About the greater charlotte business professionalS GROUP

MISSION STATEMENT

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The Greater Charlotte Business Professionals Group is a non-profit organization whose sole principal is to help the local economy grow by helping locally owned and operated businesses increase their exposure and grow their bottom line by building and deepening business relationships and providing training, support and referral sharing. 

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In order for the Chapter to accomplish this goal, each member agrees to actively follow and honor the following commitments. 

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Membership Commitment and Fees 

 

• Guests will be allowed to attend a maximum of Two (2) free-look meetings within a 60 day period at which point a decision to join the Chapter or not must be made by submitting paperwork and dues. 

• An annual Non-Refundable membership fee of $125 is due at time of joining the Chapter.  

• Along with submitting annual dues, at the time of application each Potential New Member must sign and agree to abide by the Chapter’s Membership Commitments and Ethical Pledge, which includes providing prompt, professional and friendly follow-up and service to ALL referrals received. 

• Within 30 days of membership activation the new member is expected to provide the Chapter with: 

  • A 1-Sheet overview of their business and background for the member book (optional) 

  • Business cards for the Members meeting notebook.

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Membership APPLICATION PROCESS

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• Once a completed application and initial payment has been received by the chapter from a prospective member, the application will be submitted to the membership committee for review.  Membership committee shall make a decision to accept or reject applicant's request no less than 7 days and no more than 30 days from submission date during which time all current members will be notified of applicant's intent to join the chapter and asked for input regarding prospective member.

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Annual Membership Dues 

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• An annual Non-Refundable membership fee of $125 is due at time of joining the Chapter. This fee is non-refundable after Four meetings, including free-look meetings. 

• Initial Annual dues are collected from member at the time of application and are prorated according to the number of months remaining in current calendar year. Thereafter annual dues are due and collected at the first meeting of each year. 

• Dues are to be used exclusively for operating costs of the Chapter, such as location costs, refreshments and marketing materials. 

• All dues are maintained by and used for the local Chapter. Money will be maintained, monitored and controlled by no less than two members of the Chapter that are unrelated by blood or business affiliation. Regular accounting briefings shall be made to the Chapter during its regularly scheduled meeting. 

• All excess funds at year end are to be used to fund a local civic/charity cause as decided by vote of Chapter. 

 

Attendance 

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• Attendance of weekly meeting is imperative to the cohesiveness of the group. Empty seats are a discouragement to current and potential members. Regular attendance shows commitment to the group and your business growth. It also provides a consistent opportunity for building trust, deepening relationships with other members and providing and receiving referrals. Members are expected to attend meetings as a priority, as they would any other appointment. 

• In the event a Member knows more than 24 hours in advance that they will not be able to attend a meeting, Member agrees to make every effort to have a substitute attend the meeting in their absence to represent the member’s business. 

• Members may have a maximum of Four “empty seat” meetings per quarter, not to exceed One per month and one “floating miss” per quarter. 

• Failure to abide by these attendance commitments are grounds for review and possible non-refundable termination of membership. 

  • Attendance Review Process: If a member is found to be in violation of the group's attendance policy, leadership will inform the member of the violation and set a time to discuss the reasons and causes of absences.  The intent will be to discover if the absences are due to a temporary or resolvable situation or are due to a more chronic situation.  If an agreement is made to rectify the number of absences for the Member in the review process and the absences continue, leadership will actively open that member's seat for application by a new member.​

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Membership Activities Commitment 

 

• Members agree to actively look for opportunities to Refer and Recommend other members of the TEAM to their clients, contacts and centers of influence, creating an ongoing marketing machine for every member striving 

  • Members agree to strive to provide at least 1 solid Referral each week. 

• Members commit to engage in 1-on-1 informal meetings with each of the other Chapter members for the purpose of gaining a better understanding of each other’s business specialties and to learn more personal back stories of other Chapter members. Members commit to strive for a minimum of Two such meetings per month with different members. 

  • Members commit to actively look for opportunities to invite new potential members to the Chapter meetings and events. 

 

Social and Civic Activity 

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• Chapter members participate in several purely social events to facilitate an opportunity to strengthen and deepen relationships with other Chapter members. While strongly encouraged, there are no attendance requirements associated with these gatherings. 

• Members participate in local outreach projects that serve citizens of the local community of their Chapter. The Chapter, at its sole discretion and by popular membership vote will decide the specifics of such events. 

 

Exclusivity of Chapter Category Seats

 

• As the goal of the Chapter is primarily to grow a member’s business and secondarily to grow the Chapter’s size, seats are to be exclusive, but not limiting. Therefore, Members shall hold an Exclusive Seat for their Category of Primary Business. This means no other member may join the Chapter whose primary business category directly competes with any existing member’s primary business. 

 

• A member holding more than one Niche category in their field may willingly offer that seat to a new member who is engaged primarily in that category. Such as a Residential and Commercial Realtor willingly giving up the Commercial seat niche to a new member whose primary focus is Commercial Real Estate. 

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