Skip to content

Home  | Join |  Contact Us  |  Member Login

Misconceptions of Chambers

Misconceptions of Chambers

Misconceptions of Chambers

Many people have asked us, "What is a Chamber of Commerce?". There are many misconceptions of what a Chamber is and what it does, sometimes it helps to know what we are NOT in order to better understand what we are! So, here’s what we are not:

 
  • Part of the government.
Although we work closely with the local municipalities, county, state and federal entities, to advocate for business-friendly legislation, we are not a government entity. We aren't elected officials or even work in government buildings. Chambers have their own offices, strategies and processes outside of any government organizations. 
 
  • Working for the government.

Chambers will vary slightly in operations, but the mission of any Chamber of Commerce is to promote businesses and advance the collective interests of the community. While we do work with the government, we do not work FOR the government. We do what we can to successfully represent our businesses, we work for our members! 

 
  • For-Profit.

Chambers in the US operate almost exclusively as non profit organizations (501-C6). For a business to become a member of a chamber they must pay dues, those dues go right back into advancement efforts for the businesses.

 
  • A large corporation. 

Chambers can have tens or thousands of businesses as participating members in their network. But the staff that run the chamber operations like member relations, marketing and the CEO, etc. are usually much smaller. The largest metro or state chambers may employ up to 100 people. The vast majority, however, have fewer than five employees with budgets under half a million dollars. These small teams then report to a board of directors, made up of their members.

 
  • Limited to one area.

While many other organizations aiming to support a community are focused on one specific area, like a city or state for example, a Chamber of Commerce can reach any range of people. Our chamber is a great example; instead of representing only the businesses of St. Pete Beach, our territory extends to all of the Tampa Bay Beaches. In fact, there are even minority chambers like women’s chambers, Hispanic chambers, LGBTQ+ chambers and more that promote businesses with specific groups. 

 

What makes our Chamber stand out:

The Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce works with 13 municipalities across our beaches ranging from Tierra Verde all the way to Clearwater/ Sand Key. We also work closely with county, state and federal officials to ensure the needs of the business community are met. 

Our small but mighty team works to create programs, events and resources for small, medium and large businesses to grow and reach their community.