The Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce has been serving this community since 1890. Since its founding, the Columbus area has endured its share of economic challenges and it has always bounced back. While the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic creates great uncertainty, I'm confident in our community's resilience.

The Chamber is doing its part to make sure the business community rebounds. As soon as we realized the severity of the pandemic, we responded in the following ways:

• Offered 25 webinars, attended by 680 people, on topics such as SBA loans, CAREs and FFRCA , and health safeguards for reopening.
• Distributed weekly updates, to keep our members informed on federal, state and local stimulus programs, as well as important health safeguards and best practices, resulting in an email open rate that is 17% higher than the industry average.
• Represented you on collaborative teams such as the Emergency Childcare Task Force, Coordinated Community Response Team and the COVID-19 Community Task Force.
• Surveyed more than 100 employers throughout the spring to gauge the impact of the work-from-home orders and business closures.
• Created and promoted 19 promotional videos for businesses forced to change their business models.
• Distributed more than 100 reopening signs to notify employees and patrons of the safeguards businesses were implementing.

As you can see, just like you, the Chamber learned to adapt. In doing so, we made difficult decisions to cancel three of our popular signature events. Our ticketed events contribute nearly 40 percent of our budgeted revenue. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to receive funds from the popular Paycheck Protection Program because of our tax status as a 501c6 organization.

Now, more than ever, we need your continued support to ensure that the Chamber will be around for the next 130 years. We ask that you renew your annual membership, consider program sponsorships, and purchase tickets to future events. Together, we will get through these uncertain times.