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 0:00
This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.
Hello, Chamber Champions. Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. I’m your hosts Brandon Burton. And it’s my goal here on the podcast to introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your Chamber members and your community.
Our title sponsor for this episode is Bringing Local Back. Remember when your community could turn to a local TV station or newspaper for the latest updates and affordable ads? Those days may be fading, but the need for local connection remains. That’s why we created Bringing Local Back, a game changing platform that restores the local visibility and advertising power to your community. It’s more than just tech. It’s about driving engagement and creating new revenue for your chamber. Ready to see the future visit bringinglocalback.com to schedule your demo today. This is the future of local commerce.
You’re joining us for a special episode in our 2025 ACCE Chamber of the Year Finalist Series. Our guest for this episode is Elaine Spalding. Elaine has served as the President of the Rowan Chamber of Commerce in Salisbury, North Carolina, since May 2013 with over 30 years of chamber management experience across several locations, she’s been instrumental in the Rowan chambers national recognition, earning the title of 2020 chamber Executive of the Year from the Carolina chamber Executives Association. Elaine holds certificate certifications as a CCE or certified chamber executive, and also has her IOM designation. She’s deeply involved in the community leadership, serving on multiple boards, including the Carolina Chamber of Commerce executives and the Salisbury Rotary Club, and is a graduate of leadership Rowan and the Charlotte regional American Leadership Forum program. Elaine holds a Bachelor’s of Science in journalism and speech from Murray State University and and enjoys kayaking, hiking and spending time with her husband, Keith, I believe is how you pronounce it, and their dogs. But Elaine, I’m excited to have you with us today here on Chamber Chat Podcast. It seems like we just had you on the show, but love to give you the chance to say hello to everyone listening, and congratulations being selected as a chamber of the year finalist, but I couldn’t say hello. And if you would share something interesting so we can all get to know you even better.
Elaine Spalding 2:40
Sure. Thank you, Brandon, I really appreciate you inviting me back. I always enjoy your podcast, and I’m honored to be on here again. And we are so excited to have been named a finalist in our population size category for the ACCE chamber of the year. This is very exciting coming up. And in addition to what you covered in my chamber background and my personal life, fun fact to know is I have 101st
cousins. Wow, that’s quite the family, and I know them all. Yeah, wow.
Brandon Burton 3:24
So we just my wife, and I just had a new nephew born last week. Oh, so we’re, we’re adding up. You know, how many nieces and nephews, so cousins for our kids? And yes, we’re at, we’re at 13 for them, so nowhere near the 100 mark. But that’s, that’s impressive.
Elaine Spalding 3:39
Big Families, big, big farm families, and it’s great. I still keep in touch regularly with a lot of my cousins, and just love that extended family.
Brandon Burton 3:51
That’s awesome. Well, we had you on not too long ago, back in episode 327, but for those who are regular listeners, this next little bit might be a little bit of a recap, but I think it’s important for those who tune in, especially for these chamber of the year episodes, to be able to know a little more context about the Rowan County Chamber. So if you can just give us an idea of size of the chamber, staff, budget, scope of work you guys are involved with that’ll kind of set the stage for our discussion.
Elaine Spalding 4:20
Sure, this year, the Rowan chamber is celebrating our 100th anniversary, and that’s been a fun project to work on. We are lifting up our long term businesses all year long. We have 824 members as of right now, and growing, and we have a staff of four. It’s a very active business community. We have the headquarters for food line in our community. And if you’re from the southern part of the United States, you will know Cheerwine, very popular soda. So food line and Cheerwine are headquartered here in Salisbury, North. Carillon,
Brandon Burton 5:00
that’s right. And if you spend any time in the south, you know Food Lion, so, yeah, very good. Well, on these chamber of the year finalist episodes, what I like to spend the majority of our time discussing is the two programs you submitted on the chamber of the year application. So we’re gonna, we’re gonna take a quick break, and when we get back, we’ll dive in deeper on those two programs.
Joe Duemig
Hi, I’m Joe and I’m Rose, and we’re the founders of App My Community, a mobile app that can be customized to meet the unique needs of your chamber of commerce.
