FARMINGTON — Two chamber of commerce groups in central Maine are scrambling to redefine their services amid fears they soon may have to close because of dwindling membership in recent years.

Leaders of Franklin County Chamber of Commerce and Skowhegan Area Chamber Commerce in the coming weeks plan to look at everything from rethinking how they spend their respective group’s money to closing the operations altogether.

Some of the leaders, mostly business owners serving on the volunteer boards overseeing the chambers, believe people have started to question the value of paying annual membership dues to belong to their local chamber, according to the board presidents.

The two chambers of commerce, which serve similar rural business communities, each started losing members when the economy tanked in 2008. Since then, they both have seen nearly a third of their members disappear. Today each group is trying desperately to hold on to about 200 members they have left while looking for ways to attract new businesses to replace those they lost, the presidents said.

The president of the Franklin County chamber’s board, Ivan Gould, blames the membership decline at least partially on a poor economy. He added, however, that his chamber failed to promote its services as a way to help businesses weather the recession.

“If we can’t adapt to give members the services they want, the only other option is that we’re going to have to close our doors for good,” Gould said.

Although the Franklin County chamber board plans to meet Tuesday to discuss its options, Gould, a 39-year-old who owns a construction company in Farmington, is worried it may be too late to turn things around.

“We are at the point of do we keep on going and keep losing money, or do we start cutting back services to levels that we’re not comfortable with,” he said.

Because membership dues are the primary revenue stream that supports those services, the chamber has struggled in recent years to avoid cutbacks to its vital programs, Gould said.

He noted that misconceptions about chamber services add to the problem of recruiting new business owners, saying people don’t realize how much the chamber does for the community.

For example, most local chamber groups produce welcome guides, manage a chamber website and maintain a welcome center or office where the chamber staff directs people to area businesses and attractions, Gould said.

Chamber groups also host business networking and training sessions, and they support longstanding community events such as trade shows and seasonal celebrations that help support the business community, including nonmembers, he said.

His chamber is looking to restructure after its executive director, Stacie Bourassa, resigned a week ago to take a job with the United Way of the Tri-Valley Area.

The executive director is the only full-time paid staff member of the Franklin County chamber, which has one other part-time paid employee and relies on volunteers to do other work, Gould said.

The board members plan to present their proposals to chamber members at a meeting in the coming weeks, when they will decide how to move forward or dissolve the group, he said.

Among the options is reducing the hours the chamber keeps its welcome center in Farmington open. This could help cut the executive director position to part time, saving revenue that could be shifted to sponsor more events and pursue new ways to serve chamber members, Gould said.

Membership dues would be reimbursed if the chamber decides to close, he said.

Gould thinks some people are abandoning their local chambers at least partly because the Internet, and specifically social media, have given them so many other ways to reach customers.

He said those people miss out on the benefits of being a chamber member, which include the fact that they would be featured on a website that consumers, tourists and residents alike visit to get information about a particular community.

The chamber has to look at refocusing its efforts to build its presence through these new marketing technologies to survive, Gould said.

The Skowhegan area chamber offers a lot of the same services and faces problems similar to those of the chamber in Franklin County, according to Gary York, president of the chamber’s board.

As a 60-year-old Skowhegan native who has run a sign shop for 36 years, York has seen a lot of changes in the local economy. He believes people today don’t have the same commitment to supporting a local business community, calling this the primary reason for the chamber’s decline.

“It used to be one of the first things a business owner would do was become a chamber member, and now they don’t think they need it anymore,” he said.

York noted that he believes the chamber remains the best way for small business owners to network, reach a wide range of consumers and defend the shared interests that are integral to building a thriving community.

The Skowhegan-based chamber group plans to set a meeting soon to discuss its options, he said.

Meanwhile, two chambers of commerce in nearby communities have seen steady membership numbers throughout the recession. Leaders of those chambers, based in Waterville and Augusta, said they have adapted their services to keep up with the changing demands of their members.

Kimberly Lindlof, president and chief executive officer of the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce, based in Waterville, said the chamber has grown the past 11 years and reached 602 members last month.

She attributes the growth to the chamber’s approach to reaching the business community, both members and nonmembers. For example, the chamber started posting event schedules a year in advance and a lot more people started showing up, she said, referring to events selling out because of the earlier planning.

Lindlof said constant communication with members and the community is the most important tool to help a chamber deliver the best services and benefits.

“When the economy is down, that’s the time to get aggressive and band together and push your membership benefits,” she said.

David Robinson — 861-9287

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