Monthly Archives: March 2011

Celebrating Indiana Chamber of the Year!

Some Chamber Staff Accept Award

The Indiana Chamber Executives Association (ICEA) recognized The Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce as the 2011 Indiana Chamber of the Year. Shelli Williams, President of the Indiana Chamber Executives Association, announced the award to the membership during the Annual Governor’s Luncheon held yesterday in Bloomington, Indiana.

“The Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce stands strong as a leader with a commitment to moving the business community forward,” Williams said. “It is an honor to present this award to the members of The Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce.”
The Outstanding Chamber of the Year Award recognizes organizational excellence in chambers of commerce and provides a unique benchmarking opportunity to assess organizational strengths. The award is based on the U.S. Chamber’s accreditation process for local chambers and highlights accomplishments in the areas of leadership/governance, finance, advocacy and membership development. Applicants are individually reviewed and scored by a panel of judges comprised of chamber professionals who reside outside of the State of Indiana.

Chamber President & C.E.O. Christy Gillenwater commented, “We are so proud to be named Indiana Chamber of the Year because this award is the highest compliment that ICEA can give. We were in competition with chambers from across the state, but Bloomington stood out because of our tremendous board leadership, dedicated volunteers and engaged members. “
The Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce celebrated a banner year in 2010. The organization revamped its approach to membership and the results exceeded expectations. The new tiered dues structure was introduced to nearly 134 new members joining in 2010. In addition, retention rate remained higher than the national average for chambers of similar size.
The Chamber also made it a priority to stay on the leading edge of social media and technology by not only embracing these innovations for marketing and public relations efforts, but also by educating the business community on how to utilize the new technology.
“Not only did we grow our presence on social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn, we exposed the Chamber’s upcoming events to more than 130,000 Facebook users through the pay-per-click advertising offered,” explained Gillenwater. “With Twitter, The Chamber has positioned itself as the ‘go-to resource’ for business news and advice with nearly 500 followers.”
In addition, The Chamber also initiated inBizCafe, a new portal offering a robust platform that can change the way businesses search and receive information to help with growth. inBizCafe connects local entrepreneurs and business owners with targeted resources they need to succeed. The site focuses on assisting the hottest business growth areas – entrepreneurial and small business companies.
Gillenwater continued by saying, “All of these emerging technologies that The Chamber embraced in 2010 serve different purposes, but also complement each other by providing outlets for dialogue with members, promoting Chamber members, and helping increase exposure for the Chamber on search engines and online in general.”
Advocacy is a primary function of The Greater Bloomington Chamber. Each year, advocacy goals and priorities are set through a strategic planning process with most of The Chamber’s advocacy positions enhancing commerce within the community and region. The Advocacy Division includes dozens of member volunteers that help The Chamber reach set goals. One sample of a very successful advocacy initiative that The Chamber implemented in 2010 was a community-wide initiative to encourage healthier lifestyles through public policy and environmental change. Through the Chamber’s two designation programs – Healthy Business Bloomington and Green Business Bloomington – the organization has elevated its leadership in these two areas.

A Healthy Bloomington

The Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce  is strongly supportive of initiatives that encourage worksite wellness and opportunities for individuals to make healthier lifestyle choices. Our interest in these areas stems from the work of our Health Care Team. This active group launched the Healthy Business Bloomington (HBB) Designation Program last year. Since the launch, three events have been held, centered around worksite wellness, and twelve businesses have received our HBB designation.  The goal of the program is to celebrate those businesses that have made a commitment to address workforce health issues, to hold these businesses up as a model for others to follow and to foster dialog and idea exchanges among businesses interested in worksite wellness.  

The work of our volunteers and members led us then to participating in the local ACHIEVE initiative, an ongoing effort of 18 months. The vision of the local ACHIEVE team is to empower individuals and catalyze organizations to be a model community that values and embraces the healthy choice as the first choice through collaborative education, policy, and initiatives. The focus of these efforts is to improve communication regarding health and wellness policies across sectors, especially among leadership. The recent announcement of the YMCA’s expansion plans will help our community reach this vision by providing more of our citizens with additional options to make the healthy choice.

The YMCA’s community project also aligns with The Chamber’s involvement in worksite wellness as well as the work of ACHIEVE to build a healthier community. The project, to build a new YMCA facility on the northwest side of our community and renovate the existing building on the south side of Bloomington, is one that we should embrace. 

The YMCA enhances the community with health initiatives that directly benefit the future of our community and the business community. And the Cook Group’s Lead Gift Challenge that supports this project will yield excitement and support towards meeting the fundraising goal needed to build the new site and renovate the existing site. Once again, our friends at Cook Group exemplify community stewardship and engagement through their generosity and dedication to this project. 

A YMCA located conveniently on the northwest side, has potential to attract people who work on the west side, as well as families and individuals who live on the west and north side of the county. This will allow the Y to continue to make a positive impact on the community through its many health and wellness initiatives. Moreover, we see an opportunity for businesses engaged in worksite wellness initiatives to encourage employees to utilize the new building and look for partnerships in improving employee wellness.

We also see value in the Y’s goal to provide childcare in the new building. Access to childcare is an ongoing issue in the community and the Y’s goal to provide childcare in the northwest facility will ease the ability of more families to work in Bloomington.

We are fortunate to have access to many facilities (both indoor and outdoor) that promote physical activity and healthier lifestyle decisions. Community support for the Y’s endeavors is critical and their respective projects will facilitate additional healthy lifestyle choices by residents in the community.