PORTLAND, Maine —The Portland Regional Chamber has lost two of its largest dues-paying members, contributing to a steady decline in dues revenue the business organization has experienced over the last two years.
Unum, which employs 3,000 people in the Portland area, and Hannaford, which employs several thousand in the region and is headquartered in Scarborough, both have declined to renew their membership in the regional business organization, according to spokespeople for the companies.
Both corporate spokespeople told the Bangor Daily News their respective company’s decision to leave the Chamber was in no way a reflection of the Chamber’s performance, but rather the result of reviewing their overall needs and corporate objectives.
Hannaford, as a statewide grocery chain, is not typically a member of local chambers, and decided to focus on its statewide presence by retaining its membership in the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, said Eric Blom, a Hannaford spokesman. “We found value with the [regional] Chamber, but … we’re always looking for ways to get our costs down.”
Unum, which is headquartered in Tennessee, told the Portland Regional Chamber earlier this summer that it would not renew its membership. The decision was made after the company reviewed its memberships in various chambers of commerce and trade associations, according to Mary-Clarke Guenther, a company spokeswoman. “We concluded that our membership in multiple chambers of commerce was unnecessary,” she said. Unum will retain its membership in the Maine State Chamber of Commerce.
The Portland Regional Chamber consists of five community chambers in Scarborough, Westbrook/Gorham, Portland, South Portland/Cape Elizabeth and Falmouth/Cumberland. It has 1,400 member companies representing more than 64,000 employees, according to its website. Dues are paid to the regional chamber, which then allocates a portion of those dues to the community chambers.
The departure of Hannaford and Unum as members is not part of a worrying trend, said W. Godfrey Wood, the Chamber’s CEO. Wood says he’s disappointed in the companies’ decisions to leave the Chamber, and that it will spur the organization to take a closer look at how effective it is at demonstrating value to its members, he said. “I think we’re always looking at that,” he said. “But this probably brings it into sharper focus. Absolutely.”
Neither Wood nor the companies would disclose the exact amount in dues the companies paid, though Wood said the maximum dues for any member is $10,000. “So they were both under that,” he said.
“The loss of revenue always hurts,” Wood said. Though he’s confident that in this case it won’t hamper the Chamber’s operations going into the next fiscal year. The budget he submitted for the new fiscal year was “conservative,” he said. “I’m comfortable we’ll be able to hit our dues numbers.”
More than 50 percent of the Chamber’s revenue comes from its membership dues, which annually total more than $600,000, according to the Chamber’s IRS filings over the last several years.
While the loss of dues from Hannaford and Unum is likely a small percentage of the total dues the Chamber collects, it does fit into a downward trend in the amount of membership dues the Chamber has collected over the last few years.
For the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2011, the Portland Regional Chamber collected $615,339 from membership dues, according to its IRS filing. That is a 7.2 percent decrease from the $663,415 in dues it collected during the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2009. “No question we suffered with the economy,” Wood said.
Art Dillon, president of the Scarborough Community Chamber’s board of directors, is sorry to see Hannaford leave the Chamber. He learned of the company’s decision just last week. “It wasn’t anything we did or didn’t do,” he said, “which was nice to hear, but it’s still sad to not have them as part of the Chamber.”
Dillon said the loss of Hannaford won’t affect the community chamber’s financial situation as it only receives a small fraction of the total dues the regional Chamber collects. “I would imagine [the main office] would deal accordingly if a belt has to be tightened or a project has to be shelved,” Dillon said.
He also wouldn’t be surprised if the news generated some conversations at the regional board level about how to better communicate the benefits of Chamber membership. “Who knows, maybe dues restructuring will be part of it,” he said.
In the meantime, he plans to lobby Hannaford to rejoin. “They’re such an integral part of our community,” he said. “They’ve been there a long time and are such a giving organization. … I’m going to be trying to recruit them any chance I get to come back.”
I would not be suprised if they were not embarrassed with the National Chambers smear campaigmn against Angus King. My business will no longer support this orgganization.
I thing you are perhaps reading too much into it. The anti-King effort is being financed by the national Chamber. They are dropping the local Chamber and retaining membership in the State Chamber. Your King connection makes no sense as they are not involved.
