New online portal opens for SC small businesses to access capital

SCcrowdfund.com

South Carolina entrepreneurs and small business owners looking for capital to start or grow a business have a new opportunity.  The South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce begins taking business applications today for its new donation crowdfunding and private placement investment portal found at SCcrowdfund.com.

“There is a growing demand for small business loans that our financial institutions cannot meet for one reason or another,” said Frank Knapp Jr., president & CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce (SCSBCC).  “Our new portal will provide the marketplace for these small businesses to seek donations and investments for their business projects.” 

The portal, SCcrowdfund.com, is based on the theme that South Carolinians should,  “Invest in a New Economy”.  This effort is a partnership with the American Sustainable Business Council, New York-based Mission Markets and Bendigo Securities, LLC.

“We don’t have to wait for the national economy to take off.  We can grow our own local economies by donating to and investing in our local businesses.  This portal, SCcrowdfund.com, will make this easier,” said Knapp.

While anyone will be able to donate to a compelling small business project when the portal is open to the public in approximately 30 days, only those with high incomes will be able to invest through the private placement portal.  The qualifying criteria for “accredited” investors can be found at SCcrowdfund.com.

Businesses wanting to place their projects on the portal for either donations or investments should go to SCcrowdund.com. 

Blue Tape Marks Climate Change Risks for Coastal Businesses

Bloomberg Businessweek
July 25, 2013

By John Tozzi

 

Sandy Bridges, the owner of Palmetto Hammock in Charleston’s historic market district, is accustomed to flooding in her gift shop, so she keeps the floor clear of the hammocks, clothing, and tourist knick-knacks she sells. The 150-year-old building she occupies is two blocks from Charleston Harbor, and if it rains when the tide is high, the water comes up to her doorstep and sometimes over it. “The wooden flooring is old ship’s decking,” she says. “They understood we were going to get wet.”

The 19^th century South Carolinians who built on the Charleston peninsula didn’t anticipate how wet. Scientists expect sea levels to rise between 8 inches and 6 feet by the end of this century, putting low-lying coastal businesses at risk. To make the threat of climate change clear to her customers, Bridges joined a campaign last week to mark where the high tide in 2100 would be if the worst of those scenarios comes true. A strip of sky-blue tape near the handle of her door indicates the spot. “Where I’m standing right now, the water would be up to my chest,” she says.

About 90 businesses so far have agreed to put tape, decals, or posters in shop windows. The campaign is part of a larger effort to draw attention to the risks that climate change poses to small businesses. “The tourism industry in our state is primarily a small business industry,” says Frank Knapp, president of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce, which is recruiting businesses along with the American Sustainable Business Council. “There’s not much greater threat to our tourism industry  

than a destroyed coast.”

Photograph by Kate Thornton for Bloomberg Businessweek

The American Sustainable Business Council and another advocacy group, the Small Business Majority, plan to release a report Thursday showing that “small businesses with fewer locations and limited resources are particularly vulnerable to devastating extreme weather events,” according to a news release from the group.

It’s not hard to imagine Charleston’s low-lying retailers under water, especially after seeing hurricanes flood homes and businesses from New Orleans to New Jersey. When Hurricane Hugo landed in South Carolina in 1989, Bridges says, the property she now occupies had water up to the attic. She knows that businesses near the sea live with the risk of devastating storms, but she’s hoping it’s not too late to keep the coastline from permanently creeping upland. “If the water keeps rising, I feel there’s not going to be much hope to maintain this area,” she says.

Knapp’s group, which has about 5,000 members, hopes that changing tourists’ hearts and minds will prod Washington to act. Visitors to the campaign’s website can send messages to lawmakers urging them to curb carbon emissions and support clean energy sources. There’s little hope of that happening in the current Congress, where Republicans are trying to block White House plans to limit power plant pollution.

Knapp wants at least to show what’s at stake for coastal businesses in the “very red state” of South Carolina. “This is about protecting the South Carolina coastal tourism economy,” he says. The damage from climate change, Knapp says, won’t be felt “in my lifetime. It might be in my daughter’s. It’s definitely in my grandkids’.”

original article

South Carolina Businesses Acting on Rising Seas

Today was big day for the South Carolina Small Business Chamber in our efforts to protect our small business tourism industry from the coming impact of rising seas due to climate change.

