The Furry Chamber of Commerce is Going On Standby
Hello All,
Buddy here with an important update. The Furry Chamber of Commerce is going on Standby starting today.
Last year, we invested a significant amount in a resource-based model for the Chamber. We hired Thornwolf (who is awesome and you should hire) to help with marketing and authoring of blog articles, we engaged with other Furry writers to commission and highlight other articles.
We committed a large amount of resources towards building out a local business outreach program in collaboration with a furry convention. It was a really exciting opportunity but fell apart for reasons beyond our control.
We ran Furry Black Friday again, which was a huge improvement over 2024’s FBF, but it still wasn’t successful in driving meaningful traffic to our participants.
We had a really awesome session at MFF 2025 with ~40 attendees where we got to meet with furry business owners and furry businesses soon-to-be owners. (It was so much fun!)
Unfortunately, the finances aren’t great. Our expenses in 2025 were ~$10-15k on revenues of < $1,500. I never expected to live off of this, but what exists right now isn’t sustainable.
At the core of all of this, the most valuable thing we’ve been able to do is connect business-minded furries together and be a resource for people when questions come up.
I don’t feel good about charging membership fees when I’m not proud of the value and impact that we’re able to provide to our members. We need a new plan, and I don’t know what that plan is yet. We have a bunch of ideas (ask me about the Idea Vortex™ sometime) but we’ve gotta spend some time figuring things out.
What Does This Mean?
The Chamber is going to temporarily stop accepting new members. The value props we list just don’t accurately reflect the reality of what people are and will get out of the Chamber.
Any existing memberships will be paused. This means you will remain a member with access to membership benefits, and your membership will be extended by however long this standby goes on.
Our community-focused efforts (e.g., Discord, socials, etc) will continue.
If you’d like to continue to support us through this transition, that would be super awesome. However, Members have the option for a full refund of the current year’s membership dues if you would like. Simply fill out the form linked below. We 100% understand.
So What Is Next?
I’m not sure. Some of our ideas for creating a sustainable Furry Chamber of Commerce revolve around:
How do we solve for trust in the Furry Community’s Business Transactions?
How can the Chamber support convention dealers?
What tools and resources can the Chamber provide to members that are meaningful, valuable, and timely?
How can we make discoverability easier in the furry business space?
Figuring out how to reduce operating costs (shakes fist at Squarespace)
And so many more…
If you’ve read this far, thanks. Make no mistake, I’m so proud of what the Chamber has been able to accomplish so far. We’ve done a lot of really cool stuff, and it’s been overall a super fun experience.
I’d love to hear from you about your thoughts and ideas about the problems you’re facing and how the Chamber can support you. Feel free to reach out at buddy@furrycoc.com or on Telegram at @buddypup.
