Annual report highlights growth in Chamber

Membership in the Clinton-Sampson Chamber of Commerce showed significant growth throughout 2023 in what executive director Matt Stone is calling a step in the right direction.

“I think 2023 went well for us, there were some good indicators of improvement and growth so I feel like we’re headed in the right direction,” Stone said in a recent interview. “I believe in this organization, what it can be, what it should be, and I think we’re getting there.”

Through a recent recap of commerce activities from last year, complied by the Chamber as an Annual Report, its numbers revealed membership was up 36.7 percent from 2022. That figure counted for both new and returning members which brought the total for members and investors, as of the printing of the annual report, to 307.

Across all their different entities, the largest member directory categories included businesses and professional services with 72; agriculture, environment, fishing and forestry with 70; government, education, individuals at 44; and family, community and civic organizations totaling 44.

The membership groups, the report noted, shows that 12,414 employees are impacted.

Despite the increase, Stone said the Chamber is not growing as fast as he would like. But he believes he has the people in place that will get take them to the place he envisions.

“We’re growing, but things are not as fast as I would like. But, again, we’re heading there,” he attested. “I haven’t hit a wall in the things I’ve attempted as executive director. I’m looking forward to pushing our numbers even higher, continue to champion the cause along with my board of directors and to lead under their guidance.”

Outside of counting membership, the annual report highlighted that in 2023, the Chamber had 22 leadership graduates, held 62 committee and board meetings, was part of 16 ribbon cuttings and groundbreakings and hosted 18 networking events. Even on the digital front, web traffic saw over 200,000 views which the report numbers said had 128,159 result hits and 87,456 page hits.

It’s these constant growth outliers that Stone felt was worth recognizing hence the reasoning behind why the Chamber put in the effort to form the annual report.

“Since I came into the role, I feel like we’ve continuously experienced growth,” Stone stated. “I’m not sure but I think, in the past maybe, that the Chamber has done some form of an annual report but I’m not sure that it has been this comprehensive. There was a lot of time and energy that went into achieving this to highlight our growth in 2023. It wasn’t just me, it was the staff and especially Audrey who handles our special projects; I mean everyone really did a lot to help put this all together.”

The increase in growth, Stone said, can be attributed to a lot of factors, including consistency, which he stressed was the most important.

“I don’t know just the right phrase to use but if I had to say the reason behind the growth, I think it’s consistency,” he reiterated. “I mean, I think that does make a difference when you’ve got an engaged board. When I came into this thing, I came into a fixer upper and I didn’t realize how much of a fixer upper it was; it’s a challenge but one I welcome. I think this organization is extremely important and relevant to the community, the business community and the membership.

“I think there’s a lot of great things that they’ve done in the past and that we’ve tried to build upon and improve. Again, it’s not as fast as I’d like but the slow and steady steps we’re making, people are seeing that, and they’re either coming back around or it’s new folks that aren’t one and done.

“I think all chambers have members like that every year, but the numbers that we’ve got, it’s been retention of ongoing members plus retention our new folks that’ve kept us growing.”

With 2024 now at the midway point, the Chamber has been working to keep the momentum of last year going. With that in mind, Stone highlighted what his future plans are as executive director to keep their growth consistency.

“We are a private 501c6 nonprofit, so we’re not taxpayer funded and are funded by the members, and well, money makes the world go round,” Stone remarked. “ So basically, the more that we can generate either through dues revenue or non-dues revenue through things like sponsorships, different programming and events, things of that nature, is a focal point.

“We’ve got a large county and we’ve got a small staff so it’s tough to be all things to all people, which I don’t think we should try to be. We’ve got folks calling the office to get their water turned on and off. So all of this, it’s part of us needing to tell our story which I think that this annual report is starting to do.

“You’ll see some changes coming up. At our recent board orientation we had a strategic planning session with the new board folks. We’ve done some restructuring with the committee and we’ll be rolling that out soon. We’re bringing back the old favorites but doing it in a different different structure, hopefully, it makes sense as we work towards further present and near future growth.”