Member Benefits
When you invest in your Chamber of Commerce, you invest in your business.
Extend your reach and resources with:
- Marketing Opportunities
- Business Resources
- Community Connections
- Greater Visibility
Every day we help you:
Reach New Customers
Consider the Skokie Chamber an extension of your marketing team, because we help you promote your product or services.
- Dynamic customer base. Over 64,000 people live in Skokie; and, 77% of all employees working in Skokie live in other communities but do much of their shopping right here.
- Business referrals from public inquiries. The Chamber receives calls every day from residents, businesses, people who work here but live elsewhere, and tourists looking for suggestions on where to buy products and services. We refer them to Chamber members.
- Mailing Lists and Labels. Use Skokie Chamber mailing lists and labels to reach prospective customers.
- Website presence. Our free website and links attract interest and inquiries from across the country and gives members another marketing opportunity. Visitors to the website can access Chamber member websites via an online searchable directory.
- Membership Directory & Community Guide. We encourage members to buy or use each other’s services and products, and these directories are an easy first step.
- Business Before/After Hours, Business Building Luncheons, Skokie Chamber Breakfast Club, Women in Business, Infuse Young Professionals Group, and Multi-Chamber Networking. Our regular networking sessions will introduce you to business and community leaders from Skokie and neighboring communities, help you make new contacts and increase your referral and prospect base.
- Sales Vantage Referral. Participants profit from our weekly “leads” groups by sharing referrals and promoting each other.
- PRO: Professional Referral Organization. The second of our two weekly “leads” groups.
- Seminars, Festivals, Trade Shows & Meetings. Widely promoted and publicized, sponsors and participants benefit from increased visibility, improved sales and personal interaction with prospective customers.
Solve Your Business Problems
Every day, in dozens of ways, the Skokie Chamber offers its members resources that help them conduct business more cost-effectively and productively.
- Information: Employee benefits. Day care centers. Village rules and regulations. Transportation and accessibility. Fundraising connections. And so much more!
- SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives): Small Business Counseling. Sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration, SCORE offers free, confidential, ongoing business counseling sessions.
- Export Documentation Services: Free authorization of certificates of origin are available to Chamber members.
- Meeting Space and Support Services: The Chamber staff can connect you with member-businesses that have meeting space for your meetings or presentations.
- Educational Seminars: Topics range from marketing, customer service and networking to negotiating an effective lease.
- Partnerships: The Skokie Chamber partners with educational institutions, professional associations, social service and government-related agencies, and corporations to provide business information and resources.
Get acquainted through our social activities, including the Annual Board Installation and Membership Awards Luncheon, Taste of Skokie Valley, North Shore Festival of Art, Annual Golf Outing Fundraiser and Awards Dinner, and Annual Holiday Party. Or, meet residents and business community leaders when the Chamber participates in the Skokie Festival of Cultures, Backlot Bash and other community events.
The Skokie Chamber is the only business organization serving the entire community, and we have been representing and responding to local business interests for 90 years. Take advantage of our unique position, and join the Skokie Chamber of Commerce, a business partner with connections.
Network and establish business contacts, become involved in your community, develop experience in new areas by working with others, make new friends, and have fun while helping your Chamber of Commerce.
How we serve the special needs of:
As a manufacturer, you probably consider your customer base to reach well beyond this region – perhaps national and international markets. The Skokie Chamber can help you reach prospective customers, wherever they are.
Certificates of Origin. In order to ship products out of this country, many manufacturers must present a Certificate of Origin; the Skokie Chamber of Commerce is the only organization in Skokie that authenticates and validates this documentation for Skokie-based businesses. We can help you do business in other countries.
Manufacturers’ Roundtable. This special interest group meets to discuss unique issues and to present programs that focus on their concerns, such as OSHA compliance, sales tax structure or local and regional regulations affecting manufacturers.
Business Connections & Resources. The Skokie Chamber maintains partnerships with local agencies and professional organizations to meet member needs – whether it’s information from the Illinois Manufacturers Association, the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, interactive Internet presence or local employee training and assistance programs.
