Small Business Majority Foundation Inc. is a left-of-center business-advocacy organization which uses its polling results to promote left-of-center policy initiatives related to small businesses, including health care policy under Obamacare. ¹

Originally based in California, the group is now located in Washington, D.C. and operates throughout the country. ² The group is led by John Arensmeyer, a former small business owner and Democratic political donor. ^{3 4}

Background

Small Business Majority was founded in 2004 by e-commerce businessman John Arensmeyer. During the push to pass then-President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, the Small Business Majority Foundation published polling suggesting that the majority of small businesses supported the mandate on businesses to provide employees health benefits or pay a penalty, although these polls were contradicted by the majority of polling on the issue. ¹

Small Business Majority founder John Arensmeyer is a longtime Democratic Party activist. In the 2000s, he was reported to be a board member of the Bay Area Democrats, which described itself in 2009 as “a network of private citizens active in national Democratic Politics.” ¹ He has donated to numerous Democratic Party candidates for federal elections, including former U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and U.S. Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA). Arensmeyer visited the Obama White House on 17 occasions, and has advocated for left-of-center policy positions, including minimum wage hikes, tax increases, stricter banking regulations, and Obamacare. ⁵

Arensmeyer has said that the group is not member-based (and thus not member-supported) to avoid influence from individual member businesses, instead being financially supported by left-leaning foundations. ¹ Foundation funders of Small Business Majority have included the Ford Foundation, ⁶ the Carnegie Corporation of New York, ⁷ and the San Francisco Foundation. ⁸

Financials

Foundations that support Small Business Majority include the left-of-center Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF), which donated $1 million in 2022 for community development, and the James Irvine Foundation and the Blue Shield of California Foundation, which donated $500,000 and $450,000, respectively, in the same year. ⁹

Other supporting foundations include the Bauman Family Foundation, the Public Welfare Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the New York State Health Foundation, and the California Endowment. ⁹

Issues

A key aspect of the Small Business Majority Foundation’s work consists in using polling to influence public policy. ^{1 5} According to their website, “Research & Insights” are one of three “organizational initiatives” of the Small Business Majority Foundation, with polling being key to that imitative. ¹⁰

Due to the economic impact caused by COVID, Small Business Majority issued a statement demanding California create a state-owned bank to provide loans specifically for “underserved communities, including for immigrants and Limited English Proficient (LEP) individuals.” ¹¹

Other initiatives of the Small Business Majority Foundation include a free resource hub for small businesses called Venturize, and advocating for public policies like healthcare reform and access to capital. ^{12 10}

People

In addition to Arensmeyer, the Small Business Majority board includes Kip Howard, a retired entrepreneur; Kenneth Henderson, a partner at Bryan Cave LLP; Celia Canfield, founder and CEO of Green Energy Agents; and LaJuanna Russell of Business Management Associates, Inc. ²

1.  Mandelbaum, Robb. “Who Is the Small Business Majority?” The New York Times, July 8, 2009. https://archive.nytimes.com/boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/who-is-the-small-business-majority/.
2. “Small Business Majority Foundation Inc Form 990.” GuideStar. Accessed May 20, 2024. https://www2.guidestar.org/profile/03-0576666.
3. “John Arensmeyer – Washington, District of Columbia, United States | Professional Profile .” LinkedIn. Accessed December 12, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-arensmeyer-426131/.
4. “Individual Contributions-John Arensmeyer.” FEC.gov. Accessed December 12, 2024. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=john+arensmeyer.
5. Pollock, Richard. “Obama’s Small Business Advocate Has Big Credibility Problems.” Washington Examiner, August 13, 2013. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/1212493/obamas-small-business-advocate-has-big-credibility-problems/.
6. “129227 – Small Business Majority Foundation, Inc..” Ford Foundation, June 10, 2024. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/small-business-majority-foundation-inc-129227/.
7. Carnegie Corporation of New York. “Small Business Majority.” Carnegie Corporation of New York. Accessed December 12, 2024. https://www.carnegie.org/grants/grants-database/grantee/small-business-majority/#!/grants/grants-database/grant/51693.0/.
8. San Francisco Foundation, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2022, Schedule I https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/10679337/202431359349311628/IRS990ScheduleI
9.  “Small Business Majority.” Cause IQ. Accessed May 20, 2024. https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/small-business-majority,030576666/.
10.  “About Us.” Small Business Majority, July 26, 2023. https://smallbusinessmajority.org/about-us.
11. Tubbs, Michael. “A Tough Economy Has Revived the ‘bootstrapping’ Myth. Here’s Why It Takes More than Just a Good Idea to Get out of Poverty.” Fortune, January 18, 2023. https://fortune.com/2023/01/18/economy-bootstrapping-good-idea-poverty-startups-success-politics-michael-tubbs/.
12. Venturize. Accessed May 20, 2024. https://venturize.org/.