National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce

The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) is the business advocate and direct link between LGBT business owners, corporationsand government, representing the interests of more than 1.4 million LGBT businesses and entrepreneurs. The NGLCC is committed to forming a broad- based coalition of LGBT owned and -friendly businesses, professionals and major corporations for the purpose of promoting economic growth and the prosperity of its members.

As a national umbrella organization, the NGLCC is a clearinghouse of ideas and information for and between businesses and organizations. Representing 47 local and regional LGBT chambers of commerce in the United States, as well as internationally (through its sister organization, the IGLCC), NGLCC is the premier advocate for LGBT-owned businesses, professionals, students of business and corporations that seek to expand the community's nancial opportunities, economic growth, continued innovation and equality.

Through its Supplier Diversity Initiative, NGLCC provides certi cation to LGBT businesses whose owners hold a 51 percent or greater stake in their business. The certi cation opens doors to lucrative private and public sector contracting opportunities at many of the world's largest corporations and some domestic government agencies.

HIGHLIGHTS

The NGLCC website contains a wealth of information intended to help LGBT- owned businesses, employees and employers. Some of the items of interest on the NGLCC website include:

• Supplier Diversity Initiative, which offers businesses tools to makeconnections with American’s top corporations and each other

• Regulations or changes that relate to small business through agencies such as the U.S. Department of Commerce and Small Business Administration

• Community section that contains a listing of LGBT Business Organizations by state

• Resources to help women and transgender-owned businesses

WHY THIS IS A GOOD RESOURCE

We believe that the LGBT Business Organization listing of the Community section may be of particular interest to local or regional organizations. The section contains a listing, by state, of the local af liates of the NGLCC with contact information and a link to the af liate’s website. (Note: Not all states or regions within states may have a local af liate.)

The listing is a good resource for local organizations to identify businesses in their region with which they might be able to establish partnerships. Many of the local af liates host regular networking meetings and other events, most of which are publicized on their websites. Such opportunities provide nonpro t professionals with the opportunity to meet business leaders in their region to talk about how they might establish mutually bene cial partnerships.