Technology Updates to Support One SCORE Mentoring Standards

In FY25, Regional and District Meetings were held to finalize volunteer roles for better clarity and accountabilities.  One of these roles, the Mentor, involved updating the minimum standard/expectations that SCORE will need in order to continue to achieve the Mission for our Clients. 

Mentoring Definition, Standards and Expectations

In support of these mentoring standards, effective November 3,  technology updates will be available on the volunteer profile in Engage: 

• The Accept Direct Requests field will automatically be checked for all Active Mentors 
  • This change will make the Mentor profile searchable on the Find Mentor page on SCORE.org. This change supports the overwhelming choice of SCORE clients to choose a mentor based on expertise.  Additionally, mentors no longer need to uncheck this field when paused. If they are paused, clients will not be able to select them via a direct request.
• The current field labeled ‘Maximum Direct Client Weekly Requests’  will be updated to account for both expertise-based client requests and location-based requests, assigned to them by Client Intake Coordinators. 
  • Additionally, if the request limit is reached, mentors will not be visible on the CIC assignment list.
  • The field looks at the number of mentor request assignments received in the last 7 days and resets each Sunday. The mentor will be available to receive new assignments once this field that counts the number of assignments received is updated.
  • This was one of the most requested enhancements we had from the Field
  • The option for mentors to pause their mentoring assignments is still available. It is intended for use when mentors will be unavailable for longer periods of time. 
  • This update will enable mentors to have more control around their capacity for working with clients and provide a more accurate and comprehensive view of client requests, capacity and ensure better management of mentor assignments. 
• The Serve Clients Outside of Local Area field will be removed from the volunteer profile, as it is no longer applicable. 

With these changes, SCORE clients will benefit through our ability to more efficiently pair them with the best available mentor based on their needs and reduce the number of requests that require reassignment due to mismatched expertise and limited mentor availability and capacity. As we move towards a future with AI assisting Mentor matching, this is a big first step.

Update At A Glance

Effective date of the change:  November 3, 2025

What does this mean for you?

Mentors:

• Once the update goes live on 11/3, you should log in to Engage and update the Maximum Client Weekly Requests field in your profile to reflect your desired weekly client assignment capacity from both direct client requests and your Client Intake Coordinator.  
  • Please note that a failure to update this field with the combined capacity limit may result in your current limit being reached very quickly (most mentors currently have a value of 1 or 2). If this field has no value, there will be no limit to the number of requests that can be assigned to them.
  • This means that clients may be unable to directly request you through your profile on the SCORE website. And you may receive fewer client assignments from your Client Intake Coordinator as those mentors who have reached their weekly assignment limit will not show up on the list of available mentors used when assigning requests.
• If you have not updated the Maximum Client Weekly Requests field by Wednesday, November 12, the system will automatically set it to 2 client assignments per week.

Client Intake Coordinators

• Continue to run and review the ‘Available Mentors and SMEs’ report on the Engage home page on a daily basis when assigning client requests in your chapter queue. 
• Filter the list to see who has the information updated.

Chapter/District/Region Leaders

• Share this information and encourage all mentors to log in and update this field on their profile to help ensure a smooth experience for them and continuous service delivery to SCORE clients.