Below is an auto-generated transcription. Because this is auto-generated there are likely some grammatical errors but it is still a useful tool to search text within this podcast episode.
Feel free to join our Chamber Chat Champions Facebook Group to discuss this episode and to share your own experiences and tips with other Chamber Champions.
Brandon Burton (00:01.015)
Hello, Chamber Champions. Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. I’m your host, Brandon Burton, and here on the podcast, I introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your chamber members and your community. You’re joining us for a special episode in our 2026 ACCE Chamber of the Year finalist series. And today we have with us Tiffany Tauscheck. She’s the president and CEO of the Greater Des Moines Partnership.
leading the transformative economic community development efforts across the 13 county region. Since joining the partnership in 2015, she has held key leadership roles and she’s driven major strategic initiatives. She serves on numerous national and regional boards and has and has been recognized as a national and international leader, receiving multiple awards. Tiffany has achieved her CCE, IOM, and her CDME designations.
Tiffany Tauscheck (00:46.348)
If I can go and just wait for items on the
Brandon Burton (00:56.387)
She is a Drake University alum and passionate advocate for regional collaboration, placemaking, and building a stronger future for Greater Des Moines. But Tiffany, I’m excited to have you with us today here on Chamber Chat Podcast. First of all, big congratulations to you and your team for being selected as a Chamber of the Year finalist. That’s awesome. But I’d love to give you an opportunity to say hello to all the chamber champions who are out there listening. And if you would, share something interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you a little better.
Tiffany Tauscheck (01:26.964)
You got it. Well, thank you, Brandon, so much for the invite to join you for the Chamber Chat podcast. really excited, of course, as always, to connect with all of our chamber peers across the country and really looking forward to connecting with them at our ACCE annual convention that’s coming up. So I’ve worked at the Greater Des Moines Partnership for 11 years, three years as president and CEO, but prior to this, I was in community development in a different way. So I actually worked at the Convention and Visitors Bureau.
for about eight years prior. So what used to be a focus on tourists is now a focus on talent and economic development. So we always say today’s tourists are tomorrow’s talent. And I’m just proud to work alongside a great team to drive that work.
Brandon Burton (01:55.993)
Okay.
Brandon Burton (02:10.243)
That’s right. It’s very connected, right? Yes, absolutely. Well, tell us a little bit more about the Greater Dem Partnership to give us an idea of the size of the organization, staff, budget, scope of work you all are involved with, and and anything else that will help set the stage for our discussion today.
Tiffany Tauscheck (02:12.448)
It very much is, yes.
Tiffany Tauscheck (02:30.389)
You got it. So the Greater Des Moines Partnership is the regional economic development and talent development organization, and we leverage public policy as a supporting strategy for our work. We now represent 13 counties throughout central Iowa, and we have a really unique model. So we’re funded primarily by our 400 plus investors. So these are organizations that are investing in our work to strategically act activate upon the needs.
that they see needed and possible throughout the region. We are the largest regional business, economic development, and talent development organization in the state of Iowa. Part of what makes us so unique is that in addition to our investors, we also represent 25 affiliate chambers of commerce. So we have a really unique model. It’s a dual membership model. So 25 local chambers of commerce are affiliated with us, and therefore their members are our regional chamber members.
Meaning that collectively we have seventy two hundred regional chamber members throughout the the regional footprint that we have here in Greater Des Moines, making us the second largest regional chamber of commerce in the entire country.
Brandon Burton (03:42.554)
Huge. I mean, literally, that’s huge. That’s awesome. Very good. Well, on these Chamber of the Year episodes, I like to spend the majority of our time talking about the programs that are submitted on your Chamber of the Year application. So we’ll dive into that as soon as we get back from this quick break.
All right, Tiffany, we’re back. As I mentioned before the break, today we’re going to dive into the programs that you submitted on your Chamber of the Year application. And
Tiffany Tauscheck (03:45.197)
Yes. Thank you.
Brandon Burton (04:12.417)
I know you just alluded to one of them being your dual membership model affiliate program, but tell us more about that, how that model works. I’m sure there’s many chambers out there listening to this right now that are saying, what? Rewind, how does this work? Tell us more. How does this how does this dual membership model work for you guys?
Tiffany Tauscheck (04:32.671)
You got it. Well, fun fact, we actually do receive calls or emails almost on a weekly basis from chambers across the country that are curious about the model and how it came to be, how it’s so successful, and how we keep everybody in the boat, so to speak. So this really, really began in 2009. So credit goes to many of the leaders who were with the partnership even even prior to me joining the partnership, who established this dual membership model. So in 2009,
Brandon Burton (04:47.224)
Yes.
