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Save SCORE'S Congressional Funding Volunteer Toolkit

Jackie Cantow-Dudley
  • Updated

We need your help! SCORE is facing complete elimination of its federal funding under the President’s FY26 Discretionary Budget Request –  a move that jeopardizes the future of the 300,000 small business owners and entrepreneurs SCORE serves each year.

What’s being done at HQ: SCORE is urgently asking Congress to protect SCORE’s FY26 funding allocation of $17 million to ensure that SCORE can continue to mentor and support America’s small businesses in every state. A national campaign funded by the SCORE Foundation is underway, involving:

  • Thousands of letters to Congress
  • Coordinated visits to congressional offices
  • National media pitching, resulting in coverage in AP,  Inc., Forbes and other outlets
  • Social media campaigns 
  • Engagement with national community partners and friends of SCORE

However, local support is CRITICAL. We need YOUR help NOW.  Follow the steps below to reach out to your local networks, media, community partners, sponsors and friends of SCORE to generate support and help ensure SCORE’s funding is protected. 

Questions? Email the External Relations team at media@score.org. 

 

ACTION ITEMS

unchecked Write to Congress 

unchecked Call, email and share SCORE’s call to action with your personal and client networks

unchecked Share #StandWithSCORE social posts and update your LinkedIn profile 

unchecked Activate local community partners, sponsors and friends of SCORE to get involved NOW

unchecked Pitch local media, emphasizing your community impact 

unchecked Localize SCORE’s Op-Ed template for media placement

unchecked Follow Up!

Scroll down for for resources and step-by-step guidance on each of these action items.

 

CHAPTER RESOURCES

Important Links: 

 

Write to Congress 

TELL CONGRESS: SCORE has helped more than 17 MILLION entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. 

As a SCORE volunteer, constituent and mentor to small businesses, it is your voice that matters and has the power to convey to lawmakers how vital SCORE is to your communities. Use this link. NOTE: Using your personal email address is preferred, not your scorevolunteer.org email address. 

Personalize your message to share how SCORE has helped your clients succeed and the positive impact in your local community. Briefly share your professional background and why you volunteer with SCORE.

Letters will be automatically routed to the appropriate legislators based on the address provided. 

 

Call, email and share SCORE’s call to action with your personal networks and clients

Share a personal plea with your friends, family, clients and networks urging them to get involved, as well!  Include a few words about why SCORE is important to you and to small businesses nationwide and ask them to use the link provided to write to Congress to help protect SCORE’s funding.

NOTE: You CAN personally share the call to action link with your mentoring/workshop clients. Using your personal email address is preferred vs. using your scorevolunteer.org account. For compliance reasons, you CANNOT send bulk emails via chapter email or Constant Contact to groups.

 

Share #StandWithSCORE Social Posts and update your LinkedIn profile 

Shareable Posts – Spread the word by sharing these posts on your chapter and personal social media channels. Feel free to add personal anecdotes when sharing. Here’s an example.

Create-Your-Own Posts – If you’d like to create your own posts, you are welcome to use the pre-created graphic and caption linked below. 

Update your LinkedIn Profile -- We’re proud to launch our brand-new #StandWithSCORE profile photo frame and cover image. Add this frame to your profile picture and upload the cover image to amplify the message: Protect SCORE's funding. Protect American small businesses.

For Social Media Chairs – A new toolkit has been created in SOCi that contains all available #StandWithSCORE posts. Additional training was provided on the May Social Media Webinar.

 

Activate local community partners, sponsors and friends of SCORE to get involved NOW

Coordinate with your Chapter Chair to urge action by your chapter’s local SCORE supporters, including community partners, sponsors and others, to join the effort!  

Here is suggested email verbiage: 

Dear XXX, 

URGENT! Federal funding for SCORE is in jeopardy, threatening the future of the 300,000 small business owners SCORE serves each year across all 50 states and U.S. territories – including here in (insert community/state).

In 2024 alone, SCORE volunteer mentors helped start (insert number) new businesses in (insert state). Here in (community name), SCORE volunteers helped (name of small business success story - include link to success story on SCORE.org if available) with (challenge that was addressed). And that is just one example.

SCORE has launched an urgent call for support – mobilizing small business owners, mentors and supporters nationwide –to take action and call on Congress to protect SCORE funding so we can continue to help small businesses in our community. Learn more about SCORE’s urgent call for support here.

As a valued SCORE partner, please help by urging your networks to: 

 

Pitch your local media, emphasizing SCORE’s local community impact 

Coordinate media outreach through your Chapter Chair and Chapter Public Relations Officer, if your chapter has one. 

View the national press release, “SCORE Urges Congress to Protect Critical Federal Funding for Small Business Mentoring,” and follow the steps below to share it with your local media.  

  • Create a personal message using this email template.  It is critical to stress the local impact of your SCORE chapter, both in terms of impact data and examples of local client success stories.  See the talking points guide for how to gather local facts.
  • Best practice: Paste the body of the national press release into your email below your signature.  Include this image from our national release. Add a local Chapter image if one is available (add a caption / identify who is pictured.)
  • Send your email to your local media outlets. Need help creating a media contact list? Visit the Support Center for step-by-step guidance or follow our video tutorial to start a list using ChatGPT. 
  • Review SCORE’s media talking points to communicate effectively the need for urgent action to protect SCORE’s funding.
  • Follow up your email with a phone call (how-tos here) to urge local media to publish and broadcast the news about the threat to SCORE’s funding, how it will negatively impact local small businesses and how the public can help using SCORE’s call to action.

For additional training, view SCORE’s May Public Relations and Community Outreach webinar recording here.

 

Localize SCORE’s Op-Ed template for media placement

Coordinate media outreach through your Chapter Chair and Chapter Public Relations Officer, if  your chapter has one. 

Go the extra mile by sharing your personal plea to protect SCORE’s funding by submitting an op-ed or letter to the editor to your local media for publication!  Personalize and add your Chapter’s information to this op-ed template, then submit it to your local news outlets for publication.  

 

Follow Up! 

Follow up with local media, community partners, friends of SCORE and your local networks to urge action and support to protect SCORE’s funding.  

 

YOUR VOICE MATTERS!!! Take action now. Protect SCORE. Protect American small businesses.

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