Annual report 2012

Contents 2011-2012 BOARD OF DIRECTORS.................................. 2

Brandon Chamber of Commerce

Annual Report 2011-2012

LEADERSHIP MESSAGE.................................................... 3 HIGHLIGHTS .................................................................... 4 ADVOCACY ...................................................................... 5 TREASURER’S REPORT .................................................... 6

2011-2012 BOARD OF DIRECTORS CAM CLARK, President CKLQ/Star FM

FRANK ARNDT, Director myITsource.ca/MTS Connect-Corral Centre

SHARON SHEPHERD, Director West-Fit Physiotherapy & Sports Injury Clinic

NATE ANDREWS, Vice-President Guild Insurance Brokers Inc.

DANIEL BURNS, Director Burns Maendel Consulting Engineers Ltd.

*KENT FORMAN, Director Forman Honda

CRAIG SENCHUK, Secretary/Treasurer Atom-Jet Industries

KARLA DANE, Director Meighen Haddad LLP

CARLA MILNE, Director MNP LLP

PJ CRANE, Past President Crane Steel Structures Ltd.

CHAD WALLIN, Director Joe Beeverz Bar & Grill

DARREN BLAZEIKO, Director Cancade Company Ltd.

TODD BIRKHAN, Director BDO Canada LLP

DENNY BOUCHARD, Director Mazergroup Brandon

“Individual commitment to a group effort -that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”

-Vince Lombardi

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*Resigned

LEADERSHIP MESSAGE Thank you for being a member of the Brandon Chamber of Commerce. Your continued support over the past year has enabled the Chamber to continue to champion for local business and a strong economic environment.

Over the past year, the Chamber sustained its reputation for the excellence of its events and as the voice of the business community. We have continued to work hard to improve the quality of our services and provide value for your membership dollars. In addition to our highly valued networking events we offered complimentary workshops, public forums, and low cost marketing and sponsorship opportunities.

The 2011-2012 year was a very active year for the Chamber. We were involved in numerous local, provincial and federal issues relevant to business. We represented the business point of view through many community debates around civic taxes and the school budget. We held an open forum for our membership in regards to Sunday shopping legislation, and brought forward information gathered to the province. The Chamber developed a post flood recovery marketing strategy to support flood impacted businesses and we hosted a variety of election forums for both local candidates and provincial party leaders. These are but a few of the issues we tackled over the past year, and we will continue to have a strong voice representing Brandon business going forward.

Internally, we have dealt with some staff changes. The first half of the Chamber year functioned under the leadership of Nathan Peto and after his departure for another career, Carolynn Cancade was appointed the new General Manager. Her team includes Ashleigh Salo, External Relations Co-ordinator and Stacie Bourgeois, Internal Relations Co-ordinator. They have worked hard to ensure a seamless transition of Chamber operations and events.

Our continued success is determined by an active membership, dedicated leadership through our board of directors and the tireless work of our staff. Without the support of volunteers, the board of directors, and the membership at large, the work that we do would not be possible. Your support allows the Chamber to continue its work.

WHO WE ARE The Brandon Chamber of Commerce is an independent, membership funded, non-profit organization that represents Brandon business from the grassroots level.

MISSION To encourage growth in the Brandon community by fostering a progressive business environment, favourable to enhancing existing and attracting new business.

VISION A vibrant, growing organization that reflects the dynamic, diverse business environment in Brandon and delivers recognized value for its members.

Respected at all levels of government and the community as a highly credible and influential organization, the Chamber is the voice of Brandon’s growing business community.

We thank you for your support.

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HIGHLIGHTS COMMUNICATIONS In 2011-2012, the Brandon Chamber sent out 12 informational mailers, with 6 issues of our Chamber @ a Glance newsletter. We sent out 15 Insider e-news and launched a new website that was more user friendly.

As well, we broadened our communication tools and have been more active in social media outputs such as Twitter and Facebook! We also worked on the re-development of the Business Climate Survey to be released in fall of 2012.

PARTNERSHIPS 2011-2012 saw the Chamber develop and renew community partnerships and collaborations to bring our members new events and initiatives. Some of these included partnerships with: Winnipeg Chamber to present the Manitoba BOLD Breakfast & Leaders Debate, Manitoba Marketing Network to host the ‘Grow Your Business’ marketing event, Capturing Opportunities to partner our ‘State of the Province’ Luncheon with their annual conference, Westman Coalition for Employment Opportunities Inc. to promote the Workplace Diversity Breakfast, and Interprovincial Association on Native Employment (IANE) to co-host the Aboriginal Job Fair. The Chamber also met with BU and ACC representatives to discuss and explore partnership opportunities.