Rose Duemig
When we started App My Community, we envisioned a tool that would help communities thrive by simplifying communication and enhancing engagement, Chambers of Commerce face unique challenges, and we’re here to help you tackle them.
Joe Duemig
App My Community helps the Evergreen Area Chamber of Commerce to create an app that keeps tourists informed, even when their office is closed, they provide 24/7 access to local business information, which helps support the local economy and community engagement.
Rose Duemig
In Rocky Mountain House, we helped Rocky Chamber create an app with dynamic itineraries and digital resources for tourists, increasing local business engagement. The app has become an essential tool for the community, promoting events and boosting visibility for local merchants.
Joe Duemig
Today, we empower more than 200 Chambers of Commerce campgrounds and RV resorts to streamline communication, informing members about events, sharing business updates and providing a digital hub for the community all in one convenient
Rose Duemig
app. When you partner with App My Community, our team works closely with you to create an app that meets your Chamber’s unique needs. As your community grows, our app evolves with you. We are here to ensure you engage effectively with your members and streamline your operations.
Joe Duemig
Schedule a demo today AppMyCommunity.com. We can’t wait to meet you.
Clint Nessmith
Are you ready to take your organization’s funding to the next level? Hi. I’m Clint Nessmith, CEO of Resource Development Group as a chamber of commerce or economic development organization leader, I know you understand the value of working with experts who understand your world, and that’s exactly what RDG does best. For over 30 years, RDG has specialized in fundraising for EDOs and chambers. We bring cutting edge strategies tailored to your organization, whether you’re just starting out or gearing up for yet another new funding cycle. Importantly, our firm executives are hands on from start to finish, from the feasibility study to the successful conclusion of your fundraising campaign, and our team brings deep industry roots and national expertise to every engagement, no matter the size of your community. RDG delivers data driven, innovative revenue solutions, reinforcing ROI to investors and making sure your vision becomes reality. At RDG, we proudly build organizations that build communities. Visit us today at RDGFundraising.com and let us partner with you building a stronger future for your organization and the community you are working to grow and develop?
Brandon Burton 8:11
All right, Elaine, we’re back, as I mentioned before the break, we’re we’re diving into the two programs on your chamber of the year application. I don’t know if you have a specific order of which one you want to address first, but I will. I’ll let you decide which, uh, which of the two programs you want to highlight first.
Elaine Spalding 8:29
Well, of course, they. They are two of our very, very favorite ones that we profiled in the synopsis for the ACCE chamber of the Year award. And the first one is our Dragon Boat Festival. We celebrated our 10th Anniversary of the Dragon Boat Festival in 2024 and really thanked all of the businesses that have been with us for all 10 years. We put big number 10 blow up balloons on every one of the corporate tents, so the people who’d been with us for the entire time and thanked all of our long term volunteers and really celebrated all of those businesses that have helped make this event be so successful.
Brandon Burton 9:15
Okay, so I have to ask dragon boats, what is that? Tell us what that is. And just to make sure people are hearing you right, Dragon Boat what? What is
Elaine Spalding 9:24
it? If you have not participated in a dragon boat race, it’s basically a long canoe. It’s an ancient Chinese water sport. So you have 20 people in a very long canoe, all paddling together, and it is the best team building exercise, because everybody has to be in sync to get the boat to just glide along the water. Our major corporations love it. They tell us after every event that it’s the best opportunity to just hang out on the lake and really enjoy the day. With your coworkers. You’ve got the plant managers there and the frontline workers and everybody working together and just enjoying themselves. So it’s a wonderful community event. It would be kind of like what a lot of chambers have a golf event in the summer. This is our golf event. Okay?
Brandon Burton 10:17
So are these companies fielding their own team. I say Fielding? Are they filling their own boats?
Elaine Spalding 10:25
Yes, yes. We there there, as they’re about four or five vendors that do these Dragon Boat Races actually all over the world, and it’s gotten to be very popular in the southeastern part of the United States. In fact, it’s the fastest growing water sport. And of course, here in North Carolina, everybody loves races. We have NASCAR. And so we thought this is just a great way to highlight we have the second largest lake in North Carolina, right in our community, High Rock Lake. So it was a fantastic way to highlight that part of our community and just have a fun day on the lake and make some money for the chamber and make some new friends.
