BNI MEMBER

NFIB, which stands for The National Federation of Independent Business, was founded in 1943 by C. William Harder in his one-room home office. It was born from the idea that every small business deserved a voice in government decision-making through advocacy. The idea, at the time, was novel.

The average U.S. citizen in the 1940s didn’t have access to their local state government, let alone the national government. Most people barely knew anything that transpired behind the walls of the capitol building, let alone vying for a say. Back then, a ticket to the D.C. political circus was strictly reserved for the elite.

To get NFIB off the ground, Mr. Harder went door to door selling membership, sharing his idea of government access for all to friends, family, and neighbors. Amazingly the idea took hold and grew fast. Over the last 80+ years, the organization has chapters in all 50 states and has over 325,000 members. It is also a leading force for keeping good business standards and combating lobbyists and lawmakers to impede small business rights.

NFIB has also adopted and implemented collective benefits for its members and their employees as a collective and consolidated workforce. The sheer number of this collective gave NFIB unprecedented benefit purchasing power. It was able to negotiate top-tier benefits and retirement services which, until now, were only available to employees for the largest corporations.