Dear Chamber Member,

We are reaching out to you today to let you know changes the Board of Directors believe are necessary in our mandate to promote and protect the interests of the business community in our area.  

While the Chamber is at heart a not-for-profit organization and your Board of Directors volunteers acting in your interests, membership fees are the core of how we finance participation in recognized events such as Candy Cane Lane, or partnerships like that with the Town of Gananoque in presenting our Women’s Day events and promote the region’s businesses in general.  We recognize that the economies of the world at large have changed and we recognize the impacts of inflation, tariffs and for our region in particular changes in tourism.  That is why we have concluded that your membership and our support to our members are even more important today than they were in past.   

The 1000 Islands Gananoque Chamber of Commerce has determined that the best way we can help support the businesses in our region (you our membership) is to ensure that our support and services are not a burden and remain a benefit.  That being the case, we are revising our membership strategy.

Membership starting in 2026 will be a flat rate for all of our business members at $120 for the year, instead of varying costs based on size of business from $145 and up.  So we’re making our services lower in price for you.

Additionally, we want to align our memberships, so that we can better manage the finances and do more.  Right now memberships expire 1 year from the date of payment (or joining the Chamber), so we have businesses paying different months of the year making it a challenge to allot funds throughout the year to support everyone.  

2026 will be a year of alignment for us, as your membership expires this coming year, we will work with you so that all of our memberships and dues occur the beginning of April each year.  Depending on your current membership expiry you may only receive invoice in 2026 for a partial year (prorated to line up with the new April 1 period).

​

EXAMPLE:

Your business membership with the chamber expires in October 2026, your current dues are paid up to October, that does not change.  In October when the current year expires for your business you would receive a prorated membership from Oct 2026 to Mar 2027 for which your business would pay $60 and then in April 2027 you would receive billing for April 2027 to March 2028 for $120

Example 2

Your business membership expires in February 2026. You would receive a prorated membership from Feb 2026 to Mar 2026 for which your business would pay $20 and then in April 2026 you would receive billing for April 2026 to March 2027 for $120.

As mentioned, we believe we will lessen the financial impact of your membership on your business and give the Chamber better control over assets in future to allot them to efforts in supporting our Chamber Members.