Category: Podcast Episode

Michael Gellman, founder of Fiscal Strategies 4 Nonprofits and long-time instructor at Institute joins us this week on Chamber Chat Podcast for part one of a two part series to discuss what your Chamber needs to consider with regard to it’s financial health amid the hyper-changing environment that we find ourselves in today.

Throughout this two part series, you can look forward to these outcomes as we learn from Mike.

• How hyper-change impacts planning and decision making.
• Is your organization well positioned, financially healthy, and strategically ready for a sustained period of stress and uncertainty?
• How hyper-change impacts your funding sources and programming and service needs.
• Strategies for organizations who are financially strong vs. financially weak.
• How to effectively communicate with your board.
• Important actions that will affect the financial health and continuity of your organization.

Important!!

There is homework that goes along with this episode. Please download the Financial Health Assessment and Implementation Framework Worksheet here or at se4nonprofits.com/resources. After you listen to this episode, you can fill out the first half of this worksheet which gives a financial assessment for your organization. Then keep this worksheet to reference and continue filling out during our second part of this series with Mike.

Be sure to tune in to episode 68 as we continue this conversation with Mike and make a plan to see that your Chamber is sustainable into the future.

In your mission to be a great Chamber you will find that your publications say a lot about your organization. Community Matters, Inc. is an award-winning Chamber publisher that would like to help your Chamber with your next Chamber Directory, Guide, or Map. Community Matters can handle all of the ad sales, design work, collection, and distribution. In the end, your Chamber has a great looking print & digital publication that will represent your Chamber very well and you will have a smooth source of non-dues revenue. Click here to receive a bid for your next publication.

Sheree Anne Kelly is the President & CEO for the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives. She joins us on this episode of Chamber Chat Podcast for a very timely discussion about how a Chamber should navigate during a worldwide pandemic. What we are currently experiencing was not something most people expected and many were not prepared for the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic would have on their organization or their members.

Sheree Anne shares ideas and things to consider in the areas of how you interact and communicate with your community, including your members and your overall value proposition. She also discusses how this pandemic could effect your Chamber internally and what you need to be thinking about and planning for as we move forward.

Along with this topic, be sure to visit ACCE’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resource Page and follow #chamberstrong on your social media channels to follow stories about gaining legislative support for Chambers of Commerce.

If you would like to connect with Sheree Anne about what she has shared in this episode or to continue this conversation off-line, she can be reached by email at skelly@acce.org or on LinkedIn. You can also visit acce.org for more support. ACCE is active on all social media under the handle @accehq.

In your mission to be a great Chamber you will find that your publications say a lot about your organization. Community Matters, Inc. is an award-winning Chamber publisher that would like to help your Chamber with your next Chamber Directory, Guide, or Map. Community Matters can handle all of the ad sales, design work, collection, and distribution. In the end, your Chamber has a great looking print & digital publication that will represent your Chamber very well and you will have a smooth source of non-dues revenue. Click here to receive a bid for your next publication.

Have you considered producing a podcast for your Chamber? There are a few organizations that are already taking advantage of this medium to further their mission in their community. In many ways, a Chamber of Commerce is well primed for podcasting. If you think about it, you already have an audience base of some sort. Many Chambers use Facebook Live videos or YouTube to get messages out to their community, which are great, but depending on what the message is, these may not be the best mediums for delivery. Video is not for everyone. You may consider repurposing your video content into podcast episodes. You may choose to use entirely different content for your podcast versus your video content. That is the beautiful thing about podcasting, you get to decide.

There are some great upsides to podcasting. It is very inexpensive to get started. You can batch produce content. Your podcast can be a medium to showcase your member partners. There are new revenue sources to be explored through podcasting. The list can go on and on…

For Chambers who are interested in starting their podcasting journey, I have produced a very simple Chamber Podcasting Guide to help you get started. This is a free guide (for now) that will explain why you should podcast, what you need to consider before starting, the equipment and software you will need, as well as a map for your first 10 episodes to help you get started. You can visit chamberchatpodcast.com/podcasting to get your guide for free.

If you are ready to take the next step to launch your Chamber’s podcast, you will need a podcast host. I would recommend using Libsyn to host your RRS feed which is how your podcast will be delivered to the various podcast platforms (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, etc.). Libsyn is the host for Chamber Chat Podcast and is one of the most reliable podcast hosts on the market. Libsyn takes the hassle out of connecting with the various podcast platforms and has tools to schedule your shows to release on certain dates. I tend to batch produce episodes and I can schedule when they are released. If you would like to give Libsyn a try, you can use my promo code “chamber” at checkout and you will get the rest of this month and all of next month FREE as you get started with Libsyn.

In your mission to be a great Chamber you will find that your publications say a lot about your organization. Community Matters, Inc. is an award-winning Chamber publisher that would like to help your Chamber with your next Chamber Directory, Guide, or Map. Community Matters can handle all of the ad sales, design work, collection, and distribution. In the end, your Chamber has a great looking print & digital publication that will represent your Chamber very well and you will have a smooth source of non-dues revenue. Click here to receive a bid for your next publication.Image

Sarah O’Brien is the Community Whisperer at Collaborative Development Collective and she is our guest this week to discuss the value of having a purpose statement at your Chamber. We all have mission statements and visions for our organizations, but do you have a defined purpose statement? It is often a difficult message to relay to your community to express the great work that your Chamber has stewardship over. Often the general public is not sure exactly what a Chamber of Commerce does or how their local Chamber serves their community. In this episode, Sarah shares how to clearly go about creating your own purpose statement so you can continue to serve your community in a more effective way.

