Publications & Events

BOI shares findings from its research, evaluation, and peer learning activities in a variety of formats. Our publications share emerging and best practices, document data findings, and identify critical industry and market trends. Browse our publication topics below, or search our full list of publications here.

We also host public events and webinars that highlight industry trends, share research results, and illuminate strategies for addressing issues relating to business ownership and economic opportunity. Many of our events are co-sponsored with our colleague programs at the Aspen Institute.

Explore the Archive

All Publications from the Business Ownership Initiative

Moving the Microenterprise Field Forward: Priorities, Strategies and Roles
Publications

Moving the Microenterprise Field Forward: Priorities, Strategies and Roles

The microenterprise field must rally around a set of strategies that can make a difference for the millions of microentrepreneurs.

2007 MicroTest Outcomes: A Summary of Microentrepreneurs and their Businesses
Publications

2007 MicroTest Outcomes: A Summary of Microentrepreneurs and their Businesses

The first in a series of fact sheets drawn from client outcomes surveys, this concise report highlights findings from client outcomes surveys conducted by MicroTest members in 2007.

Revitalizing Rural Economies Through Entrepreneurship Development Systems
Publications

Revitalizing Rural Economies Through Entrepreneurship Development Systems

Entrepreneurship development systems are emerging across the country as rural practitioners seek more effective engines for rural revitalization.

FIELD Forum Issue 21 – Building Sustainability by Increasing Earned Revenue
Publications

FIELD Forum Issue 21 – Building Sustainability by Increasing Earned Revenue

The third forum in FIELD’s sustainability series explores how ACEnet (the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks) is using earned income as a strategy to achieve greater sustainability.

Providing Capital, Building Communities, Creating Impact: FY2006
Publications

Providing Capital, Building Communities, Creating Impact: FY2006

This publication, a product of the CDFI Data Project, documents the work of 505 community development finance institutions (CDFIs) investing $4.7 billion in new financing activity in Fiscal Year 2006, an investment linked to 35,609 jobs and 69,893 units of affordable housing.

Saving for Microenterprise Development
Publications

Saving for Microenterprise Development

Explores Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), matched savings account that that some microenterprise programs are offering to clients to help them accumulate savings that can be used to purchase business assets.

FIELD Forum Issue 20 – Capital Structure: Getting it Right to Increase Sustainability
Publications

FIELD Forum Issue 20 – Capital Structure: Getting it Right to Increase Sustainability

This forum, the second in FIELD’s sustainability series, examines how Justine Petersen, an organization in St. Louis, Mo., is pursuing equity capital as part of a scale-up and sustainability strategy.

Social Enterprise and Microenterprise: Understanding the Connection
Publications

Social Enterprise and Microenterprise: Understanding the Connection

Explores how the microenterprise industry is connecting with the emerging social enterprise field.

FIELD Forum Issue 19 – Blazing a Trail to Sustainability Through Social Enterprise: A Case Example
Publications

FIELD Forum Issue 19 – Blazing a Trail to Sustainability Through Social Enterprise: A Case Example

This forum focuses on social enterprises as a way for microenterprise programs to increase their sustainability.

Providing Capital, Building Communities, Creating Impact: FY2005
Publications

Providing Capital, Building Communities, Creating Impact: FY2005

This publication, a product of the CDFI Data Project, documents the work of 496 community development finance institutions (CDFIs) investing $4.3 billion in Fiscal Year 2005, an investment linked to 39,151 jobs and 55,242 units of affordable housing.

Making the Economic Development Connection
Publications

Making the Economic Development Connection

Examines how microenterprise development programs and the enterprises they assist can further economic development strategies.

The Emerging Immigrant Market and Microenterprise
Publications

The Emerging Immigrant Market and Microenterprise

Looks at how microenterprise programs are assisting immigrant entrepreneurs and what funders can do to advance those efforts.

About the Business Ownership Initiative

The Business Ownership Initiative, an initiative of the Economic Opportunities Program, works to build understanding and strengthen the role of business ownership as an economic opportunity strategy.

About the Economic Opportunities Program

The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program advances strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy.

Join Our Mailing List

To receive occasional emails about our work — including new publications, commentary, events, fellowships, and more — join our mailing list.

Connect on Social Media

For news and updates every day, connect with us on the social media platform of your choice.

More from the Business Ownership Initiative

Metrics that Matter: Improving Financial Analysis of CDFI Small Business Lenders
Podcasts Videos

Metrics that Matter: Improving Financial Analysis of CDFI Small Business Lenders

CDFI boards, leadership teams, investors, and regulators have long relied on a familiar set of financial metrics to assess organizational performance.

From Crisis to Continuity: Optimizing CDFI Capital and Partnerships for Natural Disaster Response
Publications

From Crisis to Continuity: Optimizing CDFI Capital and Partnerships for Natural Disaster Response

Traditional emergency aid through SBA or FEMA takes time, and lower-income communities often face significant approval hurdles. Speed is essential to business survival.

The New Era of Small Business Finance: Access, AI, and Accountability (Highlight reel)
Videos

The New Era of Small Business Finance: Access, AI, and Accountability (Highlight reel)

VIDEO — Highlight reel from “The New Era of Small Business Finance: Access, AI, and Accountability,” a forum hosted by the Aspen Institute’s Business Ownership Initiative and the Responsible Business Lending Coalition on March 5, 2026.

The Changing Role of Small Business Ownership
Videos

The Changing Role of Small Business Ownership

VIDEO — This discussion is the first of three that took place as part of “The New Era of Small Business Finance: Access, AI, and Accountability,” a forum hosted by the Aspen Institute’s Business Ownership Initiative and the Responsible Business Lending Coalition on March 5, 2026.

Main Street Challenges and Policy Solutions
Videos

Main Street Challenges and Policy Solutions

VIDEO — This discussion is the third of three that took place as part of “The New Era of Small Business Finance: Access, AI, and Accountability,” a forum hosted by the Aspen Institute’s Business Ownership Initiative and the Responsible Business Lending Coalition on March 5, 2026.

Innovations Driving Small Business Lending Forward: It’s Not All About AI
Videos

Innovations Driving Small Business Lending Forward: It’s Not All About AI

VIDEO — This discussion is the second of three that took place as part of “The New Era of Small Business Finance: Access, AI, and Accountability,” a forum hosted by the Aspen Institute’s Business Ownership Initiative and the Responsible Business Lending Coalition on March 5, 2026.

To Help Small Businesses Recover From the L.A. Fires, Invest in Community Lenders
Blog Posts

To Help Small Businesses Recover From the L.A. Fires, Invest in Community Lenders

Nonprofit lenders often deploy funds faster than the government but need more capital to meet demand.

Integrating a Job Quality Practice in Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs): A Q&A
Publications

Integrating a Job Quality Practice in Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs): A Q&A

This Q&A provides insights and lessons from the work of 11 CDFIs that participated in Shared Success, a job quality demonstration led by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program (EOP).