Tiffany Tauscheck (05:00.665)
They established this new model, which had 16 affiliate chambers of commerce. So today we’ve really grown and focused over the last three years on that regional collaboration and continued support. So we’ve been able to up that number to now 25 affiliate chambers. So there are 25 chambers that are part of us and affiliated with us, representing more than 7,200 regional chamber members throughout the Greater Des Moines Partnership region that we represent.
So one of the reasons that this was originally established, and of course we continue to fine-tune and and it’s a very dynamic situation always, right, in Chamber World. So we’re always evolving and shifting and changing to to meet the needs of of the leaders and the community overall. One of the things originally was that need for collaboration in 2009. Well, now fast forward to today, 2026, there continues to be an even heightened need for regional collaboration.
We also know and hear from our affiliate chambers of commerce that they have a lot of interest in learning from us, the Greater Des Moines Partnership, related to governance models, best in class processes and shared services. So that’s something that we provide as well is those shared services and support so that every chamber that is affiliated with us is able to be as strong as they can be. And part of the benefit of this is that not only are they
As their own unique chamber stronger, they’re able to service their members stronger, which is great because as we all know, the stronger all of our businesses are throughout our footprint, the stronger our entire region is. So we’re taking this as yes, a collaborative approach, but also a very unique and targeted approach to help support those local chambers and being the best that they can be for their members.
Brandon Burton (06:56.969)
out to me as the shared services. So I’m curious to see with twenty five other affiliate chambers that are part of the organization, what services are shared and is it different for each organization? It what’s that dynamic look like?
Tiffany Tauscheck (07:12.813)
So there are currently two chambers that because we just rolled out this new shared services model. We currently have two of the 25 that are leveraging our team to support them with their financial work. So we have a team of experts in finance and accounting. And so they are they are essentially working with and supporting those chambers so that they don’t have to hire their own staff related to finance and accounting work.
Additionally, we for all 25 chambers of of commerce, we have meetings where we go through basically best of class procedure, best in class procedures. So this could include governance, it could include onboarding your board of directors, it could include onboarding a new executive director or even hiring a new executive director or any other HR function. So as you think of it, we really are that that arm to best support them so that they can do their work.
Knowing that our chamber leaders are pulled in many, many directions and they’re in high demand. we know that chambers are unifiers and they are doing really great work in each of their communities. So our job is to support them so that they can do their best work in each of their individual communities. But we also know because we represent rural, urban, and suburban chambers, that some of the issues are different in each of the areas, but many of the issues are and opportunities are actually the same.
And so there may be a chamber in one area that pursued a solution or an opportunity that another chamber could learn from. So our job, we’re connecting them and helping them learn from each other, one another, and building that peer support through this dual membership model. One other thing that I want to call out, which we’re really proud of, is earlier this year we announced for the very first time there is a new, new, new dual membership model.
That we’ve established with ACCE. So this means that all of our regional and chamber affiliates, all 25, automatically now get to be members of ACCE, which we all know in Chamber World how important ACCE is to the work that we all do to help be catalytic leaders in each of our areas of of the region.
Tiffany Tauscheck (09:35.435)
So this is another way that we’re connecting them to resources to ensure that each of our chambers are best in class.
Brandon Burton (09:46.8)
Yeah. so there are negotiations that need to go on as you bring on an affiliate or or things like that with with partnering with ACCE. that that’s one thought. And my other thought is are you dealing primarily with staff at these other chambers or do you have to interact with their boards too? What does that look like?
Tiffany Tauscheck (10:08.577)
These are great questions, Brandon. So essentially we work our way through the process and because we have added some other chambers recently, we’re very familiar with the process of onboarding a new chamber and making sure that we’re working not only with their staff, but also with their board leadership. And that’s something that we have found a lot of success with is ensuring that we’re not only supporting the the board and the staff, we’re supporting them as a whole and making sure there’s that strong understanding.
of clarity of roles between the two. So that’s something that we work through with each of those chambers as they’re onboarding, but also as there’s transitions at the board leadership level. So it’s not unusual for our team to go and present to their board, whether it’s at a board retreat, or we have team members who are dedicated through our regional community regional community integration strategy to go to their board members, go to their board meetings every time that they meet if
Brandon Burton (10:41.23)
Yes.
Tiffany Tauscheck (11:08.043)
the chamber is up for it and be there as a as a listening ear and also to provide support and of course to share back what we’re hearing from other affiliates throughout the region and what the partnership is working on as well. So that continued connectivity is really, really important. But you, you are right. It is very, very important to have clarity of roles and a strong understanding going into this this relationship, what the benefits are and how we can best support one another and to have those continual
touch bases which we of course have built in with each chamber to their liking.
