B B B A N N U A L R E P O R T

MISSION:To Be the Leader in Advancing Marketplace Trust

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BBB

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F TR

UST BUILD TRUST

Establish and maintain a positive track record in the marketplace.

ADVERTISE HONESTLYAdhere to established standards of advertising and selling.

TELL THE TRUTHHonestly represent products and services, including clear and adequate disclosures of all material items.

BE TRANSPARENTClearly disclose policies, guarantees and procedures that bear on a customer’s decision to buy.

HONOR PROMISESAbide by all written agreements and verbal representations.

BE RESPONSIVEAddress marketplace disputes quickly, professionally, and in good faith.

SAFEGUARD PRIVACYProtect data collected and respect the preferences of consumers regarding the use of their information.

EMBODY INTEGRITYApproach all business dealings, marketplace transactions and commitments with integrity.

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Q & A with our CEO, Pam Crim

What was the impetus for moving to Downtown Tucson?

When our lease came up for renewal we decided we wanted our location to be more appropriate to our overall vision for our future. We wanted to support the revitali-zation of Downtown and work more closely with our community partners such as the AG’s officeand law enforcement.

It’s also a great place to attract the best and brightest future employees. Another factor in the move was that we wanted to be good stewards of our financials.

What are you most looking forward to in 2017?

Providing even more benefits to local businesses and having more companies become accredited and adopt our mission of market place trust!

Launching our marketing media program “Trust Starts with US”. We’ll be telling our story through TV commercials with four partnered accredited businesses who get to tell their own story. Partnering and reaching out to our entire five county area.

What makes BBB so critical to consumers in Southern Arizona?

BBB is the resource to turn to for objective unbiased information on businesses that consumers can easily consider before making buying decisions. There is so much “noise” on the internet, and we have become the trusted home of authentic information that hasbeen verified prior to publication.

Consumer education is the biggest and strongest solution to arming consumers against scams. We provide a lot of education to the community through our media outreach, consumer and business classes, and programs, like the Military Line and the Senioroutreach program we participated in with Congresswoman McSally’s office.

What accomplishments are you most proud of in 2016?

Our consumer education and growth of our Accredited Business outreach as well as our ongoing education on various subjects from Cyber Security to Quickbooks and consumer programs, such as financial awareness, Autoline and ScamTracker.

How optimistic are you about the local business community in 2017?

Besides working side by side with my team my favorite aspect of my position is to spend time with local business owners, listening to what is important to them and assessing how we can best support them.

I know from personal experience, owning a business brings many challenges. During the last half of 2016, a very high percentage of my conversations with business owners included discussions about how they were now in a position to start re-investing in their business. Cautious optimism seems to be theprevailing mood. This is a large leap forward from a few years back.

“We at BBB of Southern Arizona consider serving our consumers and

business owners a privilege.”

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Our Mission & Who We Are:

There are 3,165 local businesses accredited with your Better Business Bureau serving Southern Arizona. We report on over 34,000 businesses on our local website, and represent all consumers and businesses in five counties; Pima, Santa Cruz, Cochise, Greenlee and Graham.

476,000 people visited our website in 2016. What does BBB mean to them?

THE CONSUMER JOURNEYHOW INFORMED CONSUMERS MAKE PURCHASING DECISIONS

Consumers Base Their Purchasing Decisions on BBB® Trustmarks

How Trusted is BBB Compared to Other Review Sites?

84% familiar with the BBB Ratings are more likely to purchase if a business has a high BBB letter grade

BBB

Angie’s List

Yelp

83% familar with the BBB are more likely to purchase when a business displays BBB’s Accreditation Seal

HonestyReliable

QUALITY GoodBusinessStanding

APPROVAL

Online Retailers

Retail Stores

Auto Dealerships

Consumers consult the BBB before utilizing

Health Clubs

SalonsFinancialServices

Contractors MedicalCare

$

What the accreditation seal symbolizes to consumers

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Travel Services

Visit bbb.org and start your next consumer journey with trust.

150801 Source: Nielsen 2014/2015

®

81%

Our mission is to be the leader in advancing marketplace trust in Southern Arizona

THANKS TO OUR ORIGINAL ACCREDITED BUSINESSES THAT ARE STILL WITH US TODAY...

Sundt Construction, IncUnisource Energy Services (TEP)

Horizon Moving Systems of Sierra Vista, Inc.O’Rielly Chevrolet, Inc.

Sam Levitz Furniture Company, Inc.Konica Minolta Business Solutions USA, Inc.

Quebedeaux Buick GMCAdair Funeral HomeBBVA Compass Bank

W.C. Cox and CompanyCuligan Water

Harlow Gardens

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Recap of 2016 & What’s Next... BBB MONTHLY MIXERS We continued to build the popularity of our monthly mixers in 2016. We started the year in January with a mixer at Commoner & Co. with 35 people and ended it in December with an excellent mixer and Ugly Sweater Contest at Barrio Brewery with 65 local networkers in attendance.

