There are more than 6,900 chambers of commerce in communities throughout the United States. Of those, approximately 1 percent have attained a 5-Star rating with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. And one of those is the Newnan-Coweta Chamber of Commerce.
Very few of the 6,936 chambers of commerce across the country meet the variety of criteria required by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to become accredited organizations. In fact, only 214, or 3 percent, are accredited and receive a rating of 1-5 stars. For its part, the Newnan-Coweta Chamber of Commerce in March became one of only 76 chambers in the U.S. to receive the 5-star rating.
Accreditation is based on a variety of demonstrated levels of expertise and competence.
“I was unbelievably thrilled that our chamber was able to reach its goal of achieving 5-Star status,” said Newnan-Coweta Chamber President and CEO Candace Boothby. “Five-Star accreditation places us in the top 1 per cent of chambers nationwide and we are very proud of that.”
The U.S. Chamber board awarded 11 local chambers of commerce nationwide with accreditation at its March board meeting, and only three were recommended for 5-Star status. The final determination was made by the accrediting board, a committee of U.S. Chamber board members and chamber executives from across the country.
“The process is extremely rigorous and detailed,” said Newnan-Coweta Chamber Chair Dean Jackson. “We were required to demonstrate a high level of competency in nine core areas ranging from finance, governmental affairs, communications, program development, technology, human resources, governance, facilities and benchmarking. It could not have happened without the dedicated continuity of leadership shown throughout the last five years.”
Boothby on receiving the accreditation cited the volume of work that made the 5-Star rating a reality.
“This is a tribute to the chairs, the boards of directors, the staff and some selfless volunteerism by individuals that labored for the last five years to make this happen. Without exaggeration, thousands of hours were spent cumulatively to reach this goal,” said Boothby.
The Newnan-Coweta Chamber was originally accredited in 1975 and remained accredited until 2000. The accreditation must be renewed every five years and a decision by the board of directors to not pursue renewal at that time was made in 2000.
The Newnan-Coweta Chamber of Commerce has more than 700 members. For further information, contact the chamber at 770-253-2270 or at info@newnancowetachamber.org.
