Made In The Piedmont, January 2013

Jim Charapich

Made InThe Piedmont

Culpeper Times

January 2013

The “Made in the Piedmont” series for 2013 will focus on Culpeper’s Economic Indicators...  I disavow any claim to be an economist and yet, I am very interested in what can be found to suggest how we are doing economically. We are often tempted to take what is easy for consumption and extrapolate it locally without knowing Culpeper’s true economic picture. I invite you to share your thoughts on what would be of most interest to you the readers.

This month I would like to look at an indicator that is most interesting to me as the President of the Culpeper Chamber of Commerce – the number of new members that this business organization added in 2012. Most chambers of commerce have seen member attrition of about 10% - 25%, especially during the economic challenges of the past few years. The Culpeper Chamber has had 10% or less. In fact last year we had approximately 8% attrition (members not renewing ). This speaks well of our business environment since attrition relates to either companies relocating or going out of business altogether.

The Chamber cannot take full credit for the economic environment - healthy or not, except to say that we are a reflection of the business climate in Culpeper. Now consider that we grew by well over 100 members “organically’ in 2012 to reach approximately 575 members. I say “organically” since we did not have any special promotion or incentive to join. Businesses have found value in what we are doing and find a good return on their investment.

The number of new members is only part of the picture at the Culpeper Chamber, however, it is one of the most important barometers of our overall direction and delivery of services to our members. Therefore, in order to take advantage of this growth momentum, we will be engaging the business community to promote membership in a big way in 2013.

We are planning “Membership Madness”, a campaign to bring awareness to the benefits of joining the Culpeper Chamber in March. The Chamber is proud to have served as the “Voice of the Business Community” for nearly 100 years. Our hope is to be well over 600 members as we enter into 2014 – our centennial anniversary. In order to emphasize our “Membership Madness” campaign we will be tracking who brought in the most members in 2013. There will be incentives and a lot of fun celebration during the Membership Madness campaign.

If you are interested in joining, find a local member and have them introduce you to the Chamber. Make sure that they get credit for your membership… they will thank you later… and you can join in the fun.

We want to continue our mission to be the voice of the business community working to promote, build, and support the most effective climate for economic development. We are stronger, smarter, and faster in our work, the greater our numbers. We hope that you will join us in 2013 to make our business eco-system more prosperous and vibrant. 600 members, yes, very likely, 700 members would be an amazing indicator for the size of our community, 1000 by 2014? Anything is possible… join us today!