We plan to continue our mixers and growing them even more in 2017; starting on January 26th at Borderlands Brewing Company. These events give many small business owners a chance to meet others with the same interests and an opportunity to make meaningful connections. We offer sponsorships so businesses can grow their visibility to address the crowd at each gathering.

BBB IN THE NEWSBetter Business Bureau was a staple of local news in 2016. Anchored by our new Communications Manager, Susann Miller, BBB was mentioned a record 2,780 times by the local media this year. We continue to garner a lot of attention from the TV news programs, local radio talk shows and newspaper and business magazines.

BBB SCAM TRACKERWe had almost 200 scams reported to our ScamTracker on the website in 2016. We were able to use many of these reported scams to alert the public through the local media. We worked with many of our local victims to provide news stories to the local TV and radio stations and generated several press releases to warn the public.

NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH YPC MEDIA Early in 2016, we partnered with Rochester based, YPC Media to be able to offer incredibly affordable and effective marketing programs to our Accredited Businesses. These are online programs that we were not able to offer by ourselves and they are programs that really help small businesses market themselves like larger companies.

WE RECEIVED 3 NATIONAL AWARDSOnce again, your BBB of Southern Arizona received national recognition at the National BBB Assembly as we picked up two awards for our Business Relations Department and one award for investigations by our Operations Department.

WE MOVED!At the very end of the year, we moved Downtown into a beautiful new home at 120 N. Stone Ave. We’re really looking forward to being part of the Downtown revitalization and welcoming visitors from all over the service area!

WHAT TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2017...• 65 Year Anniversary - We’re celebrating 65 years

of service in Southern Arizona in 2017!• Spanish Hotline - We’ve launched a Spanish

Hotline and we’re expanding our Spanish Services.• More Outreach to Millennials - Watch for more

programs designed to educate and help young entrepreneurs this year.

• New Courses and Meeting Space - We have a great new line of classes planned for our beautiful new board room.

• New Category at the Torch Awards - Spark Award - Our Torch Awards on April 7th will feature finalists in the categories of Customer Excellence, Community Service, Ethics and now - Achieve-ment in Startup

• New Modern Business Profiles online and a new Search Function along with a new look to the website - Watch for big exciting changes to our website, coming soon!

2016 was our new CEO Pam Crim’s first full year at the helm.

2016 BOARD MEMBERSOFFICERS

Reba Kalil, Chair l Kalil & Associates

Alan Leffler, Vice Chair l Jan-Pro Cleaning Systems

John Decker, Secretary l Anchorwave Internet Solutions

Dean Kelly, Treasurer l Alliance Bank of Arizona

Fred Adler, Past Chair l Suncrest Wealth Management

DIRECTORSArt Blue l Nextrio

Catherine Baron l Catherine’s Estates & Appraisals

Cindy Schmidt l Lewis Roca Rothgerber LLP

Ellen Kirton l Effortless HR

Fred Knapp l Core Construction

Grant Lovallo l Home Planit, LLC

Janell Frank l AFLAC

John Slavonik l Versatile Landscaping Solutions

Julee Baxley l Integrity Automotive

Krista Miller l Smart Lofts, LLC

Margie Lannon l Homewatch Caregivers

Mary Keysor l Elan Benefits

Pam Hopman l The Hopman Group, LLC

Robert Janus l Ultra Air Conditioning

Steve Watson l Smart Motors

EX-OFFICIOBrandy Ferrer l Pathfinder Strategies

Agustin “Agie” Olmedo l Elmcroft Senior Living

BOARD COUNSELSara Derrick l Mesch, Clark & Rothschild

“Thank you to our BBB Board for their time, dedication and passion to creating

a trustworthy marketplace here in Southern Arizona”

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Better Business Bureau

BBB IMPACTFrom small community stores to multinational enterprises, BBB has been on the forefront of

positive marketplace change by partnering with leading companies committed to the best

practices of business ethics, marketplace excellence, and e�ective industry self-regulation.

Collectively, we create impact nationwide.

3,165 Local Accredited Businesses

900,000Instances of Services for Businesses, Charities and the General PublicExamples: Business Review Inquiries, Charity Report Requests, Customer Reviews, Investigations, Advertising Reviews, BBB Auto Line Cases, Complaint Handling, Mediation, Arbitration, Dispute Resolution

U.S. consumers are familiar with BBB

Consumers familiar with the BBB Accreditation Seal are more likely to purchase when a business displays BBB’s Accreditation Seal

BBB LEADS AS THE #1 CHOICEto report scams, to resolve company disputes, without going to court; and to research trusted businesses

7OUT OF 10U.S. consumers are likely to consult BBB prior to hiring a service contractor

7OUT OF 10

8 OUT OF 10

8 OUT OF 10

VISIT US AT BBB.ORG Nielsen 2015, CBBB Research 2016

Rating sources and Online Reviews are among the

TOP 3 INFLUENCERS when making a decision to purchase

Consumers familiar with BBB agree it is trustworthy and helpful

Better Business Bureau Serving Southern Arizona120 N. Stone Ave., Ste. 200 Tucson, AZ 85701Tel: 520-888-6161Fax: 520-888-6262W: tucson.bbb.org E: info@tucson.bbb.org