Venture Capital and Venture Equity - Understanding It and Finding It - from the SBA

Venture Capital

Venture capital is a type of equity financing that addresses the funding needs of entrepreneurial companies that for reasons of size, assets, and stage of development cannot seek capital from more traditional sources, such as public markets and banks. Venture capital investments are generally made as cash in exchange for shares and an active role in the invested company.

Venture capital differs from traditional financing sources in that venture capital typically:

• Focuses on young, high-growth companies
• Invests equity capital, rather than debt
• Takes higher risks in exchange for potential higher returns
• Has a longer investment horizon than traditional financing
• Actively monitors portfolio companies via board participation, strategic marketing, governance, and capital structure

Successful long-term growth for most businesses is dependent upon the availability of equity capital. Lenders generally require some equity cushion or security (collateral) before they will lend to a small business. A lack of equity limits the debt financing available to businesses. Additionally, debt financing requires the ability to service the debt through current interest payments. These funds are then not available to grow the business.

Venture capital provides businesses a financial cushion. However, equity providers have the last call against the company’s assets. In view of this lower priority and the usual lack of a current pay requirement, equity providers require a higher rate of return/return on investment (ROI) than lenders receive.

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Understanding Venture Capital

Venture capital for new and emerging businesses typically comes from high net worth individuals (“angel investors”) and venture capital firms. These investors usually provide capital unsecured by assets to young, private companies with the potential for rapid growth. This type of investing inherently carries a high degree of risk. But venture capital is long-term or “patient capital” that allows companies the time to mature into profitable organizations.

Venture capital is also an active rather than passive form of financing. These investors seek to add value, in addition to capital, to the companies in which they invest in an effort to help them grow and achieve a greater return on the investment. This requires active involvement; almost all venture capitalists will, at a minimum, want a seat on the board of directors.

Although investors are committed to a company for the long haul, that does not mean indefinitely. The primary objective of equity investors is to achieve a superior rate of return through the eventual and timely disposal of investments. A good investor will be considering potential exit strategies from the time the investment is first presented and investigated.

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Angel Investors

Business “angels” are high net worth individual investors who seek high returns through private investments in start-up companies. Private investors generally are a diverse and dispersed population who made their wealth through a variety of sources. But the typical business angels are often former entrepreneurs or executives who cashed out and retired early from ventures that they started and grew into successful businesses.

These self-made investors share many common characteristics:

• They seek companies with high growth potentials, strong management teams, and solid business plans to aid the angels in assessing the company’s value. (Many seed or start ups may not have a fully developed management team, but have identified key positions.)
• They typically invest in ventures involved in industries or technologies with which they are personally familiar.
• They often co-invest with trusted friends and business associates. In these situations, there is usually one influential lead investor (“archangel”) those judgment is trusted by the rest of the group of angels.
• Because of their business experience, many angels invest more than their money. They also seek active involvement in the business, such as consulting and mentoring the entrepreneur. They often take bigger risks or accept lower rewards when they are attracted to the non-financial characteristics of an entrepreneur’s proposal.

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Understanding Equity Capital

Equity capital or financing is money raised by a business in exchange for a share of ownership in the company. Ownership is represented by owning shares of stock outright or having the right to convert other financial instruments into stock of that private company. Two key sources of equity capital for new and emerging businesses are angel investors and venture capital firms.

Typically, angel capital and venture capital investors provide capital unsecured by assets to young, private companies with the potential for rapid growth. Such investing covers most industries and is appropriate for businesses through the range of developmental stages. Investing in new or very early companies inherently carries a high degree of risk. But venture capital is long term or “patient capital” that allows companies the time to mature into profitable organizations.

Angel and venture capital is also an active rather than passive form of financing. These investors seek to add value, in addition to capital, to the companies in which they invest in an effort to help them grow and achieve a greater return on the investment. This requires active involvement and almost all venture capitalists will, at a minimum, want a seat on the board of directors.

