Moving Forward Into 2013

Culpeper Star Exponent

Business Monday

December 3, 2012

Jim Charapich

The Culpeper Chamber will be a New Chamber on January 1^st. We are new every year! I would like to welcome the new Board Members that were appointed for an exciting 2013. Welcome Tom Boyd – ReMax Crossroads, Chris Ward – Maloney & Ward Insurance, and David Lochridge – Fantastic Sam’s; thank you for your volunteer efforts in helping to guide the Chamber to fulfill our mission.

Our mission is to be the voice of the business community working to promote, build, and support the most effective climate for economic development. We have helped cultivate the vibrant economy in Culpeper since 1915. I find a great deal of satisfaction in seeing the names of leaders in Culpeper as a part of the Culpeper Chamber history.

As I look back over the year. I find so many achievements. We have leveraged our member investment in the Chamber for significant returns. What have we done…. One of the most significant is the result of the advocacy with the Town & County in consummating the Water & Sewer Agreement. In the process of this agreement, we were at the table advocating the reduction of BPOL. We were successful in working with the Town to reduce BPOL by 20% this year. Every business in Town received an immediate return on their investment in the Culpeper Chamber of Commerce. We are mindful that there is more work to be done in working with the Town to reduce BPOL further. Please join us in this effort.

In addition, our members gain a great deal of visibility online through our web presence. This is not easily replicated. Our content, blogs, social media, and other information have been circulating in cyber space for years… All of which offer a broad and robust visibility in search results for the Chamber. Though this is not new, we have been a leader in online benefits. Our registration process, event management, and communication channels have developed with a strong team to deliver a trusted service to our business community. 

The net result for us this year is that we have grown 100 members organically through word of mouth; bringing our total membership count to over 570 members to date.  We work closely with other Chambers around the Commonwealth to benchmark our efforts with those of both large and small Chambers. One idea that came out of our State affiliation was the Women’s Business Networking Lunch. We had nearly 100 attendees for the first luncheon with plans to add two more this year.

All of this requires staff and a lot of volunteer time. We have built a solid, successful, and very thrifty organization. Our driving philosophy is to deliver relevant and meaningful value to our members and their associates.

We have some very new and interesting ideas to develop for 2013… Of course… what else would a good business be doing! Find out more about joining the network to expand your business opportunities. Contact the Chamber office at 540-825-8628 or go online atwww.CulpeperChamber.com .