The Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce learned some great news this week: we earned a prestigious national 5-star accreditation.

Of the 6,936 chambers in America, less than 1 percent reach the 5-star accreditation status and the Fort Collins Chamber is the only 5-star accredited chamber in Colorado.

The accreditation is awarded by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and involves a rigorous and thorough self-review of our performance in nine core areas including governance, finance, human resources and staff, government affairs, program development, technology, communications and marketing, facilities and benchmarking. The final determination on accreditation is made by the Accrediting Board, a committee of the U.S Chamber board.

Local chambers are rated Accredited, 3-Stars, 4-Stars or 5-Stars.

In a way, accreditation is an external validation that compared to our peers and a set of exacting national standards, the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce is performing at a very high level for our members and the community.

It has been the expectation of our board of directors that we participate in this program, which is voluntary and involves a significant amount of work. But it’s worth it because it forces us to methodically examine what we’re doing and to focus on making improvements. To move to the highest level of accreditation is very gratifying.

Thank you for being part of Colorado’s only 5-Star Accredited Chamber of Commerce.