Although investors are committed to a company for the long haul, that does not mean indefinitely. The primary objective of equity investors is to achieve a superior rate of return through the eventual and timely disposal of investments. A good investor will be considering potential exit strategies from the time the investment is first presented and investigated.

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The Venture Capital Process

A startup or high growth technology companies looking for venture capital typically can expect the following process:

• Submit Business Plan. The venture fund reviews an entrepreneur’s business plan, and talks to the business if it meets the fund’s investment criteria. Most funds concentrate on an industry, geographic area, and/or stage of development (e.g., Start-up/Seed, Early, Expansion, and Later).
• Due Diligence. If the venture fund is interested in the prospective investment, it performs due diligence on the small business, including looking in great detail at the company’s management team, market, products and services, operating history, corporate governance documents, and financial statements. This step can include developing a term sheet describing the terms and conditions under which the fund would make an investment.
• Investment. If at the completion of due diligence the venture fund remains interested, an investment is made in the company in exchange for some of its equity and/or debt. The terms of an investment are usually based on company performance, which help provide benefits to the small business while minimizing risks for the venture fund.
• Execution with VC Support. Once a venture fund has invested, it becomes actively involved in the company. Venture funds normally do not make their entire investment in a company at once, but in “rounds.” As the company meets previously-agreed milestones, further rounds of financing are made available, with adjustments in price as the company executes its plan.
• Exit. While venture funds have longer investment horizons than traditional financing sources, they clearly expect to “exit” the company (on average, four to six years after an initial investment), which is generally how they make money. Exits are normally performed via mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs (Initial Public Offerings). In many cases, venture funds will help the company exit through their business networks and experience.
  
  
  Source: SBA

Intern in Michigan and the Chamber of Commerce for the South Lyon Area, a Free Internship Job Matching Resource

The Chamber of Commerce for the South Lyon Area has partnered with Intern in Michigan, a free internship resource. Intern in Michigan is your free internship resource. Saving time and money, this groundbreaking new system synthesizes all open internship opportunities together with the largest collection of available employees and students into one efficient web-based tool. Find today's top talent or investigate the latest internship opportunities exploring Intern in Michigan's comprehensive job titles and innovative profile tools. Track your progress and research new careers with exclusive web content. 

Upload your profile and begin your search today.

Visit southlyonchamber.interninmichigan.com to get matched, or view this short video to learn more about the matching technology.

To register now, http://southlyonchamber.interninmichigan.com/Public/RegisterStart.aspx

Source: Chamber of commerce for the South Lyon Area website - 06/18/13

Source: Intern in Michigan website - 06/18/13

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John Dussman is Midwest Manager for VillageProfile.com, working with chambers in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Missouri. More than 1500 Chamber of Commerce all over the United States have trusted Village Profile to produce their Membership Directories, Community Profiles, Visitor Maps and Publications, Economic Development magazines and Chamber of Commerce Maps. Contact John at (800)-600-0134 x239.

Weekly Chamber Executive Ongoing Education Reading List

The End of Membership As We Know It: Building the Fortune-Flipping, Must-Have Association of the Next Century Sarah L. Sladek -

The era when associations could count on members joining and renewing, even with a relatively unchanging menu of membership benefits, has passed. Membership is not dead as author Sarah Sladek so eloquently argues in The End of Membership As We Know It. But you do need to change your thinking and your models to adapt to the way participation is changing as a result of the generational shifts in the workforce, social changes, and the technology-eased access to content and community. She outlines real, useful advice and plenty of examples for moving your membership model into the future. Start now to redefine membership and flip your association's future. First step is to read this book. For example, learn

• how niche is the new competitive advantage
• why organizational culture has an enormous impact on recruitment and retention
• what emerging member-prospects value and want
• why and how to focus on member ROI instead of program ROI
• how to craft and deliver compelling benefits rather than features
• how to extend your reach
• which emerging models are taking root and showing promise. 