Brandon Burton 11:06
Yeah, I love that they can, you know, fill their own boat and come out, but it is a great team building exercise. I’m sure there’s practices that have to go into this, like, you can’t just show up and try to compete, right? Yes,
Elaine Spalding 11:18
yes. And there are some club teams in and around the area, groups of people that get together just for fun, and they’ll pick out four or five races they’re going to do in this part of the country and participate with us. So that’s a nice added benefit as well.
Brandon Burton 11:34
So where does somebody acquire a dragon boat? Are there? Is there local manufacturers? Are they importing from China? With being a Chinese tradition, what is the Where does one get
Elaine Spalding 11:45
them out anymore? Okay, we actually have a company out of Tampa that makes the dragon boats here in the United States. And they will bring them up on big, long boat trailers, and they bring all the personnel, the steers, people, the coaches, the race officials. I mean, it’s all very sophisticated, and they run the race. The chamber’s responsibility is to run the festival part. So we get the food trucks and our local breweries all participate, and it’s just a fun, fun day on the
Brandon Burton 12:14
lake. So they’re bringing the boats with them when they come up. So these businesses are not storing their own dragon boats in their workshop, or whatever they’re they’re just using them for the event.
Elaine Spalding 12:24
Yes, we bring everything they need. We tell all of our teams they just need to bring the people power.
Brandon Burton 12:30
Okay, all right. So what other things I mean, most chambers, I think, are pretty well familiar with running a festival. But is there anything unique with the dragon boat races, it needs to be considered where it maybe takes the festival, you know, to a different angle or a different approach,
Elaine Spalding 12:48
right? Well, one of the things that we really wanted to focus on was improving the health in our community, so we thought this kind of a fun outdoor activity would enable us to do that. And one of our top sponsors of the event is our local hospital, and so in conjunction with Novant Health, we award a workplace wellness award every year at the Dragon Boat Festival, and that’s based on companies that encourage their employees to stay active and stay healthy, and, you know, not have any injuries in the workplace, and that has really gotten to be so popular, we have a traveling trophy that goes around, and many of our companies are all vying to say, look, we started this new workplace wellness program. Please recognize our company. So it’s a great added benefit to the program.
Brandon Burton 13:38
Yeah, I love that. There’s so many layers you can just, you know, dive into when it comes to an event like this. So how do the bragging rights look? So whatever team wins the dragon boat races? Is there a trophy with that? Is there, I’m sure social media posts. What’s a recognition like? Is
Elaine Spalding 13:56
it we have the Olympic style medals, and so there are gold, silver and bronze teams, and all, all of the teams are so excited about getting those Olympic style medals at the end of the race. And Team pictures are lots of fun. And the the Bragg and rights every year, it’s like the there’s one bank and the hospital and a couple of others that are very, very competitive. There’s a couple of teams that just come to have a fun day on the lake. They’re not quite so competitive, but it always, always is just a great opportunity for the top business leaders and our entry level employees to really feel appreciated by the business community, and that’s what we want to see happen. Yeah,
Brandon Burton 14:46
I love it. It’s such a unique event. I’ve never I have not heard of any other chambers doing Dragon Boat Races, so I think that’s a neat thing to be able to hone on, hone in on something that’s unique and kind of special to your community. 30. I love what you guys did with the the 10 years and the balloons, recognizing those people that have sponsored it for the duration. I mean, that that goes a long ways of saying, Hey, we recognize that you’re doing this. And it creates a little bit of a stickiness, I would imagine, for next year they’re going to want to continue that sponsorship.
Elaine Spalding 15:19
Yes, as Chambers of Commerce. You know, we all have to really think about thanking and appreciating those businesses who’ve been with us through thick and thin, all the businesses that stayed with us through the pandemic and have helped us out since then, really get all of the Small Business Programs and Services back out there for our business communities, and so we want to continue to highlight and thank those very, very loyal
Brandon Burton 15:47
businesses. Yeah, very good. Well, let’s shift gears a bit into your second program, which I understand is around your small business grant program. Yeah, tell us about that. What’s what’s involved there, and what role does the chamber have with that? Yes.
