OUR IMPACT:  Did you know that our work at the Kansas SBDC puts money into the federal and state government? Why do we care?

Since each and every person that works at the Kansas SBDC is a taxpaying citizen, we take a very concerned interest to ensure that the dollars invested in the Kansas SBDC are well-spent, flowing back into our communities many times over. Why? Because we live and work and take our kids to school in these communities as well. We hold ourselves to the highest level of accountability and measure the difference we make in our clients’ businesses every day.

We know that everything we do to help grow small businesses in Kansas pays dividends to every citizen living in the state and needs to make a difference in the short term, interim term, and long term. It needs to make a difference in the small business owner’s life, in his or her business, immediate community, county, and beyond.

 

So, how do we know that we’ve made a difference?
 

Our small business clients tell us. Each year we conduct a series of surveys to measure impact. Clients are asked to respond and report the difference that the Kansas SBDC has made in their business. We ask how we’ve helped them grow and retain employees, increase sales, and secure capital to grow their businesses.  Basically, we’re measuring a return on your taxes as they are used in the SBDC program.

 

• To understand how we calculate our impact, the return is measured by calculating sales and income tax on client revenue, jobs created, and jobs retained. Numbers are calculated based on self-reported and affirmed client surveys, independent scientific study, and legislative audit. And even though our return on investment is impressive, keep in mind that our impact is a conservative estimate as we are only taking credit for approximately 40% of our clients completing survey requests each year!
   

• We also compare the performance of our business clients with all of Kansas businesses to control for geographic bias. We use information from the Kansas Departments of Labor and Revenue to compare our performance. Since we started measuring in 2002, SBDC clients have consistently outperformed all Kansas businesses when comparing avg annual sales and job growth.

Our Results – the meaning in the measures:
 

• New Businesses: starting a new business translates into new jobs, new sales, and new capital investment dollars, not to mention a more diverse and vibrant economy through new entrepreneurial excitement.
   

• NEW JOBS: Arguably the single most important metric, new jobs generate new IncomeTax Revenue for the state of Kansas and for the Federal Government
   

• Sales Revenue Increase: Sales Revenue increases help individual businesses grow and they help fund programs throughout the State through increases in Sales Taxes.
   

• # of Training Events: How many training events we provide to Kansas Businesses is rooted in our Higher Education Institution partnerships. We bring businesses relevant training to help them grow and generally operate better so they can succeed & survive (& bring stability to their local Kansas communities).
   

• Capital Investment: Cold hard cash investments in suppliers & contractors, buying out retiring business owners, upgrading infrastructure & keeping $’s flowing throughout the community. Without capital investment, the Kansas economy would suffer at both the local and state level.
   

• % That Would Refer: At the end of the day, this is the metric that tells us if our clients felt the investment of their time with us was worth it to their business.  With the inherent stress and difficulties that most owners find themselves in when they first meet with us, we are very proud of our consistent high marks in this measure. This tells us that we made a difference in the business and therefore made a difference in our State, which is why we have been entrusted by the U.S. SBA & KS Department of Commerce for nearly four decades in delivering these needed services to Kansas Businesses.
   

• ROI: Just as much as our clients want to see a return on their investment with us, our funding partners demand a good ROI as well. For 2019 impact:

  • Kansas Department of Commerce (KDOC) support of the Kansas SBDC program was $718,536 and the amount received to the State of Kansas thru sales and income taxes from the increase in Sales and Job previously detailed amounted to $22,903,084. KDOC ROI of 31.9:1 from Kansas SBDC investment: $39.10 was returned to the State of Kansas for every $1 invested into the Kansas SBDC program.

  • U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) support of the Kansas SBDC program was $1,076,105 and the amount received to the Federal Government thru individual tax revenue of $95,202,118 from the number of jobs created and saved previously detailed. U.S. SBA ROI of 88.5:1 from Kansas SBDC investment:  $88.50 was returned to the Federal Government for every $1 invested into the Kansas SBDC program.

  • Total Program support from Local, KDOC, and SBA funds was $2,615,893 and the total tax revenue generated from sales increase and job creation and retention was $118,105,202. The total Kansas SBDC ROI to funding partners was 45.1:1 (in other words, for every $1 invested in the Kansas SBDC program in 2019, $45.10 made its way back to the state & federal government to fund other programs. We are proud of that ROI to our funding partners!)

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Questions? Contact Greg Jordan, Kansas SBDC State Director, at 785-296-6514.