When you join the Skokie Chamber, you will meet other manufacturers who value the business resources, targeted programming and community interaction the Chamber offers. In fact, we would be happy to give you member references so you can talk to them personally. You’ll discover that Chamber membership is a local opportunity with global connections.
Many of the Skokie Chamber’s member businesses offer services to consumers and other businesses. Banks, accountants and insurance agents. Dental and medical practices. Plumbers, electricians and other contractors. Creative and productions services.
These and a variety of other service businesses receive ongoing benefits from Skokie Chamber membership:
- Visibility through the Chamber Connection (our monthly online newsletter), website and links, promotional publications, and programs.
- Targeted direct marketing through mailing lists and labels.
- Referrals from public inquiries and our website.
- Networking opportunities – including Sales Vantage Referral and PRO: Professional Referral Organization leads – to develop business relationships and meet prospective customers.
And, if you would like more reasons why service businesses join the Chamber, call us for references.
Think of the Skokie Chamber as part of your marketing team, because we will help you reach new customers and spend your promotional dollars more effectively.
If you, as a retailer, wanted to know of only one benefit of Skokie Chamber membership, we would have to say: CUSTOMERS!
- 77% of all employees working in Skokie live in other communities but do much of their shopping right here. Many call the Chamber office every day, asking for shopping referrals.
- More than 64,000 people live in Skokie, and residents regularly call our office or search the Skokie Chamber’s on-line membership directory for referrals on products and services.
- The Chamber office also receives inquiries from the greater Chicagoland area, as well as from tourists visiting Skokie and looking for a variety of shopping leads.
- The Chamber Connection monthly online newsletter, promotional publications, and website offer you increased exposure and visibility.
- Advertising and marketing opportunities, mailing lists and labels, as well as sponsorship possibilities, attract Chamber business members to retailers.
Many people in the Chicagoland area consider the Skokie Chamber of Commerce a regional resource, not only because this is such a dynamic retail community but also because the Chamber is visible well beyond our borders.
Whether yours is a local shop or a national retail chain with a branch in Skokie, the Skokie Chamber is your link to new customers.
Many of the Skokie Chamber’s members are social service agencies and not-for-profit organizations that continually benefit from our support system, interaction with community and business leaders and targeted programs.
- Community Contacts. The Skokie Chamber and its members have always supported the not-for-profit community through board involvement or fund-raising help.
- Not-for-Profit Roundtable. This special interest group shares information and resources and presents programs on topics such as fund-raising, special events and marketing.
- Free Promotional Opportunities. The Chamber Connection online newsletter and other promotional possibilities are available – for free – to our not-for-profit members.
- Recognition. Networking encourages business and community relationships and maintains your organization’s visibility.
And, if you would like to know why other not-for-profits value their Chamber membership, call us for references so you can talk to them personally.
Join the Skokie Chamber and profit from broad resources and new relationships.
The Skokie Chamber offers small businesses opportunities for growth:
Small & Home-Based Business Network. Members meet to participate in targeted programs and to share business information and marketing ideas.
SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) Small Business Counseling. Sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration, SCORE offers free, confidential, ongoing business counseling sessions.
When you join the Skokie Chamber of Commerce, you connect with a dynamic business partner.
Whether yours is a small or home-based business, national retailer, financial organization, a not-for-profit, or an international manufacturer, the Skokie Chamber extends your reach and resources.During our 90-year history, the Skokie Chamber of Commerce has responded to an ever-changing and growing marketplace. As the only broad-based, independent voice for business in the community, the Chamber presents our perspective to the public, government officials and professional organizations.
Our enthusiastic, action-oriented staff also set us apart. Immediately responsive and personally engaged in connecting people, products or services, the Chamber staff provides ongoing and outstanding customer service. And, it is reinforced by a membership that supports each other.
Let us help you make the most of your time and money. The Skokie Chamber offers you targeted marketing opportunities, interaction with business and community leaders, services customized to special interest groups, and many business services – valuable benefits that help you boost profits and increase your visibility.