Today is Giving Tuesday – a day when nonprofits ask the community to give back to their cause and SCORE Bucks County a local non profit on a mission to foster vibrant small business communities through mentoring and education, is reaching out to the local business community in hopes they can give back by becoming a volunteer mentor.
“We want people who want to mentor clients,” said Charlie Morris, who serves as the chapter’s co-chair, as well as its marketing and technology chair. “Come join us.”
Ideally, SCORE mentors have a background in business, either from owning an enterprise, or serving as a high-level employee in the corporate world. Some mentors are retired business professionals, while others continue to work and manage their business venture while mentoring entrepreneurs and business owners. Most mentors have a specialty area based on their career background, such as accounting and finance, franchise operations, marketing, etc.
Regardless of individual experience, SCORE provides all mentors with training and continuous learning.
“SCORE is a national organization with more than 200 chapters throughout the U.S., which makes the mentor training process seamless for our volunteers,” SCORE Bucks County co-chair Leah Cianfrani said.
While the chapter’s mentors hover around 70, the mentoring need continues to drive the call for additional help. Since 2019, SCORE Bucks County has seen year-over-year surges in the number of mentoring requests. In fiscal year 2019, the chapter, which includes all of Bucks County, as well as eastern Montgomery County, handled 1,200 mentoring requests. By 2023, that number had nearly doubled to 2,325 sessions. For fiscal year 2024, which ended on Sept. 30, the chapter saw a more than 20 percent increase to 2,792 mentoring sessions.
In all, volunteers spent a combined 2,626 hours mentoring 828 clients in fiscal year 2023 as compared to 3,234 hours with 948 clients in fiscal year 2024. The number of new clients seeking mentoring continues to grow as well. In fiscal year 2023, the chapter mentored 656 new clients and 765 in fiscal year 2024.
SCORE Bucks mentors have helped to launch and grow dozens of businesses. Each month since 2020 the chapter has highlighted a client success story. To date, more than 55 businesses have been featured.
“That is one of the biggest wins we’ve ever had,” Morris said of the program, which recognizes SCORE clients with a plaque.
If interested in becoming a SCORE Bucks County mentor, click here to to learn more and get started.
