FIELD and the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) partnered for several years on the Microenterprise Data Collection Project to produce standardized annual industry data which was used most recently to update the Directory of U.S. Microenterprise Programs in 2005, as well as provide data crucial to advocacy efforts for the microenterprise field.

The Directory was initiated in 1992 as the first broad survey of the microenterprise field. Produced every two to three years, the most recent edition of the Directory was published in 2005. It is available in searchable electronic form on this Web site. The data gathered has served to define the scope and breadth of the field in the U.S. It has helped demonstrate the field's growth as well as the type and volume of services provided to key target groups. Additionally, the Directory has increased awareness of individual microenterprise programs, given that media representatives, funders, practitioners and researchers are all prime users of the data.