Elaine Spalding 16:05
So as you know, there were lots and lots of federal grant and loan opportunities that carried small businesses through the pandemic. But since the pandemic, some of our small businesses had continued to struggle, and I had been lobbying with our city of Salisbury government to continue a small business grant program, and last year, we were finally able to convince them to start a pilot program. So we started with $30,000 to award two small businesses that were within the city of Salisbury, and our chamber serves a county region, but this one was specifically targeted for those within the city, because that’s where the funding was coming from. And so we got a committee of volunteers from our minority business council and put out all of the grant criteria they had to have a business plan, they had to have all their proper documentation. And we had volunteers that developed a rubric, and we went through all of the grant applications and were able to award six small businesses with $5,000 each. And oh my gosh. When we sent out the information about the grant recipients, we received so many positive comments. One email from a small business. She said, I just am sitting here crying because I was struggling to try to figure out my next plan. And she said, this has given me the energy to get everything back on my plan and get going again. So it just was so gratifying to see these small businesses that really have been struggling feel like the local business community and their city government supports them and wants to see them continue to invest in their business. Yeah,
Brandon Burton 18:04
I’m sure there’s a wealth of data that you collect too from these applications as you go through it. And you see these small businesses that sure really need these loans to be able to survive. They can give you a ton of content for future programming and things like that. But like this example you share to this, this lady, that it just meant the world. It was it allowed the business to keep going. And I think as small business owners, there’s so many instances where you’re just getting beat up left and right, and to get that little win, that encouragement that says, keep going, you got this sometimes that’s all they need to be able to get over that hump that they’re they’re currently facing. So, yeah, I love that. I love hearing the success stories.
Elaine Spalding 18:47
Yeah, yes, me too. And we’ve related all those back to our friends at the city, and we’re able to have the second phase of the small business grant, and got some additional funds, and we, we the chamber actually has a 501, c3, organization devoted to entrepreneurial development, so there’s some additional funds that came through that. And just lifting up our locally owned, locally grown small businesses is so important and continuing to encourage other people to go ahead and launch that entrepreneurial venture?
Brandon Burton 19:27
Yeah, absolutely, so. Is this something that you would anticipate with continued success, continuing to have funding coming from it, or is there a timeframe where you see this ending with the grant programs, or what the
Elaine Spalding 19:45
second phase we’ve already awarded for this year too, and has had $10,000 more so total of 20,000 to give this second year. And I really hope that it continues to grow, because there are so many of those small businesses. That are struggling, I think, particularly in our current climate, lots of uncertainties about new federal policies and so everything that we can do as a local Chamber of Commerce to really try and encourage those who have a good business plan, they’ve got the skill set to get that business off and running, they just need a little bit of support. Our grant program was focused on something, a piece of machinery that they might need for their business, you know? I mean, it had to be something that, then was a really good return on the investment that they would be able to continue to grow their business.
Brandon Burton 20:43
That makes a lot of sense. So just out of curiosity, did you already have the foundation in place, the 501, c3 as you receive these grants in order to be able to apply for them, or is it a newer thing having the foundation?
Elaine Spalding 20:56
Yes, we’ve had the c3 within our organization for the last six
Brandon Burton 21:03
years. Okay, so I know that’s more and more on the the minds of chambers to how can we access, you know, more funds and be eligible for grants and things like this and and having that foundation or that 501, c3, is, is very helpful to be able to attract some of those, those funds. And, of course, having the the purpose for it, right? Like you said, it’s developed for the entrepreneurial development so,
Elaine Spalding 21:29
right, right. And just all of the news about that has brought more members to the chamber. You know, we did not take a grant administration fee for doing this program with the city, and really felt strongly that we wanted all of the funds to go to the small businesses. And as a result of that, I think that has elevated the role of the chamber in the community. And just today, I got another email from a business that wanted to know when’s the next round of small business grant funding. So now we’re able to give them a time frame in the year that they need to get all of their paperwork together. This this particular business was still in the process of getting all of their state and local approvals, and so then they’ve got something to look forward to when they get all of that documentation together. Yeah,
Brandon Burton 22:23
and I love the idea that the criteria is that it needs to go towards a piece of equipment or something. It’s not just, you know, bringing in some part time help for a little bit, but it’s something that’s going to be a game changer for this business. So I love that pouring gas on the fire, as they say,
Elaine Spalding 22:42
it’s been great. And you know, those partnerships that we can do with our local governments, with our local education partners, I mean, those are the things that I see, you know, making the pie bigger for everybody in our communities.
