Kansas City to be home of new affiliate of National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce

Dan Nilsen. Photograph by Kansas City Star

Diane Stafford of the Kansas City Star reports that city soon will be home to the Mid-America Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, a new affiliate of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.
     Formation is due largely to Dan Nilsen, founder and CEO of Bishop-McCann, a $46 million Kansas City-based agency that specializes in producing meetings, events and incentive programs.
     Nilsen last month received a $5,000 grant as winner of the 2010 NGLCC/Wells Fargo Business Owner of the Year Award, and is using the grant to help establish the affiliate chamber.
     “There are 61 NGLCC affiliates around the country,” Nilsen said. “We’re kind of behind in Kansas City. But it’s all about building business relationships, about bringing people together. It’s not about waving a flag.”
     Nilsen was selected for the award on the strength of his volunteer history, which includes fundraising for health clinics and medical missions, as well as the size and strength of his business.
     Since receiving the award, Nilsen has begun forming an advisory board to represent the chapter in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma and most of Missouri. (St. Louis already has the St. Louis Business Guild, a similar organization.)
     In addition to encouraging big companies to do business with gay and lesbian small-business owners, Nilsen said he hoped the new chamber would help build business loyalty among the gay and lesbian population.
     “It’s a market that builds loyalty and that has a lot of value,” he said.
     Nationally, Bloomberg Businessweek reported, the gay market encompasses nearly 16 million people with an annual buying power exceeding $500 billion.