EDUCATION Over the past year, the Chamber continued to strive to provide a variety of educational opportunities. We had a number of informative speakers at our monthly luncheons and other special events who educated members on a variety of topics including healthcare, the 2011 flood, election issues and workplace diversity. As well, we hosted workshops on Twitter, Smart Phones, CCP and BizPal, Effective Communication and Growing Your Business

through Marketing.

AWARDS RECOGNITION To help recognize, celebrate and profile the accomplishments of our members, we once again presented five recipients with awards for Outstanding Entrepreneur (Komfort Kitchen), Business Builder (Drew Mills), Business Person of the Year (Borden Hadley), and the Business Excellence Awards (under 15 and 15 and over)(D&B Sprinklers and B.O.B Headquarters). As well, five nominations were forwarded to the Manitoba

Chamber Awards.

EVENTS We were active in providing a variety of networking opportunities and our events continue to be a popular activity. In 2011-2012, the Brandon Chamber put on 25 events as well as 34 Friday Chamber Coffees, with 4,090 attendees attending. Our Annual Dinner and Golf Tournament were once again huge successes with both events sold out.

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ADVOCACY Advocating on behalf of our members is a central mandate of our chamber, and this past year we worked hard to engage stakeholders and speak to all levels of government on a variety of business issues. The following is a summary of the priority issues we advanced in the 2011-2012 year.

FLOOD  The Chamber met with the city to discuss the economic impact of flooding on agriculture and local economy  The Chamber secured funding through EMESP and launched the “Rising Above Campaign” to increase awareness of evacuated businesses AIR SERVICE  The Chamber worked with the City to attract air service by helping gather information to build a strong business case and sent letters of support to West Jet  Continued to lobby for support of local investment in Brandon Airport’s infrastructure SUNDAY SHOPPING  Held ‘Sunday Shopping’ discussion group to garner member viewpoints to develop a position that was forwarded to the province ACCOMODATION TAX  Chamber representatives participated in the Hotel Tax Task Force to work with local hoteliers to help give feedback on the proposed hotel tax TAXATION  The Chamber was actively involved in the local, provincial and federal government and school division budget processes, attending all public forums and consultations, all day budget sessions as well as a variety of additional meetings to encourage fiscal responsibility.  Participated in WCG LIVE Provincial Budget Reaction Show

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS  There were a variety of meetings between members of City Council and the Chamber Board of Directors to discuss infrastructure, air service, budget concerns and other issues  A Chamber representative was at each City Council and School Division meeting  Met with Brandon West MLA Reg Helwer to discuss members concerns  Held meetings with Member of Parliament Merv Tweed regarding local concerns of federal issues  Chamber representative attended a roundtable discussion with the Honourable Dianne Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development to discuss priorities for the 2012 budget PROVINCIAL ELECTION  The Chamber held a debate for local candidates running in the provincial election  The Chamber held ‘Provincial Leaders Forum’ that gave members and citizens the opportunity to hear directly from and ask questions of provincial party leaders  The Chamber held ‘Manitoba BOLD Breakfast’ to help build the Manitoba BOLD platform to address key issues during the provincial election CHAMBER NETWORK  Supported motions at the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce AGM which included encouraging fiscal responsibility and investment in infrastructure and innovation, strategic watershed management, and development of a long term health care strategy  Sent delegates to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce AGM in St. John’s, NL to lobby on behalf of Brandon Chamber members

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TREASURER’S REPORT From a financial perspective, the year ended May 31, 2012 again showed another busy year for the Brandon Chamber of Commerce.

There was an overall increase in revenue of $39,454, buoyed through $67,166 of funding that flowed through the Chamber to aid flooded businesses through a flood campaign. Yet, although overall revenue did increase, event revenue, sponsorship revenue and membership revenue did show a decrease in the year. There were some specific reasons for these decreases but the Chamber board and management has taken these to heart and is working at making sure this is an isolated event for 2012 and not the start of a trend.

In looking at expenses, again, overall there is an increase of $44,138 with the main reason being the flood campaign which has expenses of $67,166. Without this one-time expense, other chamber expenses actually decreased by $23,028. The majority of this decrease was related to event expenses decreasing by $19,956. When event revenue goes down, event expense also goes down, and thus the decrease.

Overall, the Chamber did have a surplus of $15,702 in the year, meaning its revenues exceeded its expenses by that amount. It is important as an organization that represents business for the chamber to live within its resources, and the Chamber did that in the 2012 year. As revenue tracked slightly lower, initiatives were somewhat curtailed to live within available resources.

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Moving forward, the Chamber remains in a strong position, with approximately $205,000 of funds left in the bank after accounts payable are dealt with. Although this may sound like a lot, the chamber does own a large, old building that can have significant needs. The board has undertaken an initiative to get a handle on what these needs may be into the future. From this, a plan on what level of surplus should be retained for operations and building will be developed to ensure the members funds are being fully utilized for maximum service delivery.