The Role of the Frisco Chamber: When You've Met One Chamber, You've Met One Chamber!
The name “chamber of commerce” is recognized worldwide; however, most people don’t actually know what a chamber of commerce does. In addition, each chamber of commerce is different, and in our industry we like to say, “When you’ve met one chamber, you’ve met one chamber.”
Some chambers of commerce exist to do only ribbon cuttings and provide networking opportunities. Yes, we do these but you’ll find that we do so much more!
So what is the role of the Frisco Chamber of Commerce?
Advocacy
Often behind the scenes, the Frisco Chamber works to ensure that Frisco and the entire region remain business-friendly. Most businesses do not have time or do not have a dedicated staff person or department to follow local, state, and federal legislation. “The chamber’s efforts in this area include understanding laws and ordinances and determining how they could potentially affect our business climate,” said Tony Felker, President/CEO of the Frisco Chamber of Commerce.
“To use an analogy, we aren’t just a thermometer, measuring the temperature at any given moment. In the past decade, we have become a thermostat, being able to effectively raise or lower the temperature.” The most effective efforts start with building relationships with elected officials. “We know there may be times that we don’t agree with proposed legislation, and these strong relationships allow us to have difficult conversations,” Felker shared.
Another role of the Frisco Chamber of Commerce that falls under advocacy is educating and informing voters. The Frisco Chamber does not endorse candidates but plays a strong role in encouraging voters to know the candidates and issues and make informed decisions. The Frisco Chamber does this through candidate forums and communication efforts. View our voter education information here.
Membership
The Frisco Chamber of Commerce membership team works to help businesses maximize their benefits or, in many cases, helps them get plugged into the community! “Some organizations are looking for transactional benefits, such as networking and marketing opportunities, while others are interested in transformational benefits, such as leading or giving back to the community,” shared Jenn Van Dahm, Director of Membership. “We are here to help with any of these!”
In addition, the membership team meets regularly with businesses to review their opportunities, especially as a business grows. “While some business owners may think that now they have grown, they don’t need the chamber, we like to point out that in most cases, it means they’ve now moved from transactional to transformational and are now poised to lead and give back to the community that helped them reach their success,” said Felker.
Communications
One of the many things that made the Frisco Chamber essential during the pandemic was our ability to reach large audiences with vital information. Whether it was information about the latest Governor’s orders or financial relief, the information we vetted and provided often made the difference between a business closing permanently or being able to continue operations.
Communicating relevant information is always a work in progress. Because of the newly adopted strategic plan, the Frisco Chamber will strive to increase and improve communications and to help tell the story of Frisco’s business community. This will be achieved by utilizing the many avenues of communication such as the website, news articles, informative emails, and videos which will be created in the Frisco Chamber’s recording studio, which came about during the pandemic.
Marketing
Whether it is promoting members, sponsors, or the community as a whole, the Frisco Chamber provides many advertising opportunities each year in both print and digital formats. “Our member’s contact information appears on our website for the community to find and in our digital Community Guide,” shared Brian Davis, Director of Marketing and Sponsorships. “We have sponsorship opportunities for every size business! And just like membership, organizations sponsor events for transactional benefits, like brand recognition while organizations sponsor to give back by supporting our efforts and events.”
Events
Most chambers of commerce host events for a variety of reasons – some are traditions, ways to make connections, or help to inform and educate, but ultimately most events are an additional way to financially support the chamber’s ongoing efforts in the business community. “Under the new strategic plan, we are really looking closely at which events will help us achieve our overarching goals,” said Shelby Fawver, Director of Events. “We strive to make every event we do meaningful, impactful, and memorable for sponsors and attendees.” Learn more about our events here.
Resources and Connections
A few of the Frisco Chamber’s ongoing efforts in workforce development, small business ecosystem, and community nonprofit assistance include the Frisco Chamber’s committees and programs, such as Leadership Frisco, Young Entrepreneurs Academy, Women Enhancing Business, and Frisco Young Professionals.
A Job Board open to all local and regional businesses exists on our website, allowing employers to post local jobs. Our mentorship/internship database helps connect interns and mentees with industry professionals.
Partnering with Education
Working closely with our local colleges and universities allows us the opportunity to promote professional growth and upskilling of existing employees. We also work closely with Frisco ISD and our four other local school districts in various ways to stay plugged in and connect the business community with students in each of these districts, local private schools and charter schools.
Get to Know Us!
We could, but we certainly don’t stop with all of those efforts mentioned above! There is so much more that the Frisco Chamber of Commerce does to fulfill our mission statement of protecting and promoting commerce through advocacy, resources, and connections. And it is not just Frisco we serve…approximately 30% of our members are businesses outside the city limits. And we work hard advocating for the business community on the county, state, and federal levels too!
Want to learn more? Explore our website and/or give us a call today!
