Bay State chambers focus on local efforts to boost membership

The result of this year’s list of the largest chambers of commerce in Massachusetts is a story of good news and bad news. The cumulative membership total for this year’s top 25 is down by 1.2 percent, to 19,875 from a total of 20,109 for that same group of chambers last year. Yet while 12 chambers reported mostly small year-over-year decreases, six chambers managed to eke out gains — two of them in the double digits — and another seven’s membership numbers were flat with last year’s counts.