You know some of them as your neighbors and friends. You rely on some for quality products and services. You see their names on Little League uniforms; their banners fly high over community picnics and their brands sponsor high school yearbooks.
But it is unlikely that you will read about them in the newspaper or see them on the evening news. They are small-business owners and they play a far greater role in the community than one might imagine.
American small businesses may not be big in size but they are enormous contributors to their communities, giving roughly $40 billion over the past year alone, according to a poll conducted for the NFIB Research Foundation.
There is no reason for you to know that. News coverage of business activities is dominated by high profile, negative stories such as corporate scandals or bankruptcies. But for every company that runs afoul of the law, there are millions that quietly go about their business, abiding by the laws, paying more than their share of taxes and fending off over-zealous government regulators while still managing to create jobs and feed their families. And, while doing all of that, they contribute on a large scale to their communities.
You won’t see much news coverage of a Saturday morning car wash at the local filling station or hear interviews of folks who volunteer long, hard hours at charities, but many of those activities wouldn’t take place if it weren’t for small-business owners.
It is no secret that they serve as job generators, innovators, creators of niche products and a buffer to the constant up-and-down business cycles. But rare is the media report that details the significant role small business plays in building and sustaining the civic and charitable foundation of America’s communities.
In the past year, more than nine-of-10 small employers contributed to their communities by volunteering and providing in-kind contributions or cash donations, the poll found. More than two-fifths of those contributed in all three ways.
Seventy percent of respondents made cash contributions and one-in-10 of those donated more than $10,000. The average cash donation was $3,600. A similar number made in-kind contributions averaging $4,000 each.
The 74 percent who say they volunteer for community and charitable activities spend, on average, more than 18 working days a year lending their considerable management and leadership skills to local organizations.
Why do small businesses give to their communities? Not to attract more business, the survey determined. Those responding said they did it primarily for personal satisfaction and fulfillment. Least important to them was any direct business benefit. Some indicated they gave to create a better business climate, others said their community activism was done to make their communities better places to live.
Small-business owners are not alone in contributing their time and resources to their communities, but it is important to recognize the contributions they have made, quietly and with little notice in the news.
–Jack Faris is president of NFIB (the National Federation of Independent Business), the nation’s largest small-business advocacy group. A non-profit, non-partisan organization founded in 1943, NFIB represents the consensus views of its 600,000 members in Washington, D.C., and all 50 state capitals. More information is available on-line at www.NFIB.com.
