing education at the community level,” Feldman said.

Due in part to its larger membership size, the Marion chamber focuses more on networking events, which often double as educational opportunities. They hold quarterly lunch sessions that highlight different business principles each time, such as human resources, social media and arts and culture in the workplace.

Marion Leadership in Action, a product of Imaginate, encourages public service as well as cultivating future leaders. Read to Lead is a collaboration with the Marion Public Library.

Marion's proximity to Cedar Rapids makes collaboration between the two cities' chambers convenient and necessary.

Together, they host monthly P.M. Exchanges where business people can connect.

This connection with Cedar Rapids also affects the Marion chamber's membership - Ackerman estimated that 20 percent of their members also belong to the Cedar Rapids Chamber. And, she said, companies join smaller chamber because they have satellite offices in Marion, they tout the benefits of living in Marion to potential employees or they're interested in sponsoring events and reaping the marketing rewards.

Williamsburg's location on Interstate 80 certainly influences its chamber membership. According to Executive Assistant Barb Hopp, they count members “from mile markers 216 to 225,” such as Kinze Manufacturing in Williamsburg and Wells Fargo in Coralville, as well as businesses from Brooklyn and Parnell.

The Anamosa chamber's roster also includes companies located outside town, such as Alliant Energy, Mediacom and Black Hills Energy. Feldman believes it's in these companies' “best interests” to participate in chambers at “a number of different levels.”

“The more you put into a membership,” Ackerman said, “the more you get out of it.”