Note to Small Businesses: Nonprofits Feel Your Pain (and Your Joy)

We are smack dab in the middle of National Small Business Week, and I am struck by how similar the for-profit and nonprofit sectors are in this regard. Just as the nonprofit world sees the heavy hitters — Ivy League universities, global charities, national trade associations — get all the attention, on Wall Street it’s the blue chips that get the ink, while many enterprises that are much smaller diligently go about doing terrific work under the radar. In much the same way that their third-sector counterparts try to squeak by, these small businesses are making do — and quite well, in many cases — with far too few resources and little public attention. Do you think that Uncle Sam would bail out the family-owned hardware store down the street the way it did Bear Stearns? Me, neither. | 501(c)

Tags: National Small Business Week