Brandon Burton 22:55
Yeah, absolutely. So I like asking everybody. I asked you when you’re on the show before, I always like having a tip or action item for listeners who want to take their chamber up to the next level. I think, especially as a chamber of the year finalist, very appropriate to ask what you would suggest for chambers trying to accomplish that goal. What would come to mind for you
Elaine Spalding 23:19
Well being a CCE finalist of the year, I would encourage everyone to attend the ACCE conference. I pick up so many great ideas at every one of the conferences, and just sitting down at lunch or maybe over a beer at the end of the day, you can really help your chamber if you’ve got something you’ve been struggling with, but you haven’t exactly known who to go to, you know, just shout it out in one of those meetings, and you’ll get four or five people that have been there and they have been through the Battle and can tell you how to work your way through any issue or problem that you’ve got going
Brandon Burton 24:06
on. Absolutely I would echo that. I mean, the ACCE conference is great because these are the chambers that really value, you know, those peer connections and the continual education to be able to run a very good chamber and state associations are great too. Regional associations do all those. But there’s something special about the ACCE conference, where you’ve got some of the best of the best chambers that are there, and if you can connect and and make friends, you know, with with other peers that are there in those rooms, that’s where the magic happens. So
Elaine Spalding 24:38
yes, I appreciate that. Brandon, I encourage people to listen to your podcast and to take advantage of all of those professional development opportunities that you can, because you can always pick up at least one good idea from any time that you devote for your own professional development.
Brandon Burton 24:57
Absolutely So the other question. Question I like asking everyone I have on the show is, as we look to the future of chambers of commerce, how do you see the future of chambers and their purpose going forward?
Elaine Spalding 25:08
Well, and again, plugging acces horizon initiative, if you read that document, I mean, that is the future of our chambers of commerce all over the world and for chamber execs to be nimble and to be able to deal with whatever issue is going on globally, nationally, locally, you know, we are dealing with housing issues and daycare issues that I never thought our local chambers would be involved in strategies around that for our communities. I mean, we used to be so focused on it’s a business issue. It’s got to do with something that’s going to help the business community. But all Yes, yes, all of these growth issues, particularly in the Carolinas, we’re seeing such growth. We need to help our communities deal with the issues that are also impact impacting our employers, housing issues, daycare issues. I mean, it is huge for our
Brandon Burton 26:10
employers. Yeah, absolutely. Well, this has been great having you back on the show. I wanted to give you an opportunity to plug any contact information for listeners who may want to reach out and learn more about these programs or how you guys are approaching things at the Rowan County Chamber. What would be the best way for someone to reach out and connect with
Elaine Spalding 26:31
you? Always happy to help my fellow chamber buddies. It’s Elaine Spaulding. The telephone number at the Rowan chamber is 704-633-4221, or you can email me at espalding@rowanchamber.com,
Brandon Burton 26:47
that’s perfect. We’ll get that in our show notes to make it nice and easy. Bet Elaine, thank you for coming back on the show and sharing the highlights of these two programs. I’m so excited for you guys, and wish you and your team Best of luck, not only with the dragon race festival, but also this chamber of the year.
Elaine Spalding 27:05
Thank you. Thank you, Brandon. I really appreciate you inviting me to be on again.
Brandon Burton 27:10
If you are a chamber professional, please subscribe to Chamber Chat Podcast in Apple podcast, Google podcasts or Spotify. When you subscribe to Chamber Chat Podcast new episodes will show up in your podcast app 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.
