Survey on Small Businesses and the Impact of COVID-19

Dear Main Street America Friends,

If there’s one thing we know at Main Street America, it’s that the numbers matter.

Over the last four decades, the Main Street America Network has painstakingly measured the impact of our work. Those numbers help us articulate the value of our work and make the case for the economic benefit of investing in Main Streets. It’s no exaggeration to say that data is a big part of the reason that our Main Street Network thrives.

Now, I’m asking for your help in gathering more data – this time to help us understand the threats faced by our small businesses in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, we need to understand our business’ ability to withstand what may be a several months of suppressed revenue and we need to understand what kinds of support programs will have the most impact.

In short, strong data will make us stronger advocates to Congress, to state legislators, and to our local elected officials in explaining the kind of resources needed by small businesses to weather the storm.

Please encourage your small businesses to respond to the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6K96DHF.

Note that we are looking for as wide of a geographic sample as we can obtain; we know that the impacts of COVID-19 are not felt evenly across the country, and so we urge all small businesses to participate, even if they are experiencing minimal impacts to date. Individual survey responses, including any personal information, will be confidential, and results will be presented in aggregated, summary form.

Time is of the essence. We’re asking for responses by 5:00pm PT next Friday, April 3rd. It should take each small business owner about five minutes to go through the questions.

Thank you – and your businesses! – for participating in this important survey.

Patrice Frey
President and CEO of the National Main Street Center