Quality of Place Attracts Talent - J. Irwin Miller and Columbus, Indiana - Michigan Future, Inc. - by Lou Glazer

Quality of place attracts talent

By Lou Glazer • on May 18, 2013

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So I was reading, not for work, a New York Times article on the architecture of Columbus, Indiana when I came across this: It was, in fact, J. Irwin Miller, scion of the Irwin-Miller family and arts patron, who transformed Columbus into an architectural mecca. As head of the Cummins Engine Company for 30 years, Mr. Miller reasoned that extraordinary buildings would help Cummins lure top talent to the rural Midwest. (Emphasis added.)

All of sudden, I was reading it for work. In the 1950s the CEO of the Cummins Engine Company in a small southern Indiana town understood, what we are still having trouble understanding today in Michigan, that place matters. That quality of place is key to attracting the talent that is essential to successful enterprises and local economies. Miller thought it a good investment for his company and community to commission such noted architects as Eliel Saarinen, Eero Saarinen, I. M. Pei, Harry Weese, Robert A. M. Stern, Richard Meier, Kevin Roche, Robert Venturi and Cesar Pelli. Pretty amazing!

What was important in the Fifties is almost certainly more important today. Mobile talent –– particularly young –– value quality of place in choosing where they live and work after college. Quality of place isn’t something you do after you grow the economy and have more resources to do the extras. It is one of the essentials that you do to grow the economy. The arts and culture –– including architecture and reusing old buildings –– matter. So do outdoor recreation and parks. Maybe most important is big city walkable, high density, mixed-use neighborhoods tied together by transit.

Alan Ehrenhalt reports in The Great Inversion and the Future of the American City that political and business leadership in the South increasingly get it. He writes:

In the first decade of the new century, in cities all over the American South and Southwest, something puzzlingly happened. … leaders of these sprawl-based conurbations that have grown enormously in the past generation began to express deep longing for a downtown. … So it was in a remarkably few years, Phoenix and Dallas and Charlotte did things they would have been considered unthinkable a decade or two before. They spent billions of public dollars on light-rail transit systems; they drafted long-term ‘vision” documents that projected a future in which downtowns were friendly to pedestrians rather than automobiles; they won voter support for striking new public buildings and placed them as close to the center of the city as they could.

Why did they want those things? … the desire to recruit and retain big corporations, and the sense these companies were uneasy locating in a metropolis without a center. … This was a common refrain across the big Sun Belt cities. In the words of Michael Smith, Charlotte’s director of downtown development, the bankers who dominated the town’s economic strategy felt they had to have downtown amenities “to attract hip young professionals.” Virtually all of these Sun Belt cities agrees with the geographer Richard Florida that future prosperity depended on the ability to lure the “creative class,” and that this could be done only with a thriving urban culture. (Emphasis added.)

Michigan’s future success is in large part dependent on our political and, a larger portion of, business leadership understanding what Mr. Miller understood more than a half century ago and political and business leadership in most American big metropolitan areas understand today. That the models for future economic success in a flattening world are New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland plus non costal cities like Minneapolis, Denver and Madison. That the path to future prosperity is increasingly talent driven and that to concentrate talent you need a big metropolitan area anchored by a vibrant central city with the quality of place increasingly mobile talent values.

Source: Michigan Furure, Inc. 

Small Business Week - Starts June 17th

Every year since 1963, the President of the United States has issued a proclamation announcing National Small Business Week, which recognizes the critical contributions of America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners.

More than half of Americans either own or work for a small business, and they create about two out of every three new jobs in the U.S. each year.

As part of National Small Business Week, the U.S. Small Business Administration takes the opportunity to highlight the impact of outstanding entrepreneurs, small business owners, and others from all 50 states and U.S. territories.  Every day, they’re working to grow small businesses, create 21st century jobs, drive innovation, and increase America’s global competitiveness.

Source: SBA

SCHEDULE | National Small Business Week http://buff.ly/11yjHwd

USDA Seeks Applications for Grants to Support Small-Socially Disadvantaged Producers - The maximum grant award is $200,000.