If you would like to connect with Sarah about what she has shared in this episode or to continue this conversation off-line, she can be reached by email at sarah@collaborativedevelopmentcollective.com. You can also visit collaborativedevelopmentcollective.com to learn how Sarah can serve your organization.

In your mission to be a great Chamber you will find that your publications say a lot about your organization. Community Matters, Inc. is an award-winning Chamber publisher that would like to help your Chamber with your next Chamber Directory, Guide, or Map. Community Matters can handle all of the ad sales, design work, collection, and distribution. In the end, your Chamber has a great looking print & digital publication that will represent your Chamber very well and you will have a smooth source of non-dues revenue. Click here to receive a bid for your next publication.

With our world and communities changing very rapidly over the past couple weeks, the efforts of Chamber professionals all over our country and throughout the world have been noticed and greatly appreciated. Our Chambers of Commerce are proving their value in our communities as they are working hard to relay the latest information while supporting their local business community during these trying times as the majority of the economy has come to a screeching halt. It is in times like these that people and your community will look for leadership.

I felt it appropriate to replay a previous episode (episode 12) when I had Diane Probst from the Rockport-Fulton Chamber as my guest to discuss How a Chamber Fits in After a Disaster. In that episode, Diane shared her experience with a hurricane but what she has to share is very applicable to many disasters that we face or could face in the future. This episode is a great reminder that will spark some thoughts of how you can lead during these trying times and how your Chamber can solidify it’s footing as the go-to resource for information in your community.

In your mission to be a great Chamber you will find that your publications say a lot about your organization. Community Matters, Inc. is an award-winning Chamber publisher that would like to help your Chamber with your next Chamber Directory, Guide, or Map. Community Matters can handle all of the ad sales, design work, collection, and distribution. In the end, your Chamber has a great looking print & digital publication that will represent your Chamber very well and you will have a smooth source of non-dues revenue. Click here to receive a bid for your next publication.Image

Maureen Griffin, Director of Marketing & Communications at the Granbury Chamber is our guest this week to discuss why it is important for us in the Chamber industry to welcome the perspective of others, especially those who we may consider to be industry outsiders. As we are influenced only by our colleagues in the Chamber industry, we are seeing the world with blinders on. We can learn a lot by recognizing how things are done well in other industries.

If you would like to connect with Maureen about what she has shared in this episode or to continue this conversation off-line, she can be reached by email at maureen@granburychamber.com or you can connect with her through social media: Facebook, LinkedIn.

In your mission to be a great Chamber you will find that your publications say a lot about your organization. Community Matters, Inc. is an award-winning Chamber publisher that would like to help your Chamber with your next Chamber Directory, Guide, or Map. Community Matters can handle all of the ad sales, design work, collection, and distribution. In the end, your Chamber has a great looking print & digital publication that will represent your Chamber very well and you will have a smooth source of non-dues revenue. Click here to receive a bid for your next publication.Image

Christy Gillenwater, President & CEO of the Chattanooga Area Chamber is our guest this week to talk about creating a future ready environment at your Chamber.

In this episode, Christy shares the focal points that the Chattanooga Chamber uses to keep their eyes on the future in their community.

If you would like to connect with Christy about what she has shared in this episode or to continue this conversation off-line, she can be reached by email at cgillenwater@chattanoogachamber.com or you can connect with her awesome executive assistant, Josselyn Nielsen at jnielsen@chattanoogachamber.com to schedule a time to visit. You can also visit chattanoogachamber.com to learn more about how the Chattanooga Chamber is becoming future ready.

In your mission to be a great Chamber you will find that your publications say a lot about your organization. Community Matters, Inc. is an award-winning Chamber publisher that would like to help your Chamber with your next Chamber Directory, Guide, or Map. Community Matters can handle all of the ad sales, design work, collection, and distribution. In the end, your Chamber has a great looking print & digital publication that will represent your Chamber very well and you will have a smooth source of non-dues revenue. Click here to receive a bid for your next publication.

Jordan Vogel, VP of Talent Initiatives at the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber is our guest this week to talk about how you can further develop the workforce talent in your community.

In this episode, Jordan dives into the main pillars that the Cincinnati Chamber employs as they focus on developing their workforce.

If you would like to connect with Jordan about what he has shared in this episode or to continue this conversation off-line, he can be reached by email at jvogel@cincinnatichamber.com.

In your mission to be a great Chamber you will find that your publications say a lot about your organization. Community Matters, Inc. is an award-winning Chamber publisher that would like to help your Chamber with your next Chamber Directory, Guide, or Map. Community Matters can handle all of the ad sales, design work, collection, and distribution. In the end, your Chamber has a great looking print & digital publication that will represent your Chamber very well and you will have a smooth source of non-dues revenue. Click here to receive a bid for your next publication.

Shannon Full, President and CEO of the Twin West Chamber of Commerce is our guest this week to talk about how disruption is a necessity for every Chamber.

A quote that Shannon shared in this episode is “different isn’t always better, but better is always different.”

If you would like to connect with Shannon about what she has shared in this episode or to continue this conversation off-line, she can be reached by email at shannon@twinwest.com, phone at 920-422-3331 or on the Chamber website at twinwest.com.

In your mission to be a great Chamber you will find that your publications say a lot about your organization. Community Matters, Inc. is an award-winning Chamber publisher that would like to help your Chamber with your next Chamber Directory, Guide, or Map. Community Matters can handle all of the ad sales, design work, collection, and distribution. In the end, your Chamber has a great looking print & digital publication that will represent your Chamber very well and you will have a smooth source of non-dues revenue. Click here to receive a bid for your next publication.Image