Mission Statement
The Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce provides networking opportunities for our members to meet other business people in the Chamber. We encourage our members to conduct business with other members. We constantly strive to promote our members to the public, Hoover-area communities, residents, visitors, other businesses, and government agencies.
History
The fledgling 10-year-old city of Hoover formed to begin the chamber with the blessings of the new city’s founding fathers.
The first month, fifty members were recruited as charter members of the Hoover Chamber. Most were located in what is known as the Barbizon Building on Lorna Road in Hoover, and the newsletters were written, copied, and hand-delivered by Jean McCurdy, the Chamber’s original manager/secretary.
Since that time, the Chamber has grown to over 900 members throughout Hoover and surrounding areas of Jefferson and Shelby Counties. Of course, in that time, the city’s population has grown from 410 original residents in 1967 to over 90,000 today.
The Hoover Chamber’s main purposes are to provide services to their community, member businesses, visitors, and prospective residents. The finances to operate the chamber come in part from a grant from the City government each year, but primarily from membership dues paid by the members. Fees for membership range from $125 per year for non-profit organizations and $250.00 base membership for small businesses to $2,500.00 per year for the largest businesses.
Additional funding comes from non-dues revenue sources such as the Chamber’s golf tournament (almost $15,000 annually), the annual Hoover Magazine, Website ad revenues and affiliation programs such as our promotional agreement with Deltacom, providing over $20,000.00 annually in rebate commissions for Chamber members who use their services.
Each month, the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce hosts a monthly luncheon at the Hoover Country Club, averaging some 200 members and guests in attendance. These are normally held on the Third Thursday of each month. In addition, on the Second Thursday of each month, a Coffee and Contacts networking event is held at various member-host locations, with typically 75-100 members and guests attending. We also have a Business After Hours event on the Fourth Thursday of each month except November and December (Holiday conflicts) held at different member-host locations. These generally have approximately 100 members and guests in attendance.
Newsletter
Through our monthly newsletter (mailed to over 1,500 business leaders in the Hoover area), and our web site, we provide our members with the latest news, press releases, schedules for Chamber events such as the Coffee & Contacts, Luncheons, and Business After Hours events, and provide a forum for our members to educate others about their services and products.
