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Business and Nonprofit Resources

Resources for businesses, entrepreneurs and nonprofits.

Small Business

Small Business Q&A 

What resources would be best for finding new customers for my small business in Fairfax County? 

AtoZ Databases and Mergent Intellect, accessible 24/7 via the library website, are best e-resources for market, consumer and company research that the library offers. 

Where can I find articles on business, management and marketing?

ABI Complete Collection from Proquest and Business Source Ultimate from EBSCO provide access to online archives for thousands of business-related magazines and journals, including Harvard Business Review. Our downloadable magazine collection from Overdrive includes Entrepreneur, Inc., Fast Company, Fortune, Money, Business Today, Home Business, Property Investor and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance

I need to put a business plan together, where do I start?

How to write a business plan by Mike P. McKeever (658.152 M 2018) and Business Plans Kit For Dummies by Steven Peterson (658.4012 P 2016) would be two good books to start with. Multi-volume Business Plans Handbook from the Gale publisher is available online directly or via Gale eBooks, one of many library premium e-resources that can be accessed remotely with a library card.  

More questions? Ask at any library branch or contact our Ask Your Library service via chat or email. For help with business research, especially using library e-resources, also feel free to contact librarians Deb Smith-Cohen at Patrick Henry library (Deborah.Smith-Cohen@fairfaxcounty.gov; phone 703-938-0405, ext. 4) and Vlad Shutov at Tysons-Pimmit library (Vladimir.Shutov@fairfaxcounty.gov; phone 703-790-4019). Vlad is also available for brief 1-on-1 consultations on Zoom, by appointment only.  

Starting or Running a Business

Laws & Regulations

See also codes, statutes and regulations.

Local

  • Licenses and Permits
    Information for new businesses on the licenses and permits required to do business in Fairfax County, Virginia.

State

  • Registering a Business in Virginia
    Information on obtaining a Virginia tax account number from the Virginia Department of Taxation.
  • Virginia Business One Stop
    Access to information on license, permit and registration requirements for business start-ups. Maintained by the Virginia Department of Business Assistance.

Federal

Government Contracting

Local Area

Virginia

  • eVA - Virginia's eProcurement Portal
    Learn about selling to the commonwealth and locate current Virginia business opportunities on this site developed by the Virginia Department of General Services.
  • Virginia Procurement Technical Assistance Program
    A statewide program to help businesses do business with the federal, state and local governments. This nonprofit program is cosponsored by George Mason University and the Defense Logistics Agency.<

Federal

  • Contracting
    The U.S. Small Business Administration outlines the steps necessary to do business with the federal government.
  • SAM.GOV - Contract Opportunities
    A searchable database of current federal government procurement opportunities.             
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