Loading...Final Days See Membership Campaign Gathering Momentum
Nothing concentrates the thinking like the calendar, demonstrating yet again that time is the one commodity that money can’t buy. So, smart people simply adapt. And, smart certainly describes the volunteers working in the Team Georgia Chamber ’06 Membership Campaign.
Smart and committed. Since June, more than 500 of them have been canvassing the state in search of dollars and new members for the statewide business organization, in an effort to make it a stronger and more visible lobbying force at the Georgia State Capitol. Over the years, it was these volunteers who propelled the state chamber from a relatively small group of business leaders, concentrated in metro Atlanta, to the larger and much more effective association it is today, with more than 4,000 members, most of whom live outside the Atlanta area.
But, people rarely join groups that don’t give a return on their investment. Or, at least, they don’t re-join after their year is up. Over the past ten years, the Georgia Chamber has excelled in recruiting new members and holding them as members. The ROI is clearly there.
In 2006, our volunteers were challenged with a huge goal: raise $1.7 million and recruit 825 new members. And, for the past 19 weeks, they have been working hard to meet their goals. The latest return show that almost 80% of the dollars are in and new members are still being added. The drive has about three weeks remaining.
Last week, campaign veterans took most of the top spots on the weekly “Top Producer” list, with BB&T executive Allen Phinney turning in $11,340. He was followed by Brian Willman (Wachovia Bank) with $2,000 and fellow Wachovia volunteer, David Smith, reporting $1,975. Also on the list was Bob Hayes (Georgia Power-Metro East) announcing a $1,800 week and one of last year’s stars, Yowanda Knight (Citizens Trust Bank) with $1,290.
Top teams for the week were BB&T, Wachovia Bank, Georgia Power-Metro East, BellSouth and Citizens Trust Bank.
Qualifying ends this week for the popular “Day Trip to New York City,” sponsored by AirTran Airways. Volunteers who sold five new memberships between Oct. 5th and Nov. 8th will receive a trip for two to the Big Apple on Dec. 6th, just in time to see the first signs of the holiday season beginning to appear.
Other top producers are still working hard to cinch their spots on the post-campaign trip, a five-day outing to Barbados, set for January 2007. The campaign all-stars and their guests will depart the state on what is usually a cold winter day, then step off the plane in an island paradise where the temperature is a balmy 85 degrees. If anything makes all the hard work worth it, it’s this.
Campaign Chair Dr. David Allen has announced that the Victory Celebration for the ’06 campaign will take place on Thursday, Nov. 30th, in the form of a reception in the 20th floor offices of the Georgia Chamber in downtown Atlanta. “There is really no way we can adequately thank our volunteers for what they have done, but they will honor us by attending the reception we have planned for them,” Allen said recently. “I know that many of them will be working hard right up until the event to help us ensure that we meet our goal and that is what makes these people so very special. They never quit,” he added.
And, no one will have to wait long to see the fruits of their labors being put to good use. A new session of the Georgia Legislature begins in January and, once again, as it has been for more than 90 years, the Georgia Chamber will be on the scene, every day and night until Sine Die, to ensure that Georgia business receives the advocacy and representation it must have to remain profitable and competitive. Lest no one wonder, that’s why it is important to keep membership numbers high and that’s how the dollars raised in the campaign are spent.
This year marks the tenth consecutive statewide membership campaign, each of which hit its goal, a feat expected to be repeated when the curtain finally closes on Team Georgia Chamber ’06 in a few weeks.