USDA Seeks Applications for Grants to Support Small-Socially Disadvantaged Producers

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2013 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA is seeking applications from cooperatives to provide technical assistance to small, socially disadvantaged agricultural producers in rural areas. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) remains focused on carrying out its mission, despite a time of significant budget uncertainty. Today's announcement is one part of the Department's efforts to strengthen the rural economy. "These grants will jump start small business hiring and help producers in areas facing economic challenges get the tools they need to succeed," Vilsack said. "Small businesses are the engines of job growth and innovation in America." Funding will be made available through USDA Rural Development's Small, Socially Disadvantaged Producer Grant program (SSDPG). The maximum grant award is $200,000. The grants assist producers like Frank Taylor who returned home after college and established the Winston County Self-Help Cooperative in Mississippi, a consortium of local farmers that pool their resources to receive training in business development, conservation and health. The Cooperative also has a youth program, which teaches skills to the next generation of Winston County farmers. The Winston County Self-Help Cooperative, whose motto is "Saving Rural America," has received USDA funding to expand operations into the surrounding counties of central Mississippi. The SSDPG and other USDA business and cooperative development programs have had a significant impact on rural communities. In 2012 alone, they helped almost 10,000 rural small business owners or farmers improve their enterprises. Business and cooperative program funding created or saved an estimated 53,000 rural jobs in 2012. Eligible applicants include cooperatives, groups of cooperatives, and cooperative development centers where a majority of the governing board or board of directors is comprised of individuals who are members of socially disadvantaged groups. Small, socially disadvantaged producers include farmers, ranchers, loggers, agricultural harvesters, and fishermen that have averaged $250,000 or less in annual gross sales of agricultural products in the last three years. Producers will be able to conduct market research, product and/or service improvement, feasibility studies, training, and implement business plans. The application deadline for Small, Socially Disadvantaged Producer Grants is July 15, 2013 for paper applications and July 10, 2013 for electronic applications. For additional information on how to apply, see the June 12 Federal Register, page 35239, or visithttp://www.rurdev.usda.gov/BCP_SSDPG.html. President Obama's plan for rural America has brought about historic investment and resulted in stronger rural communities. Under the President's leadership, these investments in housing, community facilities, businesses and infrastructure have empowered rural America to continue leading the way – strengthening America's economy, small towns and rural communities. USDA's investments in rural communities support the rural way of life that stands as the backbone of our American values. President Obama and Agriculture Secretary Vilsack are committed to a smarter use of Federal resources to foster sustainable economic prosperity and ensure the government is a strong partner for businesses, entrepreneurs and working families in rural communities. USDA, through its Rural Development mission area, has a portfolio of programs designed to improve the economic stability of rural communities, businesses, residents, farmers and ranchers and improve the quality of life in rural America. USDA has made a concerted effort to deliver results for the American people, even as USDA implements sequestration – the across-the-board budget reductions mandated under terms of the Budget Control Act. USDA has already undertaken historic efforts since 2009 to save more than $828 million in taxpayer funds through targeted, common-sense budget reductions. These reductions have put USDA in a better position to carry out its mission, while implementing sequester budget reductions in a fair manner that causes as little disruption as possible. For more information, contact Candice Celestin (202) 690-2385 ------------- John Dussman is Midwest Manager for VillageProfile.com, working with chambers in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Missouri. More than 1500 Chamber of Commerce all over the United States have trusted Village Profile to produce their Membership Directories, Community Profiles, Visitor Maps and Publications, Economic Development magazines and Chamber of Commerce Maps. Contact John at (800)-600-0134 x239.

Where can Chambers of Commerce and Small Businesses Get Information on the Affordable Care Act?

This is a good time to gather the information you will need to make good business decisions on providing health insurance for yourself, you family and your employees.  On the web, visit www.HealthCare.gov – the site is geared toward consumers providing general information about the Healthcare Marketplaces.  Sign up for email and/or text message updates at  https://signup.healthcare.gov/.  

