It’s National Small Business Week. The week runs May 3 through May 9, 2026, and the things actually worth knowing about it fit on one page. Here is BCA’s read.
Why this week exists
National Small Business Week has been an annual presidential proclamation since 1963, when President John F. Kennedy first declared it. The Senate now reaffirms it each year by unanimous resolution. The reason it exists is twofold. The first is recognition: small business produces 43.5 percent of U.S. gross domestic product and employs 45.9 percent of the private-sector workforce, which works out to about 62.3 million Americans across 36 million small business operations. The second is consolidation: federal agencies (the SBA, the IRS, USPTO, USDA, and others) collapse free educational programming, awards, and outreach into one week each year so operators can find help in a single concentrated window instead of scattered across the calendar.
If you have been meaning to attend something free and useful, this is the week.
Small business by the numbers
- 36 million small businesses in the United States.
- 43.5 percent of U.S. GDP comes from small business.
- 45.9 percent of the private-sector workforce works for a small business.
- 62.3 million people employed by small business.
- 63 years of NSBW tradition since the 1963 JFK proclamation.
These are the numbers worth knowing the next time someone asks why small business should be at the table on policy decisions.
What is actually free and useful this week
The federal calendar for the week, in plain English:
Sunday, May 3 (and rolling through the week). SBA’s National Awards Ceremony in Washington D.C. opens NSBW. Small Business Persons of the Year and other category winners are recognized. SBA also runs a four-state in-person tour through Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia across the week. Local SBA District Offices typically host their own events in parallel; check sba.gov/events for your area.
Tuesday and Wednesday, May 5-6, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET. The SBA Virtual Summit. Free, registration required at cntvhybrid.com/nsbw2026. Two days of workshops on AI, e-commerce, financing, manufacturing, digital marketing, human resources, business planning, and online business resources. Cosponsors presenting include Visa, T-Mobile, Google, Verizon, Paychex, TriNet, Amazon, Block, Grasshopper Bank, Lockheed Martin, ZenBusiness, Fiserv, Meta, and America’s SBDC. If you can only do one thing this week, this is it.
Thursday, May 7, 2 p.m. ET. The IRS free Understanding Federal Taxes for Small Business webinar. Ninety minutes including a live question and answer session. Topics: Schedule C, business structures, IRS resources, online tools. No continuing-education credit, but small business owners are explicitly welcome. Register through the IRS Webcaster portal.
All week. The IRS National Small Business Week page (irs.gov/newsroom/small-business-week). Daily themed content covering scams and schemes awareness, best practices for new and existing businesses, smart planning for small business success, transformation and improvements with technology, and disaster preparedness.
Year-round. Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs). This is the piece NSBW exists to publicize but most operators forget about the rest of the year. SBDCs are the SBA’s flagship partnership program. They provide free one-on-one management and technical assistance from local advisors with experience in business planning, financing, marketing, and operations. There is one in every state and most major metros. Find yours at americassbdc.org.
What to actually do this week
Three concrete actions BCA recommends for a small business operator who has 30 minutes:
1. Register for the SBA Virtual Summit. Even if you can only attend one workshop, the registration is free and the recordings tend to become available afterward.
2. Book the IRS webinar on Thursday, May 7. Schedule C, business structure, and online tools is exactly the foundation BCA’s audience uses, and the live Q&A is the part that does not transfer to a recording.
3. Find your local SBDC and bookmark it. This is the resource you will actually use later, not this week. The SBDC is who you call when you have a financing question, a state filing question, or a strategy question and you want a free, no-sales-pitch second opinion.
What BCA is doing this week
Every BCA post and infographic this week is the BCA contribution to NSBW. Monday opens with a procedural change at the IRS for ERC claimants approaching the two-year suit deadline. Tuesday covers the OBBBA senior enhanced deduction. Wednesday is the OBBBA employer childcare credit, which materially favors small business operators. Saturday closes with the SBA Disaster Relief Tracker, a recurring monthly format we are launching this week.
Across the week, BCA’s social channels carry daily NSBW-flagged content with the bite-size data above and a reminder of the day’s headline event. The thread under each post is open for owners with specific questions BCA can advise and assist on.
When to bring BCA in
NSBW concentrates the federal-resource side of small business support. What it does not do is help you map those resources against your specific business, your specific tax position, your specific compliance obligations, or your specific cash flow. That is what BCA does year-round.
If something you hear at the SBA Summit, the IRS webinar, or in BCA’s content this week raises a question you would like to discuss against your specific facts, that is the conversation worth having. Our role is to advise and assist; the decisions stay yours.
Sources
- U.S. Small Business Administration. “National Small Business Week 2026.” https://www.sba.gov/national-small-business-week
- U.S. Small Business Administration. “SBA Announces National Small Business Week 2026 Virtual Summit Agenda.” April 27, 2026.
- U.S. Small Business Administration. “SBA Announces National Small Business Week 2026 Cosponsors.” April 21, 2026.
- U.S. Internal Revenue Service. “Small Business Week.” IRS Newsroom. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/small-business-week
- U.S. Internal Revenue Service. “e-News for Small Business” issue covering NSBW 2026 and the May 7 webinar.
- Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council. “National Small Business Week (May 3-9): Small Business by the Numbers.” April 28, 2026.
- America’s Small Business Development Center. https://americassbdc.org/
Disclaimer
This information is provided for general educational purposes and reflects opinions based on experience. Individual circumstances may vary. Event dates, registration links, and program details are current as of the publish date and should be confirmed against the authoritative agency source before relying on them. BCA advisors bring business and compliance experience to help you map federal small-business resources against your specific situation and advise on next steps.