ANNUAL
REPORT
THURSTON COUNTY CHAMBER
2019 2020
Welcome to the 115th Annual Meeting
O
nce a year we look back over the past twelve months to ask these questions: How are we doing? Are we fulfilling our mission? What actions do we need to take to improve? That’s what we do in a ‘normal’ year, but this year was anything but normal because this was the year of the pandemic, COVID-19. In March 2020, the entire world held
its breath while governments tried to figure out how to contain the virus and keep people safe. Meanwhile, the measures to keep people safe had dire consequences for businesses and the economy. The upheaval caused by the virus to the Thurston County Chamber created an upheaval unlike any the Chamber has experienced in our 146-year history. In fact, we guarantee it. 2020, the year of the pandemic, will forever be remembered as the year we hit the PAUSE button on our entire program of work. The year we quickly retooled our entire organization so that every single staff person was on the front-line assisting businesses in crisis. The year that disrupted ‘business as usual’ far into the future. Collectively we should celebrate how our community has come together to create the infrastructure to support people through the COVID crisis; including remarkable work by partner business organizations in our region. Our focus over these last 70 days has been to support business by providing education, communicating information and resources, providing technical support, advocating at the federal, state and local levels and playing a leadership role in supporting business led community-wide efforts such as Thurston Strong. And despite all of the disruption, businesses have been engaged with our organization at a staggering and unprecedented level. When we look at the data since COVID-19 hit Thurston County we’ve served over 900 individual businesses one on one, provided nearly 2,400 services and 48,000 business engagement points. We don’t know what the next 70 days will bring, but we do know that our community is resilient and our organization is resilient and we will endure. Sincerely,
David Schaffert
Thurston County Chamber President/CEO
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Joseph Lanham
Thurston County Chamber Board President
2019/2020 Financials THURSTON COUNTY CHAMBER
REVENUE: Membership Contracted Services Business Promotions Products & Services TOTAL REVENUE
EXPENSES:
$375,000 $474,000 $266,000 $332,000 $1,447,000
Personnel Operating Business Promotion TOTAL EXPENSES NET INCOME
$924,000 $271,000 $234,000 $1,429,000 $18,000
THURSTON COUNTY CHAMBER FOUNDATION
REVENUE: Incubator Services Programs Events TOTAL REVENUE
EXPENSES:
$138,000 $296,000 $113,000 $547,000
Operations Programs Events TOTAL EXPENSES NET INCOME
LOCATION OF MEMBERS Olympia Lacey Tumwater Yelm/Tenino, etc. Lewis
604 178 114 51 14
Mason King Pierce Snohomish Remaining
16 265 41 25 88
$224,000 $253,000 $62,000 $539,000 $8,000
TOTAL: 1,396 Members
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2019/2020
Meet the Chamber Board of Trustees
Joseph Lanham, Chair Wells Fargo, District Manager
David Schaffert Thurston County Chamber, President/CEO
Michelle Wickett, Chair Elect Axia Home Loans, Senior Loan Originator
Trenton Fluetsch, Vice Chair Sunset Air, Service Manager
Kevin Stormans, 2nd Vice Chair Stormans Inc., President
Kim Adney, Treasurer AccountSource, Inc., Owner
Joanna West, Past Chair Washington Business Bank, VP/Marketing Director
Cheryl Fambles, Board Advisor Pacific Mountain Workforce Development Council, CEO
Michael Cade Thurston Economic Development Council, Executive Director
Dr. Debra Clemens North Thurston Public Schools, Superintendent
Dave Cullen David D. Cullen, Attorney & Owner
Sam Gibboney Port of Olympia, Executive Director
Perry Hanchey Diamond Technology Innovations, General Manager
Kelsey Hulse Puget Sound Energy, Senior Local Government Affairs Representative
Eric Johnston SCJ Alliance, Principal
Zach Kosturos Prime Locations, President & Designated Broker
Todd Monohon Olympic Rental Properties, Owner & Designated Broker
Shauna Stewart Experience Olympia & Beyond, CEO
Ron Bruchet GHB Insurance, President & Owner
Theresa Wall Kaufman Construction, Vice President
Dave Wasson Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters, President/CEO
Meet the Thurston Chamber Team David Schaffert President/CEO
Michele Winn Training & Development Manager
Krystal Barkus Director, Member Engagement & Events
Megan Feiss Director, Workforce Development
Joanne Stimac Finance Officer
Alisha Blain Director, Leadership Thurston County
Elizabeth Bretschneider Member Services Representative
Emily Sixta Customer Solutions Coordinator
Taylor Egardo Business Solutions Navigator
Christina Chesnut Business Solutions Coordinator
Thurston County’s Initiative to Improve Health & Safety for All
Natasha Ashenhurst Marketing & Communications Contractor
Thurston Thrives is a community initiative to improve the health and safety of all people in Thurston County. We believe that health is more than health care. Our community’s complex problems — poverty, homelessness and making sure all children are ready for kindergarten — cannot be solved by one organization alone.
