Chamber of Commerce

What do you think of when you hear Chamber of Commerce? Most people think welcoming new businesses, cutting ribbons and socializing at networking events. The Greater Haralson County Chamber is so much more than that. It is a member-driven business-focused organization of local businesses seeking to further their collective interests, while advancing Haralson County and the cities of Bremen, Buchanan, Tallapoosa and Waco.

As community developers, chamber members cultivate an environment for businesses to grow and thrive while creating a wonderful area to live and play. They advocate on behalf of the membership and serve as the collective voice that is so often needed. They accomplish this task through building strong community partnerships with community leaders and the companies they represent. As the mouthpiece for the business community, the chamber's emphasis is on advocacy, leadership, business and professional development and strengthening the connection between workforce and education.

Chamber Teams are the heart of the Haralson Chamber. Members interested in strengthening and transforming the community give of themselves, their time and their talent, to create a prosperous present and future. These teans are:

Ambassador Team: It is the determination, pursuit and mission of each Ambassador to welcome each new Chamber member. It is our goal to offer and provide support by personal attention, open communication and creating a comfortable environment for each person or company who joins the Chamber. Our commitment and focus is on creating awareness of Chamber benefits; on the advantages of membership and to create a sense of community with each member.
Public Policy Team: Serves as a resource for citizen awareness of pending and approved legislation impacting our community at the State, county and local municipality levels
Business Success Team: Provides support, resources, and education for entrepreneurs, business owners and employees
Finance Team: Provides support, resources, and education for entrepreneurs, business owners and employees
Leadership Development Team: Provides resources and opportunities that encourages and develops professional and personal leadership skills and perspectives resulting in cooperation within the community
Membership Development Team: Adds new members and retains current membership by continually adding value to the Chamber.
Tourism Team: Promotes economic development through tourism marketing.

Not only do these team members have the opportunity to impact their community, they also have extraordinary opportunities to network and form friendships that can last a lifetime.

Chamber missions vary, but they all tend to focus to some degree on:

Building communities to which residents, visitors and investors are attracted; promoting those communities
Striving to ensure future prosperity via a pro-business climate; representing the unified voice of the employer community; and Reducing transactional friction through well-functioning networks.
Most are led by private-sector employers, self-funded, organized around boards/committees of volunteers and independent
They share a common ambition for sustained prosperity of their community/region, built on thriving employers
Most are ardent proponents of the free-market system, resisting attempts to overly burden private sector enterprise and investment
Local businesses are voluntary-paying members of a chamber (nonprofits, quasi-public and even public sector employers also sometimes pay dues to belong)
?A board of directors sets policy for, and guide the workings of, the chamber. The board or executive committee then hires a chief executive , plus an appropriate and affordable number of staff to run the organization
While most chambers work closely with government, they are not part of government although many consider the process of appropriately influencing elected/appointed officials to be one of their most important functions

Local businesses are voluntary paying members of a chamber (non-profits, quasi-public and even public sector employers also sometimes pay dues to belong). In most cases the company is the member, not an individual. A member company is then encouraged to involve numerous senior level employees in the work of the chamber. A company is free to join (pay dues to) multiple chambers and many mid-size to large firms do so (especially neighbors), in order to further advance their companies' market or policy interests.