Leaders in health philanthropy increasingly recognize the role of business in advancing health objectives. Yet to date, most efforts to engage business have focused on large companies. By contrast, the role of small business (defined as a business with fewer than 100 employees) in creating healthy communities has generally not been explored.

Over the last year, Public Private Strategies (PPS) conducted research funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to better understand opportunities for philanthropy to engage small business in advancing a “Culture of Health” and to uncover ways to effectively and efficiently engage small business.  As part of this work, PPS conducted more than 90 interviews with small business leaders across the country.

Here are five conclusions from that research:

  1. Small business, big impact: Nearly 100 million people generate their livelihoods from small businesses, as either owners or employees.
  2. Small business builds wealth to advance health: Substantial evidence shows that both wealth and income influence the health of individuals, and inequities in these areas have repeatedly been linked with poorer average health outcomes at the national level.
  3.  In small we trust: Small business is the second most trusted institution in the United States, trusted far more than large business, making small business leaders powerful ambassadors for improving health.
  4. Engagement model must be tailored: Unlike large businesses where the act of a single employer can affect more than a million employees, the universe of small businesses is extremely fragmented.
  5. Moving to Impact: The size, scope, and impact of small business requires stakeholders to rethink the current engagement model with “business” to include small business.

Read the full article about how small businesses can help advance health equity by Rhett Buttle, Deborah Bae, and Shuma Panse at Grantmakers In Health.