This morning we rolled out our new sea level rise education project at a press event in Charleston.  The project, called South Carolina Businesses Acting on Rising Seas (SCBARS), is a partnership with the American Sustainable Business Council that is providing the funding.

In the last several weeks the SCBARS team has been identifying businesses up and down our coast that NOAA-supplied data indicates are expected to be directly impacted by a 6-foot rise in sea level by 2100.  We’ve been knocking on their doors and educating the owners about the threat.

We ask them to post signs for the tourists to make them aware of the future danger.  Our goal is to turn the tourists into an army of advocates for protecting our coast by asking them to go to SCBARS.org.  From the website people can send letters to their Congressional delegation and President calling on them to take action to reduce carbon pollution and transition the U.S. to a clean energy economy.

The response from these businesses has been very encouraging.  This week we start delivering the signs and hopefully will get permission to place blue tape on the inside or outside of their buildings showing where the high tide will be in 2100 if nothing is done about climate change.

While this was going on in Charleston, I was meeting with the Myrtle Beach Sun News editorial board to tell them about SCBARS.

It was a good day for our small business tourism industry and with the help of our SCBARS project hopefully there will be more good days for future generations of coastal small businesses.

Sign the Climate Change Declaration Today

Sign the Climate Change Declaration today  http://asbcouncil.org/campaigns/sign-climate-change-declaration-today

Take Two Minutes to Speak up for Small Businesses Today

American Sustainable Business Council supporters – 

The fiscal showdown over the Bush-era tax cuts continues in Congress… and defenders of extra cuts for the top-tiers of incomes continue using lip service to small business as their leading excuse for opposing the tax cuts for the middle class.

That’s not right. And, if the middle class tax cuts aren’t renewed, that will be bad for the economy – and especially bad for smaller businesses that rely on middle-class spending. 

Will you take a minute or two to post on social media your support for small business in this fight?

It’s time to put a stop to this small business identity theft. It’s time for small business owners to speak for themselves. And it’s time for Congress to listen to Main Street and do what’s right for small businesses: end the extra Bush tax cuts for the top-end of incomes while extending lower rates for 98 percent of families and 97 percent of small businesses.

On July 25, the U.S. Senate passed the Middle Class Tax Cut Act (S. 3412) to do just that.  Now the House of Representatives, led by Speaker John Boehner, needs to act.

On Wednesday, small business owners across the country will join in a national day of online action on Facebook and Twitter, calling on the House to get the job done and using the hashtags #my2k, #smallbiz, and #asbcouncil. Can you join us?

 Here are some sample tweets you can use:

              More than 600 business leaders call for end of Bush tax cuts for the highest incomes 

              #asbcouncil urlm.in/puhi

              Majority small biz owners support ending tax cuts on highest incomes #asbcouncil urlm.in/puhj

              Small business needs customers, not tax cuts. 

              Small business needs investment on Main Street, not tax cuts for Wall Street

Thanks for your support!
American Sustainable Business Council

Don't tie the hands of Consumer Product Safety Commission

The Hill’s Congress Blog 

By Frank Knapp, Jr.

We have heard an ongoing cry from organizations claiming to represent all businesses that they oppose any government action on toxic chemicals in our products, warning of increased costs and job losses. Now, a new independent poll shows that when it comes to protecting workers and consumers from negative effects of toxic chemicals, small-business owners agree with voters in that both want to be protected by stricter regulations.

A national poll released in July also showed that voters are seriously concerned and want action taken regarding the threat posed to people’s health from exposure to chemicals they come in contact with regularly.

This national poll of more than 500 small-business owners was conducted by Lake Research Partners and Public Opinion Strategies. The poll was commissioned by the American Sustainable Business Council, a national coalition of business organizations, which together represent over 150,000 small and medium businesses sharing the goal of a sustainable economy.

Some big-business organizations have dominated the public debate about government regulations, often citing their concern for the impact of regulation on small businesses. Convincing the public that all regulations are evil and a threat to small-business growth, organizations such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have made anti-regulation legislation in Congress a priority.

But the reality is that small-business owners are not of the same mind as CEOs of multinational corporations. While the latter are consumed with maximizing profits to satisfy Wall Street, small-business owners are focused on growing healthy Main Streets.

