ATTLEBORO: The United Regional Chamber of Commerce’s membership has fallen by 200, the biggest loss among Massachusetts’ largest chambers. However, Jack Lank, president of the Attleboro-based business group, says that sounds a lot worse than it is. “Actually, it wasn’t quite that many,” said Lank, whose group has about 500 members across 16 Attleboro area communities.
The United Regional Chamber is the result of a merger between the Franklin-based United Chamber of Commerce, the North Attleboro-Plainville Chamber of Commerce and the Attleboro Area Chamber of Commerce in 2009. Lank said that for some time the consolidated group has been carrying a number of memberships that were not kept up. Those have now been winnowed out. The group lost some members because of companies that went out of business, Lank said. There has also been a decline in sponsorships due to changes in the economy The chamber continues to be a highly active organization which provides services to local businesses and hosts a number of important business and community-related events throughout the year, Lank said
According to the Boston Business Journal, membership declined in 16 of the state’s 25 largest chambers last year and the largest increase of any chamber was slightly more than 2 percent. Overall membership declined less than 1 percent.