Current Topics

• 
• Get a Break on Costs Starting in 2014
  Thanks to a new kind of tax credit and the expansion of some programs, more people than ever will qualify for help that will make insurance affordable.

• Why It’s Important to Have Health Insurance
  No one plans to get sick or hurt, but most people need medical care at some point. Health insurance helps pay these costs. Learn how insurance works – and why it’s so important to have.

• 
• How the Health Care Law Benefits You
  Learn how the rights, benefits, and choices provided by the Affordable Care Act affect you – and the community you live in.
  
  
  
  Source:  www.healthcare.gov  
  
  
  
  
  John Dussman is Midwest Manager for VillageProfile.com, working with chambers in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Missouri. More than 1500 Chamber of Commerce all over the United States have trusted Village Profile to produce their Membership Directories, Community Profiles, Visitor Maps and Publications, Economic Development magazines and Chamber of Commerce Maps. Contact John at (800)-600-0134 x239.

Weekly Chamber Executive Continuing Education Reading List

The World is Flat ---Thomas L. Friedman

"One mark of a great book is that it makes you see things in a new way, and Mr. Friedman certainly succeeds in that goal," the Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz wrote in The New York Times reviewing The World Is Flat in 2005. In this new edition, Thomas L. Friedman includes fresh stories and insights to help us understand the flattening of the world. Weaving new information into his overall thesis, and answering the questions he has been most frequently asked by parents across the country, this third edition also includes two new chapters--on how to be a political activist and social entrepreneur in a flat world; and on the more troubling question of how to manage our reputations and privacy in a world where we are all becoming publishers and public figures.

The World Is Flat 3.0 is an essential update on globalization, its opportunities for individual empowerment, its achievements at lifting millions out of poverty, and its drawbacks--environmental, social, and political, powerfully illuminated by the Pulitzer Prize--winning author of The Lexus and the Olive Tree.

Source: Amazon Description

Earn A $2,000 Tax Credit using the Illinois Angel Investment Credit Program

Illinois Angel Investment Credit Program

The Illinois Angel Investment Credit Program is designed to offer a tax credit to interested firms or natural person(s) who make an investment in one of Illinois' innovative, qualified new business ventures. The investment will encourage job growth and expand capital investment in Illinois. The program can offer a tax credit to qualifying firms in an amount equal to 25% of their investment made directly in a qualified new business venture. The maximum amount of an investment that may be used as the basis for a credit under this section is $2,000,000 for each investment directly in a qualified new business venture. An awarded tax credit may not be sold or otherwise transferred to another person or entity. Businesses desiring to be registered as a qualified new business venture shall submit a registration form in each taxable year for which the business desires registration. The registration will attest to the fact that the business is principally engaged in innovation, their business headquarters is located in Illinois and their business has the potential for increasing jobs and capital investment in Illinois. Interested firms or natural person(s) desiring a tax credit based on their investment in a qualified new business venture must submit an application to the Department which attests to the fact that an investment has been made and remains in the qualified new business venture for no less than 3 years.