Small-business owners have always had a strong sense of community; they are not just a major part of local economies. They are your neighbors whose children go to local schools. Their families worship in local houses of faith and attend community plays and sporting events. They have the same interests, concerns and desires as the workers they employ and the customers they serve.

The small-business owners’ poll found that:

- 75 percent support stricter regulations of chemicals used in everyday products.
--87 percent support government regulations of chemicals used in growing food.

- 73 percent support government regulations to ensure the products companies buy and sell are non-toxic.


- 91 percent support chemical manufacturers being held responsible for ensuring their chemicals are safe.


- 76 percent support tax incentive for companies that innovate to provide safer chemicals.


- 92 percent support regulations to protect air and water from pollution by toxic chemicals.


- 78 percent support government regulations to reduce air pollutants linked to environmental and health problems.

In this poll, small-business owners strongly believe regulations should require the transparency needed to ensure safer products. Eighty-two percent believe that businesses should be required to share chemical ingredient information all along the manufacturing supply chain -- from chemical production to final consumer product. Creating a public, easily accessible database identifying chemicals of concern to human and environmental health is supported by 92 percent of small-business owners.

Small-business owners understand that the way to achieve greater protection from toxic chemicals is to reform the federal law dealing with chemical regulations. The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) was passed more than 36 years ago and has never been updated to deal with the new world of chemical threats.

Congressional legislation to reform TSCA would require chemical manufacturers to show that their chemicals are safe in order to sell them. Chemicals that may harm the public health could be limited and companies would be able to receive government support for research and development for innovation in producing safer chemicals. Seventy-three percent of small-business owners support this TSCA reform.

As we head into a new congressional session, elected leaders need to take a break from misguided efforts to stall or kill all regulations through legislation such as Senate Bill 3468, which would curtail the Consumer Product Safety Commission from protecting children from toxic chemicals. Instead, Congress should listen to the real opinions of small-business owners and voters. Stronger regulation of chemicals to protect our health and safety, and spur companies to create safer chemicals is a goal shared by all Americans.

Knapp is the vice chairman of the American Sustainable Business Council Action Fund and president/CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce.

Source: http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-a-budget/270289-dont-tie-the-hands-of-consumer-product-safety-commission

Toxic Chemical Reform Good for Business – New Poll

91% of Small Businesses Want Chemical Industry Held Responsible for Safe Chemicals in Marketplace

 http://asbcouncil.org/toxic-chemicals-poll

Washington, DC – American small business owners want the chemical industry to be held responsible for toxic chemicals in the marketplace, according to a new poll commissioned by the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC). Small business owners nationwide show strong support for stricter regulation of toxic chemicals. The October study examined the attitudes and opinions of 511 small business owners around the country.

“Organizations like the American Chemistry Council have made anti-regulation legislation in Congress and state legislatures a top priority, pushing the myth that all regulations are a threat to small business growth,” said David Levine, Co-founder and CEO of ASBC. “But the reality is that small-business owners see the value of sound regulations to help guide the market to deliver innovation for safer chemicals and products, which consumers are demanding. This data shows that no matter what your political affiliation is, there is agreement that toxic chemicals need to be regulated to prevent risk for business and the public.”  

Pointing out that an earlier poll of voters found very similar opinions on the need for toxic chemical regulations, Frank Knapp Jr., Vice Chair of the ASBC Action Fund and president/CEO of the S.C. Small Business Chamber of Commerce said, “Small-business owners have always had a strong sense of community; they are not just a major part of local economies. They are your neighbors whose children go to local schools. Their families worship in local houses of faith and attend community plays and sporting events. They have the same interests, concerns and desires as the workers they employ and the customers they serve.”

“Failure of adequate chemical transparency and regulation in the U.S. denies both manufacturers and consumers the ability to choose alternative materials and products. Consumer choice is the basis of free enterprise. More choices for consumers is better for everyone,” said Ally Latourelle, VP of Government Affairs for BioAmber, based in Plymouth, Minnesota.

"Consumer confidence takes a dive when people learn that they are bringing dangerous chemicals into their homes, because there is no regulation. That's bad for business," said Andy Igrejas, Director of the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families coalition. "This data shows that, like most Americans from across the political spectrum, small business owners believe that ensuring the health and safety of chemicals is good for our health and good for the health of our economy too."

The poll found:

--75% support stricter regulations of chemicals used in everyday products.

