The Benefits of Benchmarking

ACCE members use insights from our annual Operations Survey in a variety of ways to gauge performance, benchmark against similar-sized chambers and produce compelling board presentations.

Dynamic Chamber Benchmarking collects data from hundreds of chambers and provides customizable reports that can help you identify trends and track key operations and financial metrics over time. The reports allow chamber leaders to evaluate, benchmark, and improve their organizations through data-enabled strategic planning.

What does this look like in practice? We asked three long-time participants how they use the metrics to improve their organization's competitive edge, create data-backed awareness of COVID's impact, and use benchmarking to develop strategic planning with a future focus.

Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC

Cecilia Harry, CEcD, chief economic development officer for the Coloarado Springs Chamber &, described the importance in the comparison between 2019 and 2020 data for the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce & EDC.

“We’ve already used the most recent available data and assistance from AskACCE to help our board understand our health before the pandemic and how our challenges with membership and revenue were on par with peer chambers,” Harry said. “We will use FY2020 metrics to again benchmark ourselves against other chambers and queue a comeback story as our economy strengthens and gets back on track.”

The Louisiana Association of Business & Industry uses ACCE's Operations Survey to help make better human resources decisions. Wanda Allphin, chief financial officer, pulled staffing metrics to compare benefit offerings with other chambers. LABI uses the benchmarking metrics to stay competitive and reduce staff turnover. The organization’s personnel committee was so impressed with the metrics that Allphin has continued to enter data and share benchmarking reports every year.
Louisiana Association of Business & Industry

“Short-term comparison to other chambers is not the concern, rather it is winning in 2025,” Walden said. “This requires long-term benchmarking against oneself – comparing when we felt ‘normal’ in 2019 to when we project we may be stable or operating in a ‘new normal’ in 2021 and beyond.”
Tulsa Regional Chamber
Allison Walden, senior vice president of resource development at Tulsa Regional Chamber, values the ability to benchmark against chambers similar to hers – organizations with similar revenue that combine chamber/EDC/tourism. She uses the charts and reports available in Dynamic Chamber Benchmarking to benchmark key performance indicators like retention rates, spending allocations, number of members per staff member, and funding and operational trends against those in her tier.

Enter your data by April 5 to gain access to our new economic recovery report and customizable benchmarking reports. April 5 is also the deadline to submit your data to determine eligibility for the 2021 Chamber of the Year competition, sponsored by MemberClicks.Participate in ACCE's Operations Survey in Dynamic Chamber Benchmarking (DCB) today to gain insights and benchmark performance and plan for your future.

Learn more and enter your data today.