Program Description The Illinois Angel Investment Credit Program is operated by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.  Based on a review of a written registration form submitted by an interested firm, the Department is authorized to designate qualified new business ventures as "eligible." Firms and/or natural person(s) desiring a tax credit based on their investment in a qualified new business venture shall receive a tax credit certificate upon satisfactory review by the Department. The amount of tax credit is calculated on a case-by-case basis, based on the amount of investment made directly in a qualified new business venture. While the tax credit may not exceed the taxpayer's Illinois income tax liability for the taxable year, the credit may be carried forward for up to 5 years following the excess credit year. About the Angel Investment Tax Credit Eligibility Each business desiring to be registered as a qualified new business must have its headquarters located in Illinois, at least 51% of the employees must be employed in Illinois, the business must have the potential for increasing jobs and capital investment in Illinois, it must be principally engaged in innovation, it has fewer than 100 employees at initial time of registration, it has been in operation in Illinois for not more than 10 consecutive years prior to the year of certification and it has received not more than $10,000,000 in aggregate private equity investment in cash or $4,000,000 in investments that qualified for tax credits. An eligible business must be registered with the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office to be authorized to do business in Illinois. If the registration form is approved, the Department will notify the business in writing. Interested firms or natural person(s) desiring a tax credit based on their investment in a qualified new business venture must submit an application to the Department which attests to the fact that an investment has been made and remains in the qualified new business venture for no less than 3 years. Upon satisfactory compliance with registration guidelines, the Department shall provide the qualified firm and/or natural person(s) with a tax credit certificate. The maximum amount of tax credits to be issued under the Act is capped at $10,000,000 per calendar year. *If the $10 million in allocated tax credits have been issued prior to January 1st, then DCEO will not accept any additional claimant applications for the remainder of that particular calendar year. Then, the Department will begin accepting new claimant applications beginning January 1st based only on new investments which are made from that date, going forward. Tax credits will be awarded to interested firms and/or natural person(s) who adhere to the program requirements on a first-come, first-serve basis. Available Tax Credits (Per Calendar Year) 2011: $0 2012: $0 2013: $6,595,222 Qualified New Business Venture List (PDF) Forms Registration Instructions to Qualify New Business Venture New Business Venture Application Re-Registration Form for Qualified New Business Venture Registration Instructions to Apply to be a Claimant Claimant Application Annual Attestation of Investment for Claimant Claimant Instructions - How to Claim Angel Tax Credit For the specific program language in the law that establishes this program (Public Act 097-1097 - 35/ILCS 5/220 Sec. 220), please click:  Illinois Angel Investment Public Act 097-1097 For more information, including a list of qualified new business ventures, simply go online to: http://www.commerce.state.il.us/dceo/Bureaus/Business_Development/Tax+Assistance/AngelInvestment.htm Email: angelinvestment@illinois.gov Call: 217-557-0513 or TDD 800-252-2923 John Dussman is Midwest Manager for VillageProfile.com, working with chambers in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Missouri. More than 1500 Chamber of Commerce all over the United States have trusted Village Profile to produce their Membership Directories, Community Profiles, Visitor Maps and Publications, Economic Development magazines and Chamber of Commerce Maps. Contact John at (800)-600-0134 x239.

Win $50,000 to Start Your Own Business

Hatch Detroit Competition - Winner wins $50,000 to Start a Business in Detroit

Do you know someone looking to open up shop in Detroit? Hatch Detroit is looking for the next business to open in the city and it could be you.  We are accepting submissions for the contest June 3rd-July 13, 2013.  The winner will be announced on August 28th. If you have a strong idea or product you could be the next to win 50K.  Hugh, our 2011 contest winner is open in Midtown, and our 2012 winner La Feria is scheduled to open in Midtown later this summer. Full Contest Schedule.  For More Details go to our new website.  Submission Period:  June 3-July 13 Top Ten Announced:  August 8 Vote Opens Round 1: August 12 Top 4 Announced:  August 19 Vote Opens Round 2: August 19 Hatch Off/Winner Announced:  August 28 Corporate Sponsor:  Comerica Beyond the Contest! Hatch Detroit partnered with the Detroit Lion’s and their Living for the City initiative in 2012 to expand our reach into the neighborhoods of Detroit. We have identified 6 neighborhoods of focus: The Avenue of Fashion, Corktown, Grandmont-Rosedale, The North End, Southwest Detroit, and The Villages. Our efforts in 2013 are focused on the Avenue of Fashion where we have completed a landscaping project, started a publicity campaign to bring attention to the community, and plan a large signage renovation project and art installation.  Keep up on our progress on Facebook, Twitter, and on our new site. It takes a Village... We are working with several partners to layer the effect on Detroit including the DEGC and its Revolve program and D-HIVE. Stay tuned For more Information go to the Hatch website:  http://hatchdetroit.com/

Source: SBA correspondence - Hatch Detroit website

John Dussman is Midwest Manager for VillageProfile.com, working with chambers in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Missouri. More than 1500 Chamber of Commerce all over the United States have trusted Village Profile to produce their Membership Directories, Community Profiles, Visitor Maps and Publications, Economic Development magazines and Chamber of Commerce Maps. Contact John at (800)-600-0134 x239.

