Industry Associations
Industry Associations offer a wealth of information on any specific industry. You can find an association for almost every industry. Industry associations, by the nature of their business model, stay close to companies and consumers who make up a particular industry. You can find industry data, consumer usage and behavior information, and (sometimes) association-specific surveys that offer in-depth insights about an industry.
- Associations UnlimitedAssociations Unlimited database is available on management library website and offers information on around 460,000 international and U.S. national, regional, state, and local nonprofit membership organizations.
- GoogleYou can find association on Google by searching by the "industry name+ Association." For example, "Beverage+Association" brings up all different associations connected with the beverage industry.
Additional Resources
There are a number of websites that offer important information useful in developing a business plan.
- Census Data: data.census.govA product of the US Census, data.census.gov is the replacement for American FactFinder. It includes data from the American Community Survey, 2010 Decennial Census, Economic Census, County Business Patterns and more.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)This government website offers information on a number of different subjects. The consumer expenditure Survey offers data on household expenditure on different categories including food, apparel, healthcare, and entertainment.
- Crowdfunding: A New Way to Finance High Tech?Many high-tech startups also benefit from crowdfunding concept. Check out this article.
- MasterCard Business Plan HandbookPresents the components of a good plan, with in depth explanations of ratios and financial statements.
- Pew Research CenterThis website can be helpful in finding data on a number of consumer attitudes and behaviors.
- SurveyMonkeyA free/fee-based website to create custom consumer survey for primary research.
- The US Small Business AdministrationThe SBA outlines the entire business planning process with their Small Business Planner
- Foundation DirectoryThe Foundation Center directory contains information about the largest public and private foundations in the U.S. and links to foundation web sites. This edition includes full text access from more than 250,000 IRS 990 forms, 80,000 detailed funder profiles, half a million recently awarded grants, RFPs, key staff affiliations, publications, news and job postings.
- GuideStar PremiumSearchable directory that provides detailed information on more than 850,000 nonprofit (501) organizations. Profiles cover mission and programs, financials, leaders, and most importantly, full text via PDF of the charity's IRS 990 filing from 1998 forward in most cases. Form 990 provides information on revenues, expenses, programs, activities, executive salaries and board members. Parts of the database are only available to licensed institutions, but the site contains significant free content. Access to some free content requires registration