The Chamber Foundation is the backbone organization for Thurston Thrives, providing staff and fiscal accountability. Through the great work of our eight Action Teams, Thurston Thrives brings together local jurisdictions, businesses and non-profits to find new ways of working together to address our region’s most pressing needs.
Strategic Priorities for Improving Health in Thurston County: Doug Mah Director of Public Policy Division
Thriving Children Housing Stability
Blake Knoblauch Member Services Representative
Economic Opportunity
Advocacy Update
Thurston Chamber COVID-19 Projects When we look at the data since COVID-19 hit Thurston County (since March 16), we’ve served over 900 individual businesses one-on-one, provided nearly 2,400 services and 48,000 business engagement points.
Our new project list includes ways to stimulate the local economy through programs, events, and services including: •
Partnering with Thurston Strong and the Economic
•
Recovery Task Force •
•
benefits or programs that work to keep employees
Working with municipal governments on an economic
•
Regularly updating our Community Resource webpage on
recovery task force to help obtain additional resources for
ThurstonChamber.com with PPE vendors and disinfecting
Thurston County
supplies and services
Producing two new webinars (DECLASSIFIED, Business
•
Producing spotlight videos showcasing members that are
Essentials) to provide information and technical support
reopening or have pivoted their business to remain open to
unique to COVID-19
support the community during these times
•
Launching virtual networking groups to keep you connected
•
Creating a Facebook group to share best practices, resources and opportunities
•
Encouraging employers and employees on unemployment
•
businesses navigate safety protocols •
Supporting businesses that are open with marketing support
Developing the Smart Restart Toolkit in May to help Promoting our back-to-business campaign called “Tying Our Community Back Together”
COVID-19 Response Local Advocacy
Shared Legislative Partnership COVID-19 Response
• Support deferment of impact fees
• Support eliminating barriers to replace lost childcare capacity in the community
• Support deferment of property taxes
• Support new reopening resources
• Support after-hour and expedited
• Support eliminating barriers to reopening of businesses
permit reviews • Support 3rd party permit review • Oppose “just cause and vacate notice code” changes • Oppose “rent strike” activism
• Support additional broadband resources and eliminating barriers for last mile service • Support regulatory changes to reduce barriers and increase flexibility • Support State transportation projects and continue planning on I-5 (Mounts Rd to Tumwater) and the Yelm Loop • Support increased flexibility and access to funds for local government
Shared Legislative Partnership 2020 Legislative Session
• Support reducing administrative restrictions on funds • Support relaxing and adding flexibility to meet State dates and timelines • Support creating opportunities for planning and shovel-ready infrastructure projects
• Requested funds for Lacey Food Bank (Funded)
• Requested funds for Capitol Lake EIS (Funded)
• Requested funds for Tumwater Craft District: Equipment (Funded) • Requested ongoing Judicial Impact Reimbursement (Funded)
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Workforce Development Update July 2019 – June 2020
1623
2617
Total Businesses Served
Total Services Provided
What We Do
The Thurston Chamber is the voice of business in our region and through a contract with the Pacific Mountain Workforce Development Council the Workforce Solutions team serves any
business within the five-county region to help businesses hire quality employees, improve hiring practices, retain quality employees and develop training programs. We also support employers and employees when layoffs occur. In partnership with the Pacific Mountain Workforce Development Council and the regional WorkSource system, we provide connection to programs like Future of Work where employers can apply up to $15,000 per year to upskill their workforce. This program enables companies to maintain competitive business edge in a rapidly evolving environment. Through a connection made at the Chamber’s Business and Education Network monthly meetings, TVW learned of the Future of Work program and applied for the grant. Film making and videography is a growing industry in our region and “To stay competitive and continue to produce high quality content, I really thought we could take advantage of this opportunity. We didn’t have anyone certified to fly a drone and it’s becoming common place now; I knew this would give us the opportunity to continue to innovate and use a drone in the production of our public affairs program,” says Frank Van Gelder, Director of Development at TVW.
The Chamber Foundation The Chamber Foundation, the bridge between the world of learning and the world of work, has three pillars: youth education, community leadership and small business development. The Foundation, a 501(c)3 organization, has six programs – each a result of community investment in education – Business 2 Youth Connect, Find Your Future, Math for Life, Leadership Thurston County, the Small Business Incubator and Thurston Thrives.
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Contact Us 809 Legion Way SE PO Box 1427 Olympia, WA 98501 (360) 357-3362 info@thurstonchamber.com thurstonchamber.com
Thank You Sponsors PRESENTING SPONSORS
EXECUTIVE SPONSORS
CORPORATE SPONSORS OMETOWN PROPERTY MANAGEMENT