Connection Matters
The Melbourne Regional Chamber (MRC) is a nonprofit organization that serves over 850 members in Brevard County, Florida. 2021 marks the organization’s 96th anniversary. The MRC’s mission is to “develop and promote the business interests of our partners through representation, advocacy, education and support while contributing to the growth and prosperity of a vibrant business community.”
At the midpoint in the organization’s 5-year strategic plan, COVID-19 hit. Though the disruption of COVID-19 presented many challenges, it also allowed the organization to pause and evaluate the best way to serve its membership, while also maintaining financial viability. The staff and board of the MRC determined that a new two-year work plan, that could help the nonprofit pivot and refocus during this critical time, would be essential. They also wanted to ensure that the work plan complimented the 5-year strategic plan that was currently in place.
In July 2020, PowerWith Consulting began working with the MRC to design and implement a process that would engage members of its board of directors in the development of the work plan, while inviting insight and feedback from the organization’s wider membership. Every project that comes to PowerWith Consulting is unique and requires a customized approach to structuring the process, selecting tools for data collection, and the design of the final deliverables. For MRC, we used four methods of data collection: a member survey, stakeholder focus groups, one-on-one stakeholder Interviews, and organizational document review.
To engage members of the board in the work plan development, we created a work plan task force. The task force worked alongside PowerWith to ensure that the right questions were asked, that we engaged as many stakeholders as possible in the process and, ultimately, that the final work plan was both challenging and implementable. Over the course of three months, members of the work plan task force conducted one-on-one interviews, observed the focus groups, and reviewed and discussed all of the qualitative and quantitative data. Four main themes emerged: Connect, Communicate, Lead, and Evaluate.
Connection was cited as the driving force of Chamber membership. Businesses and individuals identified Chamber events and meetings as avenues to get connected to other businesses and to gain awareness about important issues in Brevard County.
The work plan, built around those four themes, was a launching point for Chamber staff to develop annual implementation plans to ensure that day-to-day operations support the goals it highlights. Strategies and metrics were developed to help provide direction and measures of success.
“The Chamber hired Casey to develop a new work plan and she didn’t disappoint,” said Michael Ayers, MRC president & CEO. “Casey knows firsthand what it takes to run a business and lead a nonprofit organization. She is organized, authentic, and a data-driven strategist who is extremely passionate about helping businesses and nonprofit organizations meet their goals.”
As a result of the work plan, the Chamber has added new staff positions, created task forces to engage the board of directors in the implementation of the work plan, and positioned the organization to retain their 5-star accreditation from the US Chamber of Commerce.
To learn more about the Melbourne Regional Chamber, click here.
