The Small Business Credit Survey gives small businesses a shared platform to report on their credit access and operational challenges and opportunities. The survey is widely cited by other institutions, such as the U.S. Small Business Administration, and informs policy makers and economists about the status of small businesses across the country.
The Kansas City Fed relies on community partners to help us reach this important sector of the economy. They encourage small business owners to answer the survey, and in return can receive data specific to their state or members.
All 12 Reserve Banks help deploy the Small Business Credit Survey
The External LinkSmall Business Credit Survey (SBCS), a collaboration of all 12 Federal Reserve Banks, offers timely information about small business conditions to policymakers and service providers. The 2024 survey was fielded from September to November and reached more than 7,600 small employer firms. It collected information about the performance, challenges, and credit-seeking experiences of businesses across the United States.
The Fed published the findings in early May. They provide the opportunity to dive deep into various data points collected through the survey, such as:
- business characteristics: age of firm, credit risk, employment size, industry, revenue size, and urban versus rural firms
- owner demographics: age, disability status, gender, immigrant status, race/ethnicity, and veteran status
- geographic locations: select metropolitan statistical area and state based on response rates
Enough responses were received from employer firms in Colorado and Missouri, two of the seven states in our District, to tell us how small businesses there are performing against their peers nationwide. For example, 34% of respondents from Colorado and 49% from Missouri saw an increase in revenue from the prior 12 months, compared to 38% of nationwide respondents. The survey also found a demand for small business financing, with 59% of national respondents having applied for financing in the previous 12 months. That need was greater in Missouri, where 62% of employer firms applying for financing, but lower in Colorado, where 53% of employer firms applied for financing.
Partners boost the number of respondents
The SBCS relies on a partnership model to increase survey responses. Reserve Banks collaborate with local and regional organizations that have strong relationships with small-business owners. Partners may include community development financial institutions, chambers of commerce, economic development entities, and other small business support organizations. They encourage their networks of small-business contacts to respond to the survey.
Partner organizations are vital to giving small businesses a voice through the Small Business Credit Survey. Their outreach strengthens the overall survey, increases the response rate, which in turn helps us all gain a better understanding of the key issues that small businesses face.
Partner organizations also see benefits. Nebraska Enterprise Fund is a state-wide program providing business development services and funding to micro- and small businesses. It has been a long-time partner in promoting the SBCS.
“We find the survey to be a great help in understanding how we are serving our small business community as well as in considering future programming,” said Jim Reiff, executive director of Nebraska Enterprise Fund.
Partner organizations like the Nebraska Enterprise Fund that reach a certain threshold of respondents specific to their organization receive a Partner Report. This report provides comparison data between the firms affiliated with the outreach partner and national respondents.
“It supports our strategic thinking process,” Reiff said of the report. “We use the information from the survey internally to test our assumptions and hone our programming. It helps us by providing a respected outside view of the unique business conditions in our market area.”
Sign up as a partner to get small businesses heard
We welcome existing and new partners to help to spread the word about the Small Business Credit Survey. Help us with that effort by External Linksigning up as a partner.
“The survey is an opportunity to make your voice heard,” Reiff said. “I have been in meetings at my district Federal Reserve where the bank president has referenced the report. It gives our Federal Reserve branch local and relevant information to ensure that our state and district voices are heard and understood.”
To learn more, visit External Linkhttps://www.fedsmallbusiness.org.