... A forum for community engagement
... A forum for community engagement
About Bellingham City Club
Bellingham City Club is a long‑standing, non‑partisan civic organization dedicated to fostering informed public dialogue on the issues that shape Bellingham and Whatcom County. Since 1993, the Club has provided a welcoming forum where community members, leaders, and experts come together to explore timely topics, exchange ideas, and strengthen civic engagement. Our monthly programs aim to enlighten, to advance thoughtful deliberation and, on occasion, to simply entertain. Through monthly programs, candidate forums, and special events, Bellingham City Club continues to serve as a vital space for thoughtful conversation and community connection.
Vision
We envision a Bellingham where people from every part of our community come together to better understand public issues, engage with diverse perspectives, and feel genuinely connected to the civic life of the place we call home. We advance this vision by offering regular, in-person forums with high-quality speakers, shared meals, and a welcoming environment that encourages curiosity, connection, and informed civic engagement.
Mission
Founded in 1993, the Bellingham City Club is a non-partisan civic organization of more than 300 members that fosters dialogue and debate on important issues facing our community. We intend programs to enlighten, to advance thoughtful deliberation and, on occasion, to simply entertain.
Our mission is to inform, connect, and engage our community to strengthen the civic health of our region.
By charter, we focus on our mission and choose not to overlap with or participate in the many fundraising and volunteer service opportunities delivered so effectively by other organizations.
Objectives
City Club’s objectives are to provide a forum for discussion and to analyze community issues with care and intention. We work to discover common ground and strengthen our community and opportunities to network with others. Above all, we strive to foster constructive problem solving and encourage informed citizenship.
Monthly Meetings
Monthly meetings consist of a buffet luncheon and a speaker, followed by questions.
City Club meets on the fourth Wednesday of most months with no meeting in December. The November meeting occurs on the third Wednesday due to the Thanksgiving holiday. The October meeting may be moved to the third Wednesday to account for ballot drop dates.
- 11:30 a.m.: Doors open
- 11:40 a.m.: Buffet lunch starts
- 12:00 p.m.: Program starts
- 1:30 p.m.: Program ends
Reservations are strongly encouraged. Tickets are non-refundable. A limited number of tickets may be available at the door. The program and buffet lunch are open to the public (members and non-members). ADA approved listening devices for the hearing impaired are available upon request.
Program + Buffet Prices
- Member, $25
- Non-member, $35
- Youth under 25, $10
- Program only, members, $10
- Program only, nonmembers, $15
Note: Program only tickets include coffee & a cookie with seating in the back of the room.
History
City Clubs have enhanced civil dialogue on important issues for decades. There are scores of City Clubs throughout the United States. The Chicago City Club boasts that it has influenced the occupants of the Illinois statehouse and the Chicago Mayor’s mansion since 1903. When President Bush sought to defend his Iraq strategy in politically important Ohio, he chose the Cleveland City Club for his speech and agreed to the Club’s insistence that questions from its members must be unvetted. On the West Coast, there are City Clubs from Bellingham to San Diego that provide their members with thought-provoking programs and discussions of community issues.
The first general meeting of Bellingham City Club was held on a December 1993 evening in downtown Bellingham at The Leopold, now named Hotel Leo. The speaker was Superior Court Judge Marshall Forrest and the subject was sentencing guidelines.
Founding Board
Throughout 1993 this hardworking group of community-minded citizens developed our charter, staffed our first committees and invited the public to join in our mission.
At Bellingham City Club meetings, name tags include the year that a member joined the Club. For those that joined during our first year the term “Charter Member” is used. Charter members are a good source of information about our history.
The founding board comprised of Dick Beardsley, Steve Brinn, Katy Casey, Patricia Decker, Bruce Disend, Bill Gorman, Jacqui MacConnell, Jeff McClure, Bill Palmer, Chuck Robinson, Phil Sharpe, Orphalee Smith, and Kitty Stimpson.
Organization
We are a designated nonprofit, 501(c)(3). EIN 91-1623768.
Our Bylaws can be found here:
Land Acknowledgement
The Board of the Bellingham City Club has adopted the following land acknowledgement to introduce its public programs:
We begin by acknowledging, with humility, that the land where we are today is the territory of the People of the Salish Sea. Their presence is imbued in the waterways, shorelines, valleys and mountains of the traditional homelands of the Coast Salish People, and it has been this way since time immemorial.