Why community outreach has to start with small businesses

By Ken Haag, senior vice president, head of direct sales

There’s a major corporate facility in my hometown – an impressive operation with significant resources and global reach. But when it comes time to sponsor Little League, support a club lacrosse team, donate to the school fundraiser or quietly help a neighbor through a tough season, that support rarely comes from the billion-dollar company.  It comes from the local baker. The shop owner. The business doing $20,000 a month in sales, showing up for the people around them.

That contrast isn’t meant as a criticism of big business. It’s simply an observation that’s stuck with me throughout my 20-year career in merchant services. Small business owners don’t just operate in communities; they help create them. During May, which is commonly referred to as Small Business Month, we take a moment to celebrate ambition: the grit it takes to open the doors every day, serve customers, pay employees and keep going through uncertainty. I also think it’s a moment to recognize another kind of ambition: the way small business owners show up beyond their storefronts. They’re building companies, yes. They’re also holding communities together.

This goes beyond the anecdotal. Research from the National Federation of Independent Business* shows that 90% of small business owners financially supported community or civic groups, charities, youth sports programs, schools, religious organizations or similar activities in the past year, while 76% volunteered their own time in those same spaces. That level of engagement shows leadership.

Community impact is part of the job

Anyone who’s owned a business knows that your community isn’t just your customer base, it’s your ecosystem. It’s the teachers who recommend your business, the parents who spread the word at games, the suppliers who go the extra mile, and the neighbors who show up when you’re short‑staffed or facing a tough decision.

Small business owners live inside that ecosystem, so their reputation is personal. Their accountability is direct and their investment is highly visible. That’s why small businesses so often become informal community infrastructure. They hire locally, provide first jobs and mentor young people who may not realize their own potential yet. They create gathering places that give a neighborhood its identity. Because owners are close to the ground, they can respond quickly when it’s needed most by donating goods, offering services, sponsoring events and lending support.

On a broader level, small businesses are also foundational to economic resilience. According to the McKinsey Global Institute*, micro-, small- and medium-size enterprises employ nearly six in ten U.S. workers and generate almost 40% of national value added, making them the bedrock of the American economy. When small businesses thrive, communities do, too.

The hidden cost of being a community pillar

Here’s the part we don’t always talk about: the same owners who give the most to their communities often have the least spare capacity. I know this from my own experience as a former small business owner. The hardest part wasn’t the long hours; it was the pressure. It weighed on me, knowing that every decision mattered for the business and for my family.

Running a business means carrying more than the work itself. You’re managing it, staffing it, financing it and worrying about it after everyone else has gone home. That operational load adds up. Burnout is a common risk for small business owners, but even riskier for all of our communities is what happens gradually, over time, when evenings and weekends disappear and community involvement becomes harder to sustain – not because owners care less, but because they have less to give: the pillars of our communities disengage or literally close up shop.

If we value the role small business owners play as community leaders, then sustainability matters. We can’t admire their impact without acknowledging the cost.

What leaders need to understand about serving small businesses

For anyone building products, platforms, policies or services for small businesses, there’s a responsibility that comes with that role: understand the reality of their time.

Supporting small businesses can’t mean adding more complexity to manage. It has to mean helping remove friction, especially in the parts of the business that quietly steal evenings and weekends. Owners don’t need more dashboards, more tools or more decisions.

They need solutions that:

• Reduce administrative steps
• Increase clarity and transparency
• Build confidence in delegating without losing control
• Provide real expertise when the stakes are high

When partners truly take work off an owner’s plate, the benefit goes far beyond efficiency and protects something much more important: the owner’s ability to keep showing up where they matter most. That matters to the public, too. Research from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce* shows that small businesses represent 99.9% of all U.S. businesses and employ nearly half of the American workforce, reinforcing their central role in community stability and resilience.

A small business commitment

Small businesses deserve recognition for what’s visible: jobs created, services delivered and neighborhoods strengthened. They also deserve recognition for the invisible work: the fundraising checks written quietly, the teams coached after hours, the events sponsored without banners and the people lifted up through opportunity.

I believe we should celebrate the ambition behind those choices and commit, especially those of us in leadership roles, to making that ambition sustainable. Because if the local baker is helping keep the community together, the least the rest of us can do is make their work a little lighter.

Ken Haag is head of direct sales and a former small business owner who’s committed to helping business owners simplify operations so they can keep showing up for their customers and their communities.

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