With a thought process as developed as yours I am sure the local group will miss you.
Talktrash did not make a comment that usually results in a post as harsh as yours. His comment was constructive and so was yours. That last sentence should have been reserved for someone way out of line. The Chamber has lost support in ours state over those ridiculous ads. They will backfire and ultimately hurt Charlie Summers.
King actually is a self-serving corporate paranna and Maine does not need him, BUT I agree that the action above had nothing to do with the King ads. The local Chamber and the State Chamber have disavowed these ads.
I’m looking forward to the debates this fall. I’ve not made up my mind yet-We may all be surprised before this is over.
Basing his/her business relationships on what the National does is pretty silly. All business is relationships… why would he/she damage local relationships for a political ad?
It makes me think poster is not a member as is trying to score some political point.
Whether he/she is a member is not the point I made. I just thought talktrash got ripped a little hard for a comment that was not offensive or rude to anyone-just their opinion. Thanks for your comment. Have good weekend!
It is the point I made though. You too!!
Didn’t read the article, huh?
The local Chamber does contribute to the National Chamber, so there is a direct link. If local Chambers will tell the National Chamber that they are being hurt by its political antics it may just start listening.
But they are retaining memberships in the State Chapter….
All the Chambers are the same!
They are a bunch of Price Gouging Conspirators of Epic Proportion!
I dunno, I’m more thinking that these two companies already pay lots of money to advertise, and when it comes down to it, that is all the Chamber does. An Ad team from CT or NY gives them more bang for the buck than the Chamber does. The National Chamber smear campaign could of been the straw that broke the camels back tho.
The portland chamber has been on auto pilot for a few years. Their annual trade show is a shell of it’s former self. The basement of the holiday inn?? Seriously. The place needs new leadership and by someone who does not view it as an organization to advance his own business connections and businesses. The best chamber in the state belongs to the midcoast. Creative inclusive of small business and not just chasing the big fish. Hopefully this is a wake up call for portlands board!!
Godfrey Wood is a dinosaur and it’s time for him to head to the tar pit. The
Portland Regional Chamber has become a joke. Their membership will continue to decline unless they get some new members with a vision. Wood is all about self promotion. The political stance taken by the national chamber is a big mistake and Wood, like LePage, is taking his marching orders from the big boys.
Time to empty the chamber pot.
Very good, Very Very good, LOL.
I was a member of the Scarborough Chamber at one time and after one year I left. I felt that I wasn’t getting anything for the money I paid in membership. I thought of joining again, and when I looked into it I found that it had been taken over by religious conservatives and decided that is not what I want my business associated with. I have since found out that several companies have left the Scarborough Chamber for the same reason….
The days of the Chamber of Commerce are reaching an end. People used to come to town and go to the local Chamber to find out what was available in the area. Now most use the internet for these functions. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, but reality.
(“loses two of its LARGEST members) wow. Just how fat were they?
Have you ever noticed that some of the funniest comments that we make often go over everyone’s head? This did not…that’s funny lol
Scarborough is no longer the headquarters for Hanaford, that has been taken over by Dalaize America, in the Carolinas, they control all the buyers, administration, plant adminsitration, store administration etc.
http://www.delhaizegroup.com/en/Home.aspx
Chambers are a joke and do no good service to its members. Same as the SBA and the Small Business Association of America…in fact they support larger industries outside of your local area and hide it behind membership perks.
It’s quite possible that the two largest donors were upset that the local chamber didn’t support what the national branch did.
Angus is nothing but a flim-flam man, and it will take courageous people such as the National Chamber of Commerce to stand up and be counted against his re-election bid.
Looks like mousy is running them off with his far left agenda.
Looks like a sign of the times, as the economy gets worse there are less contributors, a simple fact of life in the new economy…..
what do you expect? under the constant boot of portland’s overly aggressive regulations and laws, what company wants to do business there?
Want to set up a food stand? we’ll tell you how, where, and when you can operate it.
want to sell (insert item here) we’ll tell you where you need to be.
In light of our Presidents recent comments and knowing Portland is a liberal/left area, maybe everyone is waiting for Obama to build their business for them.