After four years, we can now proudly say that our organization matured and became a recognized and respected member of the Pacific Northwest business community. This would not have been possible without a dedicated and hard work of all members of our Board of Directors. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all members of the Board of Directors for their commitment, enthusiasm and hard work.
This chamber would not have existed without our members and their contributions. My sincere thanks to all our members for being part of this organization and supporting our community.
As was the previous year, 2014 was filled with many activities facilitating cooperation within local, national and international networks and most importantly building our operational capacities.
Our main objective for the last year was to increase our membership and budget. Even though, the numbers are still relatively low and below our original goals, we can be proud of our achievements. Membership dues increased by 68% and total revenue by 53% while expenses decreased by 56%. With the overhaul of our website and the member onboarding process we significantly reduced our operating expenses and simplified the new member signing process.
We actively maintained relationships and cooperation with local, national and international networks and participated in a number of high profile events like the PACC workshop in Chicago and Polish Innovation Week in LA.
Throughout the year, we continued to maintain relationships with the Embassy of Poland in Washington DC, Consulate of Poland in LA and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw. We hosted the Consul General during his visits in Seattle, we contributed our ideas and provided feedback regarding a number of recent campaigns. I can say that we became a trusted, go to partner for the Consulate. Our collaboration was rewarded with grants for 3 consecutive years.
We also continued to maintain close relationships with local trade and commerce organizations; Trade Development Alliance of Seattle, World Trade Center Seattle, other chambers of commerce, state and federal departments of commerce, state and city government officials, Washington Business Week and others.
Throughout the year we stayed in touch with our members by providing up to date information on our site, our newsletter and mailing campaigns that were reaching almost 800 subscribers.
As we continue executing on our mission, we need to stay focused on expanding our organization’s membership and operating capital. By executing very well on a variety of projects in the past, we proved that we have the talent and leadership needed to continue supporting our community. The opportunities they lay ahead of us are limitless but our resources are not. By increasing our membership and budget we will be in a much better position to deliver on our vision and have an even more significant impact on our community.
In conclusion, I wish you all another productive and successful year!
Bohdan Raciborski
President
2014: A Year in Review
- January – Networking event at Seattle Metropolitan Chamber
- April – Participated in the Spring Polish Bazaar, produced new marketing flyers, launched new recruiting campaign
- April – Annual PACCPNW meeting
- June – Networking event at Sebi’s with the participation of a guest from KPMG
- July – Participated in the Polish Festival at Seattle Center
- July – Hosted Consul General M. Brymora from the Polish Consulate in LA, visited Boeing and Microsoft
- August – Co-promoted First Annual European Golf Tournament organized by British and French chambers of commerce
- September – Received the 501c 6 status
- September – Hosted Consul General M. Brymora from the Polish Consulate in LA
- September – Attended the 3nd Polish American Business Workshop in Chicago
- September – Inauguration of the Honorary Consulate of Poland in Seattle
- October – Meeting with Andrzej Mikosz, former Minister Of The Treasury Of The REPUBLIC Of POLAND
- November – Attended the Euro Seattle Startup Weekend event
- November – Participated in the Fall Polish Bazaar
- November – Attended the Polish Innovation Week in LA
- Ongoing Marketing and Communications:
- Blogs and updates on www.paccpnw.org website
- Newsletter and mailing campaigns
- Maintained social media presence on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter