Galiano Island Chamber of Commerce

'In Business for Business'

What do most successful businesses have in common on Galiano Island ?
They are active members of our Community and members of the Galiano Island Chamber of Commerce.

One of the attractions that draw people to Galiano Island is the island's sense of community. Part of any successful and sustainable community is economic stability. Part of living in a community is creating a cohesive network of businesses that strive to maintain the economical viability of that community so that we can all live, work and play here. Being part of that community -- by paying dues to the organization:

  • that greets your guests and visiting relatives
  • that answers questions from the patrons of your shops and restaurants
  • that directs people to your services
  • that features your business effectively online at www.galianoisland.com

All these functions benefit everyone: the visitor, the guest, the relative, the resident, the business owner - our Island as a whole.

www.galianoisland.com

The Galiano Chamber website is often the first contact point that both new residents and visitors have with Galiano. It is one of the primary sources for visitors wanting to find information about our Island. Visitors can quickly locate and be in touch with accommodations, recreational activities, retail shops, art galleries, our community services organizations and a variety of food stores, all from this one website. Statistics show that galianoisland.com is consistently at the top of search results for "Galiano Island".

A Strong Business Voice
The BC Chamber of Commerce, of which Galiano is a member, ensures that our voices are heard at the regional and provincial levels. Your opinions do count and your voice should be heard also at the local level as well! Our Chamber provides an opportunity for our business community to make its opinions known to our government representatives here at the municipal level - on issues such as the Short Term Vacation Rentals (STVRs) and other Official Community Plan (OCP) Review fields of business interest. Through membership feedback, we work to bring consensus on issues affecting our community. In addition, we provide a number of very effective marketing and promotional opportunities for our Chamber members. These are multiple listing choices available on www.galianoisland.com as well as your inclusion inside our annually produced Galiano Brochure and Map. This publication is circulated widely on the ferries and at BC tourist information centres.
Power In Numbers
With your membership in the Galiano Island Chamber of Commerce, you automatically join over 28,000 businesses across the province as a member of our larger body, the BC Chamber of Commerce. This organization is a powerful advocate for businesses, acting as a watchdog for a number of our most important BC industries such as tourism and small business-related issues.
Website Member Profile
The Chamber site provides Galiano's Online Business Directory, profiling its membership - either by business category or alphabetically. Those members who have a 'main web advertisement' are provided with links to their own website if they have one. We get thousands of unique visitors to the website each month, with the highest web traffic over the summer months. www.galianoisland.com is an incredibly valuable promotional tool that boosts Galiano Island 's economy.
Broadcast Your Business
Being a Galiano Chamber member provides you with a means of broadcasting your message to our entire Galiano Chamber membership. If you are staging a special Galiano event, you can post an event notice for inclusion in our event calendar. This is a very effective way to communicate to all our business community in seconds!
On Your Behalf
The Chamber operates a summer Visitor Information Booth (see next tab) and the Chamber's telephone number is monitored year-round, as are the three main Chamber email addresses (general information, membership information and our president). Collectively, these are used by hundreds of people and outside businesses, resulting in many leads for Chamber members.
Visitor Information Booth

Located near the BC Ferries terminal on Sturdies Bay Road, the Chamber operates an 'Information Booth', where visitors to the island are warmly greeted. As well, members can have their brochures, pamphlets and cards 'racked' in the booth, where visitors can easily access this information. The cost of racking your business information is included in your annual membership fee.

Community groups or organizations can post information about their 'special event' on one side of the booth. Many visitors to the island consult the board to find out what events are going on.

The Chamber also makes available, free of charge, a 12x18" double-sided colour 'community map'. This map outlines all of the shoreline accesses, walks and beaches available on Galiano for our visitors. As well, it has a small written profile of Galiano.

Opening of the booth throughout the winter month depends only on members being involved. So, if you have some time on a weekend and can meet one of the morning ferries, please let us know. The success of our booth this time of year depends entirely on our membership helping to run it.

Each summer, the Board of Directors submits an application for the partial funding of the salary for a full time summer student. The student grant usually covers the time period from the last week of June until the end of August. The Chamber has had great success in selecting students who were keen to share their knowledge of the island, as well as to be a reliable and friendly resource for visitors.

galianoisland.com

An annual Galiano Chamber of Commerce membership is $50 and includes a listing on our Business Membership Directory. The Galiano Online Business Directory is the digital directory feature on our website. The Directory allows online visitors to see our Galiano Chamber of Commerce Business Membership at a single glance. The directory lists our member's business name, an "email link" and one telephone number, and can be sorted either alphabetically or by business category using a toggle switch at the top of the directory's screen.

Chamber members are able to submit their own event listings, through a link on the Chamber's Calendar Events page.

www.galianoisland.com focuses attention on members' main Web Ads and listings, located under the following categories established for 2013:

Each main Web Ad features:

  • description of the member's business, up to 600 characters
  • logo image for the member, up to 260w x 150h pixels
  • larger relevant photograph or animated GIF, up to 350w x 260h (GIF made for you if needed, at no additional cost)
  • link to the member's Facebook page, if they have one
  • link to the member's Twitter account, if they have one
  • "Starfish Special" descriptive paragraph, up to 600 characters
  • helpful information such as phone numbers, physical and mailing addresses, and email and member website links
  • selection of a variety of amenities icons, to distinguish the member's business

For an additional cost, members also have the opportunity to broadcast an advertising "banner" (500w x 75h pixels) at the top of a category's index page.

All accommodation business members who advertise with a Web Ad on the Chamber's site are also listed on our "Where to Stay by Amenity" page, where the amenity icons are displayed 'by accommodation'.

ONLINE - 2013 Web Advertising Rates (with Annual Membership)

$150.00 Main Web Ad (detailed above; each is maintained/updated 24/7 by the Chamber member directly online by logging in at the Member Support Site using their Username & Password)

$15.00 Banner Advertisement on www.galianoisland.com – charge per month for a 500w x 75h pixel advertisement that appears at the top of the category's index page (the number of months their banner ad is to appear is chosen online by the chamber member via their Username & Password)

$40.00 (optional) Basic Listing on our Weddings & Retreats page, under a number of categories including Caterers/Places to Eat; Galiano Wedding Services and Galiano Wedding Venues.

The PRINTED Galiano Brochure & Map

A scanned version of the latest Brochure is available on our Maps page.

The Chamber of Commerce prints an annual photo rich Island Brochure and detailed Map which is provided on the racks of all ferries coming into and departing from Galiano for the benefit of our visitors. The Brochure also contains a listing of the principle Calendar Events during the year. Further more detailed information on these printed events (posted by the Chamber Members involved) can be found on our website's Calendar Page.

2013 Galiano Brochure & Map Advertising Rates (with Annual Membership) ...

$40.00 Basic Brochure Listing under the business category of the member's choice (members may purchase multiple Brochure listings if they wish)

$100.00 (optional) Additional 100 characters/spaces of text to appear immediately beneath the Basic Brochure Listing

$500.00 (optional) 3-1/2" x 3" colour printed advertisement inside Brochure

New 'Business After Business' Networking Events
This fall the Chamber introduced a 'business to business' networking event through a social. This was an opportunity for members to come together and share information about their business with other business owners and to get to know each other. The Board of Directors would like to encourage and support any member who would be willing to host such an event. Refreshments and a place are all that is needed, and the Board of Directors will ensure that it gets promoted.
It's a great opportunity to show off your business and get to know other local businesses better!
Special Membership Savings

The BC Chamber of Commerce has many partnerships and benefit providers through whom it is able to pass on benefits and contacts to its members. Please see the full listing of these providers on the BC Chamber of Commerce website; you can browse the opportunities offered by these organizations. Below are some highlights.

% Savings - Group Medical/Dental Rates
Protect yourselves with the Chamber of Commerce Group Insurance Plan. No matter the size of your company, the Plan provides competitive coverage for dental, long term disability, extended health and life insurance. For more information check out www.chambers.ca.

% Savings - Discounted Credit Card Payment Processing Rates
Through the BC Chamber of Commerce, we are able to offer members a better merchant discount rate on VISA and MASTERCARD deposit payment processing. VersaPay Corporation is proud to offer BC Chamber members preferential payment processing rates for Visa, MasterCard and Interac. There is no need to change bank accounts and your funds are deposited the next business day. 1.69% + 15 cents per VISA/MC transaction is offered and 7 Cents per Interac Transaction. Please learn more of how to apply by contacting the BC Chamber of Commerce directly at (604) 683-0700 or online at www.bcchamber.org

Gas Savings - What are the rates? Save at these stations
You can save on fuel costs with Chamber Member gasoline discount programs. Fill up and save with Shell, Husky/Mohawk, Petro-Canada or Esso products. Shell's discount is 2 cents/litre off (with shell card); Husky/Mohawk offers 2 cents/litre off on all fuel purchases (no minimum); Petro-Canada offers 2 cents/litre off gas (with a minimum of 200 litres/month); 5% discount on all parts and labour at Centigard Car Care Centres and lastly Esso offers 3 cents/litre discount off of their fuel purchased.

Join the Chamber of Commerce

Give me one good reason why I should join the Galiano Island Chamber of Commerce!

We've got 120 reasons - and we call them members! But they're really partners in our Island's largest business organization the Galiano Island Chamber of Commerce. They are people like you who are working together to establish a stronger, more vital business environment on our Island and that's good business for everyone!

Thank you for your continued support of the Galiano Island Chamber of Commerce.

Galiano Chamber of Commerce - Board of Directors 2012-2013
President Connie Nordin Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa
president@galianoisland.com 250.539.3388
Vice-President Marjorie Blackwood Galiano Golf & Country Club
vp@galianoisland.com 250.539.3694
Treasurer Shirley Quinn Active Pass Beach House
accounts@galianoisland.com 250.539.3060
Membership Director Henny Schnare Captain's Quarters Heritage Log House,
Henny Schnare, Wedding Photographer
membership@galianoisland.com 250.539.9993
Complaints Commissioner Stefan Fedorowich Bluff View Cottage
complaints@galianoisland.com 250.539.3475
Secretary Andrew Loveridge Cabra Gallery Museum
secretary@galianoisland.com 250.539.2507
Member-At-Large Richard Dewinetz Bodega North Woodworks
bodeganorth@gmail.com 604.992.8700
Member-At-Large Nonie Williams Salish Sea Bed & Breakfast
salishbb@shaw.ca 250.539.3361
Member-At-Large Debbie Ritchie The George Beachfront and
Fenton Design Handcrafted Silver Jewelry
debbie55@.shaw.ca 250.539.5482
Member-At-Large Seonaid Renwick Galiano Island Soapworks,
Foxglove Cottage, Fernwood House and Hawthorne Cottage
ravenswick@telus.net 250.539.5365

Contact us with any questions :)