06/ 01/ 2005
by Jack Faris
It’s halfway through the year, and you have probably already had your share of requests for support of one cause or another from members of your community. And if you are a typical small-business owner, you have responded generously.
According to an NFIB National Small-Business Poll, 91 percent of small-business owners contributed to their communities in the last year. They served as volunteers and made in-kind contributions and cash donations. About 41 percent contributed in all three ways.
No surprise to you, of course. You could be the man or woman collecting for a charity outside the grocery store who also buys an ad in the high school yearbook and serves on a hospital board.
From the earliest days of our history, we have been a neighbor-helping-neighbor kind of country. But small-business owners are doing so in a big way: The estimated average value of contributions is $6,600 per small employer, which amounts to about $40 billion annually.
Seventy-four percent of those surveyed said they volunteered for community and charitable activities, contributing the equivalent of 18 working days a year. Small-business owners bring special talents to the organizations they serve. As many as one in three—about 1.9 million small-business employers—serves as an officer in at least one community organization.
Your leadership is evident among employees, too: 39 percent of them volunteer for community activities under the auspices of their employer.
Probably the most familiar example of an in-kind contribution is the service station owner who lets a high school group use the station, water and hoses for a Saturday car wash. But there are many others, such as the restaurateur who gives leftover food to a homeless shelter. Seventy percent of you made some sort of in-kind contribution during the year.
Most small-business owners don’t give of their time and resources expecting a direct benefit to their business. Among 41 percent of those surveyed, the most important reason is personal satisfaction and fulfillment. It’s about giving something back to the community.
Family interests are also a motivation to contribute. Sixty-seven percent of small-business owners said they contributed to education. Many owners have children in school and are concerned about the quality of education they are receiving. (As employers, they also worry about the quality of potential future employees.) Volunteering to coach a sports team would allow a parent to spend more time with his or her children.
But the survey found that the variety of activities supported by small employers, including those from which they are not likely to get any direct benefit—housing and feeding programs, for example—suggest that many of the contributions owners make are simply to help others.
Creating a better business climate and making the community a better place to live were other important reasons to contribute. American small-business owners seem to have their priorities straight. Congratulations.
