60th Anniversary Pitch Competition

Event Details and Description 

A series of pitch competitions will be held this year to commemorate and kick off SCORE’s 60th Anniversary in October.

The pitch program includes three educational webinars for small business owners on how to pitch their business, get funding, and grow/scale their business: 

• Elevate Your Pitch Game: Getting Clients, Customers and Funders to Say Yes
• B2B Sales 101 - How to Develop an Effective B2B Sales Strategy
• How to Scale Your Business - 5 Steps to Business Growth

To enter the pitch competition, clients will need to submit an application to participate and will then be paired with a special pitch mentor to help them prepare their pitch from June through the end of August. Clients will then be invited to participate in an in-person or virtual pitch competition. The in-person events will be hosted in Houston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Des Moines.  

Three winners will be selected from each of the 5 pitch competitions.  

• 1st place receives $20,000
• 2nd place receives $10,000
• 3rd place receives $5,000

For more detailed information about this event, visit SCORE.org/60th-anniversary-pitch-competitions.

Pitch Resources for Volunteers 

Interested in assisting with this event as a pitch mentor or application reviewer? Sign up here: 60th Anniversary Pitch Competitions - Volunteer Application.

The 60th Pitch Competition Info & Details Google Doc is an internal document for Pitch Mentors and Application Reviewers that includes key dates, FAQs, the internal events process, etc. 

Judging criteria for the video pitches can be found at the very bottom of the 60th Anniversary Pitch Competition landing page and are as follows:

• Great presentation
• Great brand identification
• Great product/service
• Fully thought-out business plan for success
• A clear pathway to scalability and growth
• Product/service is unique and viable to the market
• Sustainability/environmental/ social impact, if applicable
• Financial results

Have a question? Email pitchevent@scorevolunteer.org. 

Chapter Marketing Resources 

To help promote this amazing opportunity to entrepreneurs in your local community, we’ve created a chapter toolkit with promotional resources.

You can use the following images to help promote this event: 60th Anniversary Pitch Graphics.

 Table of Contents:

• Chapter Website Content Block 
• Social Media Posts 
• Press Release for Media/Community Outreach
• Constant Contact Email Drafts
• Volunteer Email Signature 

Chapter Website Content Block 

Want to feature this event on your chapter homepage? Email support@ecropolis.com to request a 60th Anniversary Pitch Competition website banner. It would look like the below example:

Social Media Posts 

For the 60th Anniversary Pitch Competition, we created a library of content within SOCi for your use as organic social media posts to help promote this amazing event and opportunity for small businesses. 

We are providing assets, captions, and social media posts through SOCi so that social media chairs can schedule them at their convenience. 

Organic Posts on Social Media

Instructions on how to access the library are below, but feel free to customize the copy and add a local touch. 

View the SOCi Knowledge Base guide here OR follow these instructions:

1. Login to SOCi at https://app.meetsoci.com/ 
2. Navigate to Social > Libraries > "60th Anniversary Pitch Competition”
3. Choose a message you want to schedule.
4. Click the calendar icon next to the message. The message selected will then open as a pop-up for you to make any final edits.
5. Scroll down and click the check box next to “Schedule” in order to add this message for a future date on your Scheduler.
6. Then, choose the date and timing that you want your message to be published and click “Schedule Post” to add this message to your calendar.

Press Release for Media/Community Outreach 

Get the word out locally by sharing SCORE’s press release about the 60th Anniversary Pitch Competition with your local media and community partners. 

Do you have a Chapter Public Relations officer? If so, this is the perfect opportunity for them to share SCORE’s press release with your chapter media list. 

If your chapter does not already have a media list, you can create one easily and quickly using our guide How Do I Create a Local Media List? in the Support Center. Don’t forget to include local partners such as Chambers of Commerce and other local groups that support small business growth and development.

1. Draft a personal email to your media and community contacts announcing the launch of the pitch competition with a link to the press release. 
2. Offer spokespersons for interviews. SCORE has mentors and small business owners available for media interviews to talk about the benefits of working with a mentor and refining their business pitch.  If you have local spokespersons, you can provide a connection to them or refer interview requests to media@score.org.
3. Share SCORE’s press release about the 60th Anniversary Pitch Competition in your local newsletters.

SCORE HQ’s external relations team is providing media support for the chapters in host cities for in-person pitch events: Philadelphia, Houston, Los Angeles and Des Moines.

Please email media@score.org if you have questions.

Constant Contact Email Drafts 

The July BizSuccess Tips newsletter will include a large promotion for the virtual pitch events. All chapters can find this in their Constant Contact accounts on 6/25/24. Please send this newsletter as-is or adjust it to include local information.

A stand-alone email template will also be created for chapters titled “Pitch Competition Promo - Chapter draft.” This email will be made available on 6/28/24 as well. 

For chapters near an in-person pitch event, we will drop in another Constant Contact template to encourage your local clients to participate. This will be dropped into chapter accounts near Philadelphia, Houston, Des Moines and Los Angeles by July 10. 

Volunteer Email Signature 

Include a link to the 60th pitch competition in your email signatures to clients. You can copy the below text under your current volunteer signature: 

SCORE’s 60th Anniversary Pitch Competition

Apply before July 31, 2024, to showcase your small business 

and win up to $20,000: SCORE.org/60th-anniversary-pitch-competitions.  

To edit your email signature in Gmail, please follow the below instructions:

1. Open Gmail.
2. At the top right, click Settings and then See all settings.
3. Under "General," scroll to "Signature" and click the signature you want to edit.
4. Use the text box to make your changes.
5. To change the signature name, click Edit.
6. At the bottom, click Save Changes.