Coalition to Promote Small Business Saturday

The American Booksellers Association is among the public and private organizations that will participate in Small Business Saturday℠ on November 26, 2011. On Thursday, June 14, Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP), a non-partisan organization that advocates for issues affecting the health of small businesses, released a list of the first 100 organizations to join a coalition partnering for the second annual event.

Small Business Saturday is a day for dedicating a portion of holiday shopping at local, independently owned small businesses. The national program was launched in 2010 by American Express, the event’s founding sponsor.

To expand the reach and impact of Small Business Saturday, WIPP has partnered with other organizations to form the Small Business Saturday Coalition℠.  Members of the coalition have pledged to help increase awareness of the program, produce events across the country, and distribute tools to help local merchants more effectively market themselves to encourage consumers to shop at small businesses on November 26.

“Many of the organizations joining the coalition have been advocating on behalf of small businesses for a long time,” said WIPP President Barbara Kasoff. “We are excited to learn from each other and collectively drive more business to small business. This is truly a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.”

Other organizations in the coalition include the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association, the San Francisco Locally Owned Merchants Association, the 3/50 Project, and the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. The full list is available here.