--87% support government regulations of chemicals used in growing food.

--73% support government regulations to ensure the products companies buy and sell are non-toxic.

--91% support chemical manufacturers being held responsible for ensuring their chemicals are safe.

--76% support tax incentives for companies that innovate to provide safer chemicals.

--92% support regulations to protect air and water from pollution by toxic chemicals.

--78% support government regulations to reduce air pollutants linked to environmental and health problems.

The poll details may be found here: http://asbcouncil.org/toxic-chemicals-poll

The only significant chemicals legislation to pass the Environment and Public Works Committee this year was the Safe Chemicals Act. It is pending in the US Senate, though unlikely to receive a vote in the lame duck session. However, with Democrats retaining the Senate, Senator Lautenberg is in a strong position to move the legislation and plans to do so early in the new year. The bill has 27 co-sponsors, including most of the Senate leadership. 

A petition for business owners urging Congress to update the 34-year-old Toxic Substances Control Act was started by ASBC. It can be found here: http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6269/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=9082

The poll was commissioned by the American Sustainable Business Council and conducted by Lake Research Partners in partnership with Public Opinion Strategies.

The American Sustainable Business Council and its member organizations represent more than 150,000 businesses nationwide, and more than 300,000 entrepreneurs, executives, managers, and investors. The non-partisan council includes chambers of commerce, trade associations, and groups representing small business, investors, microenterprise, social enterprise, green and sustainable business, local living economy, and women and minority business leaders. ASBC informs and engages policy makers and the public about the need and opportunities for building a vibrant and sustainable economy.  www.asbcouncil.org

# # # # #

Business Leaders Say Stop Using Bogus Definition of Small Business to Mislead Voters and Policy Makers

Washington, DC, October 10, 2012 ­­-- The American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC), which represents small- and medium-sized companies, calls on candidates for office to stop misleading voters with bogus data based on inaccurate definitions of small business. Specifically, a report commissioned by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, implied a complete falsehood: that the top 3% of small businesses are responsible for more the 50% of jobs in the United States.

“I’m incensed that a candidate for office would use small businesses to mislead voters,” said Frank Knapp, Vice Chair of ASBC and CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce. “Small businesses are the engine of our economy, not a way to score points in a debate.”

In the first Presidential debate last week, much discussion focused on the potential impact of tax policy on small businesses. But there was a dispute over the definition of small business, stemming from the NFIB/U.S. Chamber report.

ASBC contends that careful reading of the report shows that attribution of jobs to small businesses was made not to the top 3 %, but to all businesses that the report the report defined as small. Therefore, the statement that the top 3% of small businesses employ 50% of US workers is false.

Further, the report’s definition of small business was itself erroneous:

·         The report defines a small business by its corporate tax structure (S-Corp, LLC, Sole

        Proprietorship) instead of the most common definition of fewer than 100 employees. 

·         The report incorrectly equates individuals with any amount of taxable business pass-through income from an S-Corp or LLC with small business owner/operators who make hiring decisions.

“Under this wrong definition of small business, all of the big accounting firms, with tens of thousands of employees each, and some massive global companies like Cargill, would be considered ‘small,’” said Scott Klinger, Tax Policy Director for ASBC. “It would be misleading to say you are proposing tax policy to help small business if you are using this definition.”

“NFIB claims to represent me, but I’ve never heard from them and they’ve never asked my opinion,” said Josh Knauer, President and CEO of Rhiza Labs. “My company was recently named one of Pittsburgh's 10 fastest-growing tech companies. We have directly benefited from the tax dollars that went into the research that created Internet technologies long ago. This country needs to invest more in basic research to plant the seeds for the next inventions that will change our lives in ways we can't presently imagine. I never hear the NFIB talk about that.”

Dean Cycon, CEO of Dean's Beans Organic Coffee, in Orange, Massachusetts, does know NFIB.  "They tried to get me to sign up with them,” he said, “but it was clear that they represented a political agenda, not a small business agenda. I told them to take a hike. So it was shocking to hear them quoted so much in the recent debate, as if they were some sort of neutral, authoritative body. They are neither."

