May 20, 2010; Source: U.S. News & World Report | This story discusses the tendency of people in this country to start businesses even during and maybe especially during the depths of a recession. What we find interesting about this article, which is based on a Kauffman Foundation study that found that entrepreneurial activity is at its highest rate in 14 years, is that it is not at all alarmed about the fact that people during a time of scarcity start up small businesses with a 50% chance of going under even in the best of times but we’ve noted that there is a different attitude about the continuation of nonprofit start ups during this same period. In our opinion, again, small locally controlled organizations rock! Let’s all make sure they are supported so we remain the richly entrepreneurial country that we are with the full diversity of local character. The facts are that 65% of the people in this country are employed by small businesses and most of the nonprofits in this country are small (though those numbers will soon be reduced). In any case, we thought this was an interesting study and pass it along to you.—Ruth McCambridge
About The Author
Ruth is the founder and Editor Emerita of the Nonprofit Quarterly. Her background includes forty-five years of experience in nonprofits, primarily in organizations that mix grassroots community work with policy change. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Ruth spent a decade at the Boston Foundation, developing and implementing capacity building programs and advocating for grantmaking attention to constituent involvement.
