Membership Benefits
Join us at the World Trade Center Tacoma! Please see below for an outline of the types of services you can expect as a member of our organization. The hotlinks below will direct you to each Membership type.
Student Membership
Individual Membership
Core Business Membership
Student Membership
Membership Card with Global Benefits
The WTC Association membership card gives you access to over 320 WTCs in 96 countries. Through reciprocity you receive the same services and discounts available to local WTC members when you visit those WTCs. WTCA will also have a members-only section on its new website for members to connect with others and find new business opportunities around the globe.
Seminars, Conferences & Networking
Members receive discounts to all WTC events. WTC Tacoma offers many local training seminars to help local businesses succeed in international trade. As a student member, you are encouraged to attend these events to further your education and as good networking settings. Each year there are also members-only events often focused on networking.
Other events include networking socials, in– and outbound trade missions, the Globe Awards, the Pacific Northwest – China Trade Summit and more.
Individual Membership
You receive the same benefits as the student membership PLUS:
Members have access, free of charge but subject to availability, to meeting and conference facilities at the WTC Tacoma offices, and may have access, depending on availablility and circumstances, to the WTC Seattle conference facilities. Rooms can accommodate between 4 and 60 people, depending on the location and seating arrangement. Tacoma offices are located downtown with easy access to restaurants, businesses and the Convention Center. The WTC Seattle additionally offers WTC members-only dining facilities located on the waterfront across from the Bell Harbor International Conference Center.
Member Discounts
As a member of the WTC Tacoma you have access to discounts and special corporate rates at local businesses by presenting your membership card. Among them: World Trade Press, Puget Sound Business Journal, The Courtyard by Marriott Tacoma Downtown, Hotel Murano Tacoma, and Silver Cloud Hotel, Tacoma Symphony Orchestra, Northwest Translators and Interpreters Society (NOTIS) and Dynamic Languages.
New: 20% of all new subscriptions purchased using the WTC promo code will be donated back to the World Trade Center Tacoma. 10% of renewing subscriptions will be donated. Subscribe online at www.BusinessExaminer.com or call 253.404.0891 and mention the promo code WTC.
NOTE: Individual Members will be acknowledged by name only. No organizational designation will be included.
Core Business Membership
Core Business Members receive all the above benefits PLUS:
Name Visibility
As a Business Member, your organization’s name is listed on the WTC Tacoma website and other WTC publications, as appropriate. Any promotional benefits are available to you and your business.
Trade Research, Counseling & Matchmaking
Five complimentary research and consulting hours per year; additional hours are billed at $50 per hour.
WTC Tacoma has special expertise in trading with East Asia. Via the Tacoma-Fuzhou Trade project there are regular trade missions from/to China. For Core Business Members and Sponsors, we also offer targeted counseling for trading with China or Japan.
Trade and Business Assistance Services
The WTC Tacoma collaborates and partners with many organizations to help Washington-based companies seeking to expand their presence abroad. Through your WTC membership, we can help connect you to organizations such as the U.S. Commercial Service, Washington State Department of Commerce, Washington State Department of Agriculture and The Northwest Trade Adjustment Assistance Center.
Additionally, you will gain access to the following:
- Convenient, on-site at WTC, office-hours by representatives of The Export Finance Assistance Center of Washington
- Graham & Dunn PC, offers a first hour consultation free of charge. These consultations may also be conducted on-site at WTC for your convenience
- The South Sound Regional Business Incubator (SSRBi)’s “Lunch and Learn” and evening training classes at no additional cost.
- Rafiki Trade Group, PLLC., a Licensed Customs Broker company offers many consulting and auditing services discounted 10% for WTC members.
- Member rates for attending African-Chamber of Commerce of the PNW events.
Membership with other Organizations:
World Affairs Council Tacoma (WAC Tacoma)
WTC Tacoma members also receive complimentary membership in the World Affairs Council Tacoma, a non-profit, non-partisan, educational organization promoting activities enhancing public awareness of international cultural, economic and political issues. Functions include lectures, discussion groups, networking events, professional development programs, hosting international visitors and the Annual Consular Association Reception.
