In November 1927, a group of eleven local business leaders created a new organization to ‘foster and promote the trade, industrial and agricultural interests, civic advancement, and general welfare of Bainbridge Island’.
Today, almost 100 years later, the Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce continues to follow and evolve that locally-focused mission on behalf of our 500 members who incorporate all aspects of life and work across our dynamic, diverse, and driven community.
We strive to make the Chamber’s mission, vision, goals, values, and affiliations clear, concise, actionable, and effective through our day-to-day operations and oversight.
Our Mission:
We build the economic and social health of Bainbridge Island by modeling engagement and connecting the members of our community.
Our Vision:
To be the energetic heart of an innovative, strong, and sustainable local economy.
Our Core Values:
The Chamber believes in the power of:
Fairness – Level playing fields make for healthy economies
Diversification – Innovation and sustainability require a range of ideas and entities
Trust – To be built with and within the chamber in each of our interactions
Transparency – Expected in our operations, and of our community leaders
Conversation – Gather stakeholders and foster productive dialogue
Cooperation – Find a way to benefit Bainbridge via win-win scenarios
Action – Talk is the starting point, impactful outcomes the goal
Kaizen – Onward, forward, in the name of incremental improvement
About The Chamber:
For more than 90 years, the Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce has been a cornerstone of our local community.
As an unusual combination of business member-driven non-profit, community hub, visitor center, and state licensing facility, the Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce sits at the nexus of many aspects of Island life.
Through our public and member events we have forged relationships that have held strong for decades. Our close partnerships with local organizations, both charitable and business related, have allowed us to further the efforts of our economic development on the Island.
We are advocates for our members, service providers to our community, and ambassadors for our island.
Chamber Affiliations:
On the local, county, and state levels, the Bainbridge Chamber seeks to engage, partner, and work with a vast array of different businesses, organizations, elected officials, and local government staff.
The Bainbridge Chamber is a member of the Washington Chamber of Commerce Executives, the Western Association of Chamber Executives and the Association of Washington Business. These organizations serve as valuable partners, and a way to access peers, libraries of best practices and other professional training and resources.
At the national level, we are must more selective in our partnerships, especially when it comes to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
There is a misconception that all local chambers are automatically associated with U.S. Chamber of Commerce. This is not the case. Like every partnership-based organization, you must join and pay dues to be part of the national Chamber.
The Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce is not, nor has ever been, a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The U.S. Chamber is a separate organization made up of national and international businesses and corporations, not a collection of small chambers of commerce.
The vast majority of the U.S. Chamber’s funding comes from a small circle of multi-national corporations and private individuals – and for clarity’s sake: Not a penny of the Bainbridge Chamber’s membership dues go to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
https://thehill.com/lobbying/3973039-us-chamber-mostly-funded-by-small-pool-of-big-donors-study/
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/26/chamber-of-commerce-millionaire-donors.html
Land Acknowledgement:
The Bainbridge Chamber would like to acknowledge that the land on which we gather is within the aboriginal territory of the suq̀ʷabš “People of Clear Salt Water” (Suquamish People).
Expert fisherman, canoe builders and basket weavers, the suq̀ʷabš live in harmony with the lands and waterways along Washington’s Central Salish Sea as they have for thousands of years. Here, the suq̀ʷabš live and protect the land and waters of their ancestors for future generations as promised by the Point Elliot Treaty of 1855.
“Every part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished.”
Chief Seattle, 1854