“Usually as Treasurer I only report to members once a year on their Chamber’s financial performance, but as we all know times are now different. You have all seen the efforts made by the Chamber to continue to deliver benefits to members via webinars and other non-contact activities. You have also seen that the Chamber has offered discounts, or other benefits, on membership subscriptions to help alleviate financial pressure on members. The Chamber is also actively engaging with its sponsors to continue to deliver value to them. However not being able to hold physical events has dented the Chamber’s income.
Of course there is a significant impact on the Chambers finances. A small group of the President, the Executive Director and his key team members and myself have worked on a revised financial plan and have agreed cost reductions where ever possible and run different scenarios on likely outcomes.
As no one can be sure what and when things will happen it is our belief the Chamber this year will record a deficit. The final amount will be determined by when and how the event program reemerges and the number of members.
While we will continue to work to further reduce our costs and look for ways to earn revenue and return to some sort of normal as soon as possible the Chamber will still be operating in through challenging situations.
So although it saddens me to see the Chamber running in deficit ,especially in my last term as treasurer, I am also very comforted that the Chambers hard work over the last few years has left it in a strong position to weather this current turmoil and to be able to continue to support its members and sponsors.”
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