The Moore Oklahoma Tornado Tragedy Aftermath: How You Can Support the Moore,OK Chamber of Commerce - Rob O'Brian, President Joplin Chamber of Commerce

Blogger note: I attended the MAKO (Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma ) Conference last April, and one of the best conversations and new acquaintances I had was with Kathy Gillette, director of membership sales/services for the Moore, Oklahoma Chamber. After the tornado that recently devastated Moore, that seems a lifetime ago. Rob O'Brian of the Joplin, Missouri chamber (another town hit by a destructive tornado) posted this note on the Chamber of Commerce Executives of Missouri (CCEM) website a few days earlier on ways any chamber (or chamber members) can support the Moore, OK Chamber of Commerce.

Support the Moore, OK Chamber of Commerce
A letter from Rob O'Brian, Joplin Chamber of Commerce
May 2013

Dear Chamber Friends

As you know, Moore, OK was hit yesterday with a devastating EF-4 tornado. This morning I talked with chamber President Brenda Roberts and she said they have a number of businesses, including their hospital, that were destroyed or significantly damaged by the storm.

We know from our own experience here that the support of our sister chambers and businesses around the country are critical to helping rebuild and restore a business community; immediately and for the long-term. As so many of you did for us, I encourage you to join the Moore Chamber www.moorechamber.com so they have replacement funds to offset loss of revenue from impacted members.

In addition, if you want to help provide them funds (or encourage your members to provide them funds) to help in business recovery, I would encourage that as well. We have set up a “Moore Business Recovery” fund within our Foundation. (Link: http://joplincc.com/help_moore_business.html ) Every dollar donated will go to the Moore Chamber and we will track contributions so they can provide an appropriate “thank-you” in the future. The Moore Chamber does not have its own foundation, which is why we are doing this in the interim so our members can contribute to a 501c3 organization. Once the dust settles some, Brenda will get back with the direction on sending the funds on in an appropriate manner for their use. Please feel free to use our Foundation if you want to encourage donations to support business/jobs recovery. Of course, if you have other local ways to help, please do that instead.

Two years later, we remain thankful for the support our chamber colleagues gave us. It was critical to our recovery. Please help us support the Moore Chamber in its efforts to help its community. 

Rob

Rob O’Brian, CEcD
President 
The Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce
Involving employers, building relationships 
and connecting business and community since 1917.
robrian@joplincc.com
(417) 624-4150 (o)
(417) 438-0100 (m) 
(417) 624-4303 (f)
320 E. 4th Street
Joplin, MO 64801

John Dussman is Midwest Manager for VillageProfile.com, working with chambers in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Missouri. More than 1500 Chamber of Commerce all over the United States have trusted Village Profile to produce their Membership Directories, Community Profiles, Visitor Maps and Publications, Economic Development magazines and Chamber of Commerce Maps. Contact John at (800)-600-0134 x239.

Weekly Chamber Executive Ongoing Education Reading List

Firms of Endearment: How World-Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose by Rajendra S. Sisodia, David B. Wolfe and Jagdish N. Sheth (Feb 10, 2007)

Today’s best companies get it. From retail to finance and industries in between, the organizations who recognize that doing good is good business are becoming the ultimate value creators. They’re changing their culture and generating every form of value that matters: emotional, experiential, social, and financial. And they’re doing it for all their stakeholders. Not because it’s simply politically correct, because it’s the only path to long-term competitive advantage.

These are the firms of endearment.