SCORE or the SCORE Association was previously known as the Service Corps of Retired Executives, but is now recognized as SCORE, "Counselors to America's Small Business." It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides free business mentoring services to entrepreneurs in the United States. The organization also presents business workshops and seminars for a fee. Business mentoring services are provided by both active and retired business executives and entrepreneurs who donate their time and expertise as mentors to assist new and established small businesses. SCORE is a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration. It is based in Herndon, Virginia.
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Mission
According to the association, it is "dedicated to entrepreneur education and the formation, growth and success of small business nationwide." It attempts to realize this goal by "providing resources and expertise to maximize the success of existing and emerging small businesses."
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History
The SCORE Association was founded in 1964. In the 1970s, when SCORE chapters were formed, the organization expanded its services to offer workshops and seminars on a variety of business topics. In 1996, SCORE began providing small business advice via email to meet the changing demands of the information technology age. To date, SCORE has served more than 8.5 million clients.
Services
Principal services
- Business mentoring
- Workshops and seminars
- Business tools and resources
Face-to-face mentoring
SCORE has approximately 370 chapters throughout the United States and its territories and over 11,200 volunteers. Many local chapters also have branch locations throughout the regions they administer.
Online mentoring
SCORE began providing online counseling services on June 11, 1997. This feature of the organization, better known as Ask SCORE, garnered more than 1.6 million hits and more than 3,000 online counseling cases within the first 90 days. At its inception the site listed 140 online counselors. Today, there are nearly 1,500.
In a mentoring relationship with a SCORE mentor, that person is not allowed to be paid for any services. This is to protect clients from people who might become a SCORE mentor in order to get business leads. SCORE mentors must resign as a SCORE volunteers before being hired by their protégé.
Workshops
Workshops are usually PowerPoint presentations.
Developing a business plan
SCORE offers workshops on how to create and develop a business plan. There is also a workshop that includes a question and answer outline to help get into more detail when developing a business plan. This workshop's goal is to set the right starting points.
Marketing
SCORE offers different workshops to help market business. Some of these workshops include ways to find target markets and how to advertise businesses.
Finance and money
SCORE has many workshops that help keep financial systems in order. They include services such as "Preparing A Balance Sheet" to "Managing Your Cash Flow".
Media
SCORE publishes a variety of print and interactive resources on its online Templates and Tools hub. Additionally, various SCORE chapters publish and broadcast media to inform and educate their target audiences. For example:
- Portland SCORE Newsletter is published monthly, online
- SCORE Chapter 306 blog, was founded by Westchester County SCORE volunteer Lisa Tolliver
- SCORE Radio, produced and hosted by SCORE Chapter 306 in Westchester County, New York, airs on WVOX (1460 AM)
Online community
The SCORE Community was launched in May 2009. SCORE's online community, powered by PartnerUp, enables advisors to work with small business owners to provide mentoring, training, tools and resources.
The SCORE Community connects to the PartnerUp community of more than 100,000 active members, enhancing the networking potential.
Development timeline
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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