Reflections from the Chair
In 2025, the Georgia Chamber Foundation embarked on new partnerships to enable more meaningful convenings, deeper data analysis, and thoughtful policy solutions to address Georgia’s most pressing challenges. At the start of the year, the Foundation was proud to announce its partnership with the Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students to bring Best Place for Working Parents® to Georgia. This tool allows employers across the state to earn the designation, aiding in recruitment and retention efforts while highlighting proactive support for working families. Access to affordable, high-quality childcare is not only a family issue, but a workforce and economic competitiveness issue, with childcare challenges costing Georgia’s economy an estimated $2.5 billion annually in lost productivity and earnings. Ensuring more parents can fully engage in the workforce is vital to increasing productivity for businesses and supporting upward mobility for Georgia families.
Similarly, in 2025, the Foundation hosted Georgia’s first National Civics Bee® State Competition, bringing together 22 middle school students from across the state to showcase their knowledge of civics and government. A thriving economy is built on informed and engaged citizens who are prepared to tackle the greatest challenges facing their communities and our state. The Foundation looks forward to hosting another exceptional group of middle school students for this competition in 2026.
As tariffs and trade agreements evolved rapidly across many of the state’s top trading partners, the Georgia Chamber Foundation produced tailored insights to help businesses and external stakeholders navigate these changes, delivering on our mission to mitigate risk and expand opportunity in an increasingly complex global economy.
The Foundation also implemented, GeorgiaLAUNCH, a grant-supported initiative to develop streamlined career pathways for individuals at every stage of the workforce pipeline in some of Georgia’s most in-demand industries. Informed directly by employer feedback, this project underscores what can be accomplished when the business community comes together to design meaningful, future-focused workforce solutions.
I am proud of what the Georgia Chamber Foundation accomplished in 2025 and look forward to seeing these initiatives continue to grow and expand in the year ahead.
KIM GREENE, 2025 CHAIR Georgia Chamber Foundation
What to Expect in 2026
This past year brought significant change and uncertainty for Georgia businesses and external partners. As a result, our charge to remain a trusted source of curated insights, best-practice public policy solutions, and an effective convener became even more important to ensure our state remains focused on building long-term prosperity. In 2025, the Foundation’s Quarterly Economic Reports highlighted challenges and solutions to bolster healthcare access, energy resiliency, entrepreneurship, and global competitiveness. Data will continue to serve as the core of the Foundation’s work, supporting strategic decision-making for state, community, business, and elected leaders.
The Foundation also launched a two-year initiative, GeorgiaLAUNCH, to assess high-demand career needs across the state and develop streamlined talent pipelines for Georgians at every stage of their careers. This effort is designed to prepare Georgia for continued growth in key industries while increasing economic mobility and strengthening the state’s long-term economic outlook.
Looking ahead, the Foundation will execute new grant-supported projects to deepen its impact on talent solutions. Thanks to an investment from the Truist Charitable Fund, the Georgia Chamber Foundation is expanding the work of Georgia FLEX to increase the number of communities implementing entrepreneurship education and experiential learning opportunities. In addition, the Foundation will convene business and policy leaders around global talent solutions and visa reform, helping ensure employers have greater predictability in attracting and retaining the best and brightest to Georgia, spurring innovation and economic opportunity.
The Foundation will also undertake significant public policy development initiatives in partnership with businesses and external stakeholders to identify best practices that position Georgia for long-term success as we implement our strategic plan, GEORGIA|2050. While uncertainty is expected to persist in 2026, the Georgia Chamber Foundation remains a trusted thought leader and partner, committed to advancing progress on the state’s most pressing challenges. We look forward to continuing our work with partners across Georgia to deliver impactful insights and thoughtful solutions for a more prosperous future.
DANIELA PERRY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Georgia Chamber Foundation
Advancing Georgia’s Competitive Edge
The Georgia Chamber Foundation develops future-focused solutions to secure a more prosperous and competitive Georgia for both businesses and communities. Through nonpartisan research and thoughtful collaboration, the Foundation addresses the state’s most pressing challenges by convening stakeholders, performing in-depth data analysis, crafting policy recommendations, executing grant-funded projects, and tracking progress to support long-term economic growth.
The Foundation’s work is designed to help businesses and communities mitigate risk, seize opportunity, and plan for the future in an increasingly complex economic environment. By delivering actionable insights and evidence-based solutions, the Georgia Chamber Foundation plays a critical role in strengthening Georgia’s economic competitiveness for decades to come.
How We Do It
Central to the Foundation’s work is data-driven analysis that informs insight development and policy solutions. By collecting and evaluating economic and workforce data, the Foundation equips Georgia’s business community and external partners with the information they need to make informed, strategic decisions. This analysis supports meaningful convenings of private- and public-sector leaders to identify best practices and evaluate effective policy solutions that keep Georgia competitive and prosperous.