Brandon Burton (11:42.608)
Right. I can see huge value, especially with the board retreats, as you mentioned, to be able to have the the expert, as they say, right, is the person from out of town to be able to come in and be able to share those best in class practices and and teach them how to how to be an effective board. I think there’s so much value there. So I I love the idea that that regional collaboration and it looks like you just continue to find new ways to grow upon it and add more and more value. I love that.
Is there anything else that we need to know about that model before we move on to the next program?
Tiffany Tauscheck (12:17.409)
The other thing I’ll just note is that because of this model, we’re able to leverage our government policy council or GPC as we call them to not only have investor input on our state and federal policy agenda, but also our affiliate chambers and their voices are introduced and part of that entire process, knowing that we are a nonpartisan organization. We are consensus-based and consensus driven.
So having GPC and having not only our investors but our affiliates at the table and having these conversations about state and federal legislation is very, very important to the advocacy work that we’re doing for our overall region.
Brandon Burton (13:00.205)
Yes. And to be able to go and say here we are representing s you know over seventy two hundred businesses, right? It it’s huge. It’s a that’s awesome.
Tiffany Tauscheck (13:05.717)
That’s right. It is. We do a fly-in every year to DC. it’s called DMDC. this this last year we flew in 175 leaders to meet with our members of Congress and talk about our legislative priorities. So we talk a lot about the importance of one voice, one mission, one region.
Brandon Burton (13:16.62)
Awesome.
Brandon Burton (13:26.381)
Yes, I love that. Well let’s switch topics to the other program that was submitted on your application. If you’d like to introduce that one, I believe it has to do with the career readiness.
Tiffany Tauscheck (13:39.424)
You got it. Yes. So this is called the Legacy Project Career Ready Collective. And this is the third year of this of this initiative. And it really started, and I have to give kudos to Joe Christine Miles with the Principal Foundation. She’s the executive director and she shared with me a few years ago this idea that she had to help support high school students through the Principal Charity Classic. And in those conversations and hearing her vision for what could be
I, of course, got really excited about this opportunity and brought it back to our partnership team and specifically the talent team here at the partnership. And they said, absolutely we can do this. So our team has collaboratively built this curriculum and built this entire program from scratch based off of a vision of a very, very exceptional leader that we have here in our region. And through that, the Career Ready Collective, or CRC, we call it for short, has just continued to grow. So
on year three now, we have about 400 high school students that are participating in this program that’s all about career readiness and helping career with career pathways, helping these students see a path for them here in our region or anywhere in the state or where they’re where they’re participating in the programming. And part of why I say that is because for the first time ever.
we now have the Career Ready Collective expanding not only throughout the state of Iowa, but we’ve added a site. And this year it’s also in St. Paul, Minnesota. So really excited to have this growth. We now have six sites for the Career Ready Collective. So we have Cedar Rapids, as well as Pella, Newton, Perry, St. Paul, and of course, Des Moines. So really excited to see that continued growth and to support.
students on their career pathway.
Brandon Burton (15:36.142)
Yes, that is amazing. So I hear other chambers that do some sort of a career readiness program and usually they’re dealing with one or two school districts maybe as they’re doing this. I’m curious it regionally, how many school districts and interstate now, how many school districts do have to work with to roll out this program and introduce it to these high school students?
Tiffany Tauscheck (16:00.13)
Benny. what I do know is that last year we had sixteen schools just in the Des Moines proper area that were participating in the program. So there is a there’s a lot of coordination. We’re able to do this in part because we’re working very closely with either the local chamber in each of those areas, like St. Paul, Minnesota has been a wonderful partner being brand new this year. But also we’re working with the community leaders and
number of volunteers and business leaders from each of those communities because what we want to do is ensure that not only the student learns from one another and learns from their peers and learns from the curriculum that our team has built, but we also want to make sure that they’re connected to business leaders and help see how they could pursue opportunities, whether that’s through work andor volunteering in their own community. So one other piece that we did is we built out this curriculum in close partnership and collaboration.
with the Ray Center. So the Ray Center is based at Drake University and it is focused on character counts and civility. And that’s those are two areas that we want to make sure that we’re helping those students understand expectations of employers of civility and showing up for one another with character and and in a way that is both adding trust and value to the organization.
Brandon Burton (17:25.967)
Can you kind of visually or I guess verbally walk us through what a site looks like? What does that entail when a student shows up there? what’s the interactions look like at one of these sites?
