Saturday, November 30, 2013 is Small Business Saturday® - a day to celebrate and support small businesses and all they do for their communities.  Please join the SBA and organizations across the country in supporting your local small business by shopping at a small business.

How You Can Participate

For shoppers

• Find participating small businesses in your area

For small business owners

• Read the transcript of our Holiday Marketing Tips & Ideas web chat to learn how to maximize your holiday profit and increase sales volume
• Get advice on how to prepare for the holiday season on our Small Business Matters blog:
  • 6 Ways to Maximize Your Return on Sponsoring or Hosting Holiday Events 
  • 7 Holiday Marketing Tips on a Limited Budget 
  • 5 Ways to Market Your Business for the Holiday Season 
  • Start Now to Plan Your Holiday Retail Marketing Campaign 
  • How to Market Your Business with an Event 
• Get free Small Business Saturday® marketing materials - including sample posters, press releases, and social media updates
• Get free Small Business Saturday® educational materials from Twitter -  including tips for writing Tweets to stand out and excite followers, plus how to launch exclusive promotions
• Join Small Business Saturday® on Facebook and spread the word on other social media

SACRAMENTO - In the Fiscal Year (FY) which ended on September 30th, 2013, U.S. Small Business Administration Sacramento District Office (SDO) lending experienced an increase in small business lending.  The District had 700 loans approved for nearly $306 million, a 38% increase from FY 2010.

In addition the District set records for lending to Asian-owned businesses ($75 million) and minority-owned businesses ($94 million).

"The consistent growth in both loans and dollars over the past five years is a good sign for our region's economic recovery," said District Director Joe McClure. "We are supporting our lending partner's ability to make loans to small businesses and give them critical access to the capital they need to start and grow their business."  The average 7(a) loan size in the District has trended down over the past fiscal year in part due to the introduction of the SBA Small Loan Advantage Program that makes it easier for lenders to make loans under $350,000.  SBA Loans under $350,000 increased by 25% from 33 million in FY2012 to 44 million in FY2013 in the Sacramento District.  "This increase in small loans has had a significant impact on the small businesses in our District which historically have less than  100 employees and need access to capital in smaller increments than other areas of the state," said District Director Joe McClure. READ MORE