This is accomplished through:
• In-Depth Economic Analysis
• Strategic Insights for Businesses
• Policy Development
• Grant-Funded Projects
2025 Georgia Chamber Foundation Focus Areas
• Competitiveness and Economic Development
• Energy and Infrastructure
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship
• Regional Prosperity and Healthy Communities
• Talent and Workforce Preparedness
Georgia Chamber Foundation Annual Deliverables
The Foundation’s focus areas guide its efforts through a variety of initiatives focused on providing business intelligence and long-term policy solutions:
• Economic Competitiveness Redbook
• Center for Workforce and Talent Preparedness
• Center for Rural Prosperity
• Hub Chamber Council
• Foundation Policy Summits
• Quarterly Economic Reports
• Foundation Focus Newsletter
Georgia Chamber Foundation 2025 Highlights
Grant-Supported & Special Initiatives
Best Place for Working Parents® Georgia
In 2025, the Georgia Chamber Foundation expanded its partnership with the Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students (GEEARS) to bring Best Place for Working Parents® Georgia to employers statewide. This nationally recognized designation provides businesses with a short, data-informed self-assessment to evaluate family-friendly workplace policies and benchmark their practices against peer organizations.
By equipping employers with actionable insights, Best Place for Working Parents® supports workforce recruitment and retention efforts while advancing conversations around childcare access and workforce participation across Georgia. Throughout the year, the Foundation engaged employers, business leaders, and policymakers to elevate childcare as a workforce and economic competitiveness issue, reinforcing the importance of family-supportive solutions for Georgia’s long-term growth.
FAMILY MATTERS TO GEORGIA’S WORKFORCE
75% 83% 6-9
of the workers in today’s workforce are caregivers of millennials will leave one job for another with stronger family-friendly supports
months of salary is the cost of replacing an employee
Foundation Initiatives
Foundation Initiatives: National Civics Bee® – Georgia State Finals
The Georgia Chamber Foundation proudly hosted the Georgia State Finals of the National Civics Bee® in June 2025, bringing together 22 middle school students from across the state to demonstrate their knowledge of civics and government. Hosted in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and local chambers of commerce, the competition challenged students through essay presentations and quiz rounds designed to strengthen civic understanding and confidence.
The National Civics Bee® reflects the Foundation’s belief that a strong economy depends on informed, engaged citizens prepared to lead in their communities. By investing in civic education, the Foundation is helping build a pipeline of future leaders equipped to contribute thoughtfully to Georgia’s economic and civic life. Kaden J., the Georgia State Finals Champion, traveled to Washington, D.C. to compete in the national competition in November 2025.
“ The Civics Bee is a really great way to get involved. It’s fun, and it’s a hands-on way to get involved in government. Kaden J. CHAMPION, 2025 GEORGIA STATE FINALS, THE NATIONAL CIVICS BEE ®
Photo Credit: Alessandro Marazzi Sasoon, Atlanta Civic Circle
Research & Talent Initiatives
GeorgiaLAUNCH
In 2025, the Georgia Chamber Foundation launched GeorgiaLAUNCH, a two-year, employer-driven initiative focused on identifying high-demand careers and developing streamlined talent pipelines across Georgia’s fastest-growing industries. Building on the Foundation’s Clean Tech Career Initiative, GeorgiaLAUNCH reflects a broader, statewide approach to workforce development.
Throughout the year, the Foundation convened industry leaders and conducted listening sessions to identify workforce gaps, align career pathway on-ramps, and assess opportunities for investment in talent development. This effort will culminate in actionable recommendations and tools to help communities, educators, and employers prepare Georgians at every stage of the workforce pipeline for future opportunities. GeorgiaLAUNCH is supported through an investment by J.P. Morgan Chase
For more information contact Daniela Perry, at dperry@gachamber.com
“GeorgiaLAUNCH is a strategic investment in Georgia’s longterm competitiveness. By aligning education and training with the real needs of industry, we are building clear pathways into high-demand careers, including advanced manufacturing and clean technology. Strong companies depend on reliable, skilled talent pipelines, and this initiative is helping ensure that Georgia continues to attract jobs, expand opportunity and lead the way in the industries that are shaping our future.
Stuart Countess PRESIDENT & CEO, KIA GEORGIA 2026
Engaging Through Events, Insights & Publications
Convening Leaders, Navigating Change
In 2025, the Georgia Chamber Foundation convened business, policy, and community leaders through a series of summits, briefings, and publications designed to address emerging challenges and opportunities facing Georgia’s economy. Signature events included the Future of Talent Summit, Future of Energy and Sustainability Summit, Future of Small Business Summit, Rural Prosperity Summit, and quarterly Trustee Luncheons & Briefings, each focused on equipping leaders with actionable insights and practical solutions.
The Foundation also produced timely research and analysis through its Quarterly Economic Reports, Economic Competitiveness Redbook, and a robust series of tariff and economic briefings. As global trade conditions evolved rapidly, these briefings provided businesses with up-to-date guidance on tariffs, trade negotiations, and their potential impact on Georgia’s economy, reinforcing the Foundation’s role as a trusted source of curated insights during periods of uncertainty.