Tiffany Tauscheck (17:47.02)
You got it. So we have several sites that are in person and several that actually satellite in so that they can see what’s happening, not only happening there it live in person at their site, but also see what’s happening at the Des Moines location, which is housed, of course, a principal financial group given principal charity classic support of this programming alongside Salmon’s Financial. So the students will arrive, they’re served lunch.
which is a really big deal for these students in the summer to have that opportunity to connect and have a great meal with these new friends and peers that they’re getting to know. But we also ensure that there’s programming for every one of these sessions. So we line up speakers to give presentations, whether that’s on financial literacy, whether that’s on networking and how to show up in a room, how to
work the room, how to give your elevator pitch and your 30-second overview of of you as a student and what you would like to do with your future. All of these sorts of skills, we are teaching them through the curriculum with help and support from speakers that that we’ve hired and brought in and of course vetted through through all those processes. So the students are learning from experts. They’re then testing their knowledge and skills with workshops on site.
So they’re getting to put into action what they’ve experienced and learned from those leaders. And then after the sessions, we also have surveys. So we’re able to hear from the students on what did they learn? What are some of the takeaways? What could we do better or differently too? Because we all know continuous improvement is really important for all of our programming as well. So we’ve been, we’ve been really pleased to see that there have been a number of students that have said,
That this program literally changed their lives. And they I’ve had two different students that have said that unsolicited over the c last two years. And that is because number one, the first student said that they did not see for themselves opportunities as the way that they were presented to them throughout the sessions. They didn’t know those opportunities existed, and they didn’t know that they were going to be able to personally bring that kind of value to an employer.
Tiffany Tauscheck (20:03.775)
until they heard it and experienced it firsthand. And the second student that said that this program changed their life said that they didn’t know that there were opportunities such as scholarships available for them to pursue. So that’s something that we’ve also provided those connections. And we know that many of these students after they go home, after the session and they’re talking to their friends or talking to to others and potentially family members about their experiences, we know that we also need to keep those connections with them long term.
Brandon Burton (20:26.091)
Okay.
Tiffany Tauscheck (20:33.963)
So one area that we’ve added on this year is we now have student ambassadors. So these are students that have already been through the program prior that are now coming back to support this year’s cohorts. And they’re showing up, they’re connecting with these students and helping them again see their paths through this program, but also longer term in the future. So that piece of mentorship is also really, really important. We’ve seen an increase of 45%.
Brandon Burton (21:00.353)
So
Tiffany Tauscheck (21:02.981)
in students s being involved in this program over twenty twenty five, which is really, really exciting.
Brandon Burton (21:05.059)
Yeah.
Brandon Burton (21:09.815)
Often. I love you know, exposing these students to opportunities throughout, you know, locally, keep the talent there locally. I’m always curious, especially when working with high school students, about how do you get the word out? Are you working with the counselors, the guidance counselors of the schools? I mean, how do you reach that demographic in a meaningful way to be able to drive interest and and to have them actually show up and participate?
Tiffany Tauscheck (21:38.446)
That’s a great question. We’re working with the schools. So the school districts, the schools, the school counselors, teachers, word of mouth. We’re also working with employers. And we’re also working with a number of nonprofits who have internship opportunities, that they’re also making sure that their interns are aware of these opportunities. So want to call out too that we now have for 2025, we reached 34 high schools.
And we have eight nonprofit education partners. So those are folks that did help us with the recruiting, but also helped us with delivering the curriculum. so it does take an all hands on deck. It’s something, frankly, Brandon, I’m talking about in every single board meeting. I’m talking about as I’m out presenting around the community, and I know our team at the partnership is doing the same because we see the potential in these students and we want to help them see the potential in themselves.
Brandon Burton (22:33.391)
Yeah. Well it’s just so valuable to workforce in general throughout the region to to keep that talent local and help them discover the opportunities that are there right before I love that. Sounds like you guys are making a huge impact with the the CRC program.
Tiffany Tauscheck (22:51.511)
Thank you. Yes. And I didn’t even mention, but the students actually get a stipend for their time. And so that’s another area that’s really helped build this momentum is that they’re paid for their time. And that means a great deal to them and shows again that that ownership piece. And it also helps with their their families buy-in and support of of the program as well. So that’s been another element that we’ve that we’ve created as part of the the creation and implementation of the Career Ready Collective.
Brandon Burton (23:21.711)
I’m ready to ship my kids there from Texas to participate. So that’s awesome. Well, I like asking on behalf of those listening who are interested in taking their organization up to the next level to see what kind of tip or action item you might provide for them, especially given the status this year as a Chamber of the Year finalist. What what would you offer to them as they strive towards that goal?
Tiffany Tauscheck (23:24.311)
Huh we’ll take them.