The American Sustainable Business Council and its member organizations represent more than 150,000 businesses nationwide, and more than 300,000 entrepreneurs, executives, managers, and investors. The non-partisan council includes chambers of commerce, trade associations, and groups representing small business, investors, microenterprise, social enterprise, green and sustainable business, local living economy, and women and minority business leaders. ASBC informs and engages policy makers and the public about the need and opportunities for building a vibrant and sustainable economy.  www.asbcouncil.org

###

Editor’s notes:

The NFIB-commissioned report (July 2012) implies that job figures apply to business owners paying taxes in the top-two tax brackets (the top 3%). It cites an April 2011 E&Y report, which instead clearly says that all "flow-through businesses" employ 54% of the private sector workforce.

Since the issue is tax policy impact on small business:

·         The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that only 3 percent of small business owners who pay pass-through taxes do so in the two highest income brackets. The Center on Budget and Policy and the Tax Policy Center have each reported that the percentage of business owners likely affected by the tax hike would be even smaller (CBPP), as low as 1.5 percent (TPC).

·         From the National Economic Council (White House report):

The 3 percent of “small business owners” who would see tax increases include many individuals who play no role whatsoever in running a business or who receive business income from “businesses” that have no employees.

The 3 percent includes:

•        Individuals who are only passive investors. A Treasury analysis found that on average “small business” filers with total incomes over $200,000 get less than a sixth of their total income from a business.

•        Individuals who obtain income from businesses that are not small or are only investment vehicles and have no employees. Contrary to claims that the tax increase under the President’s proposal would fall mostly on job creators, the same Treasury study found that only a minority of the filers with business income who would see a tax increase obtain any of that income from a small business with employees.

•        Law firm partners, hedge fund managers, and other highly compensated professionals who typically organize their businesses as partnerships. Over half of the 400 highest-income taxpayers in the country have some business income and therefore are counted in the 3 percent.12

•        Wealthy individuals whose “small business” is renting out their vacation home or other property.

 Contact: Bob Keener, 617-610-6766, bkeener@asbcouncil.org

 

Best quote from weekend talk-shows

I have to admit that I was envious when Mitt Romney cited the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) twice during last week’s Presidential debate.  The small-business pretender organization was effectively used by Mr. Romney to give credibility to his argument that allowing the tax rates on households with over $250,000 in income would cause small businesses to shed 710,000 jobs.

This estimate was based on a highly questionable report partially paid for by the NFIB.  I’ll address why this report is bogus when it comes to real small business tomorrow.

But the report’s integrity was strongly attacked on “Up W/Chris Hayes” Sunday morning’s show simply because it was commissioned by the NFIB.  Mr. Hayes said:

“The National Federation of Independent Business is essentially a right-wing interest group that is out there to destroy Democrats at every opportunity.  I don’t think that I’m overstating things when I say that….It is not an independent source in any way.”

Unfortunately, Mr. Hayes did not give a quick acknowledgement of other real small business organizations like the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC) that do not agree with the NFIB.  Mr. Hayes knows about the ASBC and even knows me (I’ve met him in DC twice). 

Come on, Chris.  Throw us a bone.

More from the Summit for a Sustainable Economy

The American Sustainable Business Council had a very good Summit for a Sustainable Economy at the White House yesterday.  In addition to the morning's panel on sustainable economic growth that I moderated, I also facilitated a breakout group on small business taxes and revenue in the afternoon with a representative from the White House National Economic Council and the Small Business Administration. These two ladies might have wished that they had not been at the meeting because of the grilling they received.

Today I am leading a meeting at the Security Exchange Commission to discuss crowdfunding that the SEC is responsible for writing the regulations.  Later in the afternoon, I and some other ASBC folks will be meeting with the Congressional offices of Senators Jeff Merkley, Thad Cochran and Lindsey Graham.

I will be back in Columbia late tonight. 

In DC Today for Sustainability Summit

I'm in DC today for the American Sustainable Business Council Summit for a Sustainable Economy at the White House.  This morning I am moderating a panel on sustainable economic growth.  The panel participants are Gary Guzy, Deputy Chair for the Office on Environmental Quality (the office in the White House that oversees all environmental and energy policy across the executive branch); Don Graves, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Small Business in the U.S. Treasury Department; Richard Kaufman, Senior Advisor on clean energy and energy efficiency to Energy Secretary Chu; Gary Hirshberg, Chairman of Stonyfield Farm (the largest organic yogurt company in the world); Roger Smith, CEO of American Income Life (one of the largest in home providers of supplemental insurance to working families).