About

The KC Chamber Knows Kansas City Business

While all the area’s largest employers are members of the KC Chamber, approximately 90 percent of Chamber members are defined as small businesses with fewer than 250 full time employees.

Our Organization

  • We are a membership organization that represents more than 2,250 companies and 300,000 employees across the Greater Kansas City region.
  • Our geographical representation serves 15 counties in the bi-state area: the Missouri counties of Bates, Caldwell, Cass, Clay, Jackson, Lafayette, Platte, and Ray; and the Kansas counties of Douglas, Franklin, Johnson, Leavenworth, Linn, Miami, and Wyandotte.

Why the Chamber?

  • We focus on three key areas that benefit members: growing the region’s economy, advocating businesses’ interests in the public policy arena, and providing innovative programs and resources that help members grow their businesses.
  • The KC Chamber also helps grow businesses by expanding their connectivity and visibility in the business community.

Thinking Above the State Line

  • You can get engaged and be a part of the region’s growth. Getting involved in the KC metro area business community with KC Chamber events, programs, and leadership opportunities is the first place to start.

At the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, we are open and clear about our organizational values. We want our current and prospective members, the communities in which we live and serve, and the governing officials with whom we interact to know of these values and to judge our merit as an organization by the strength and consistency with which our deeds match our words.

MISSION

Leading the way to the best KC region.

VISION

Growing Together, we are committed to providing dynamic and inclusive leadership focusing on the critical elements of a vibrant community that works for all.

Strategic Objective

Achieve regional vitality and cohesiveness by improving the conditions for inclusive economic growth.

Strategic Imperatives

Strong Workforce

GOALS

  • Support regional education and training systems that develop a 21st century workforce.
  • Build a vibrant and healthy community, attractive to talent from around the world.
  • Develop an extensive and diverse network of knowledgeable ascending community leaders.

Inclusive Prosperity

GOALS

  • Increase the opportunities for prosperity for ALL KC area residents.
  • Support the creation and growth of small businesses in Greater Kansas City, particularly women- and minority-owned businesses.
  • Advance place-based development that supports ALL of our region’s neighborhoods, especially chronically under-resourced neighborhoods.

Robust Transportation

GOALS

  • Develop and enact funding strategy for a regional, future-focused and sustainable multi-modal transportation infrastructure and transit plan by 2025.
  • Increase transit opportunities and use to move workforce to jobs.
  • Connect Kansas City businesses to the world.

Organizational Excellence

GOALS

  • Be an innovative, progressive Chamber known as an industry leader.
  • Increase financial strength.
  • Prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion.
  • Be an outstanding place to work.

Big 5 Initiatives

First conceived in 2011 and now incorporated within our strategic objectives, the Big 5 are key community priorities identified by the Chamber and engaged by it and the region's leading organizations.

Our History

Over the years, the KC Chamber has been behind creation of a city water system, KC’s parks and boulevards system, construction of Union Station, Liberty Memorial, two airports, KCMO City Hall, and several convention centers.

Union Station

In December 2010, the KC Chamber moved its offices to historic Union Station. The move was certainly appropriate, given the fact that the KC Chamber supported both the original construction of the massive building, and led the renovation of the venerable structure in the 1990s.

Other Helpful Organizations

We are not typical of most local chambers in that we are not directly involved in either the economic development or convention/visitors functions. Those efforts are handled by two separate organizations:  Kansas City Area Development Council and Visit KC.