Tiffany Tauscheck (23:48.216)
Well, probably no surprise as I am a huge advocate for regional collaboration, and that’s something that the partnership has grown over time and needs to continue to steward forward. I believe in I believe in that collaboration across chambers and making sure that you’re picking up the phone, you’re building those relationships, certainly at ACCE, but also any other opportunity that you have to connect with a chamber leader. I guarantee you that we’re still gonna learn from one another whether
You’re on a different coast, a different area of the nation, have a different size of chamber, different budget, different staff. We can always learn from one another. And what I have found is that the chamber leaders are they are wonderful leaders. They want to do the right thing. They want to help one another and they want to make their community even better. So pick up the phone and continue to build relationships.
Brandon Burton (24:37.229)
Yes. And I think there’s a a great value in building your own network or your tribe as some call it. because I think even going about building that regional collaboration, it inevitably somebody new is going to come into the mix, a new chamber executive, new present CEO, and they may not
be from the chamber world. They may not understand how just how collaborative and how open the chamber world is to sharing ideas and really working together. So being able to have that network to be able to help swallow up these newcomers to help them understand this is how it works is so valuable.
Tiffany Tauscheck (25:15.369)
It it really is. And that’s something, you know, even at the partnership that we’re we’re doing in our day to day work inside the market is connecting legacy leaders with up and coming leaders with students. It it really does matter and we believe that we’re going to be stronger together.
Brandon Burton (25:31.991)
Yes, absolutely. I like asking everyone I have on the show about the future of Chambers. So Tiffany, how do you see the future of Chambers and their purpose going forward?
Tiffany Tauscheck (25:43.864)
Well, I would love it if other chambers adopt also this dual membership model that we’ve created in their own region. And I understand it it can be it can be a lot to navigate through that. And we are here to help them. but I believe that dual membership model really is the future of our chambers across the country. And also adding in that dual membership model up to ACCE, we’re already seeing great value in it, and I believe others would as well.
So kudos to ACCE for their innovation and being willing to adopt this really, really new idea. I really do believe it is the future. Yeah.
Brandon Burton (26:22.263)
Yeah, that’s awesome. I should have asked earlier, but do you have to use a certain like a special kind of CRM or certain settings within the CRM to be able to work a dual membership model?
Tiffany Tauscheck (26:32.837)
that’s a good question. We so we use Chambermaster and with that we have it set up so that every chamber that is utilizing Chambermaster has their own account, but we do have a unique way through Chambermaster with their help and technical support where we have it set up so that there is that feeding back and forth and that all of those chamber members are showing up on our website in addition to each individual chamber’s website.
Brandon Burton (26:36.367)
Okay.
Brandon Burton (26:49.133)
Yeah.
Brandon Burton (26:58.147)
Wow, I’m sure that was a feat to overcome. So good job.
Tiffany Tauscheck (27:01.611)
We have a lot of great team members and as you know, so much of it it it it’s able to happen because you’re surrounded by a great team, right? And I’ve been very fortunate to work alongside really wonderful people and to have followed in the footsteps of those who created a really strong foundation for us.
Brandon Burton (27:10.351)
It’s right.
Brandon Burton (27:19.091)
Absolutely. Well Tiffany, I want to give you an opportunity to share any contact information for listeners who may want to reach out and learn more about this membership model or anything else you guys are doing there at the Greater Des Moines Partnership. Where would you point them and what would be the best way for them to connect with you?
Tiffany Tauscheck (27:36.203)
You got it. Well, on LinkedIn or social media, my handle is love DSM. No surprise there. so just L-O-V-E-D S is my social handle. LinkedIn. I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn and other social, but those that’s my primary. And then also emails, still great. ttauscheck@DSMpartnership.com. So just my first initial last name at DSMPartnership.com.
Brandon Burton (27:43.32)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Burton (28:04.141)
That’s perfect. We’ll get it in our show notes for this episode. But this has been great having you on the show and being able to have you highlight these impactful programs that you guys have implemented and and really seeing where you’re moving the needle there regionally, not just locally, but throughout the region. You guys are are doing a great job and wish you and your team best of luck as Chamber of the Year.
Tiffany Tauscheck (28:27.362)
Thanks, Brandon. Appreciate you taking the time to lift up these stories and wins. Thank you.
If you are a chamber professional, please subscribe to Chamber Chat Podcast in Apple podcast, Google podcasts, Spotify or now on YouTube. When you subscribe to Chamber Chat Podcast new episodes will show up in your feed each week as they are released. If you’re finding value in this podcast, please leave us a rating and a review in iTunes. But most importantly, please share Chamber Chat Podcast with your colleagues that are in the industry.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.