Help Make Dreams Come True
Every year, SCORE volunteers help thousands of entrepreneurs start small businesses and achieve new levels of success. Volunteering is a way for you to give back, network with business experts, and share your knowledge.
SCORE volunteers provide confidential business mentoring services, both in person and online. We lead seminars and workshops to help small business owners meet their goals and achieve success. We help expand outreach of SCORE through marketing and alliance building in our local communities. We provide subject matter expertise by industries and professional skills.
As a SCORE Volunteer You Can:
- Share your success and expertise through mentoring
- Lead local or national workshops, seminars, and events
- Provide video, email, or telephone mentoring directly from your home or office
- Become a leader in our organization, driving economic growth in your community
- Serve in an administrative role to build skills and experience in marketing, tech, finance, fundraising, and more!
Benefits of Volunteering:
SCORE volunteers enjoy a variety of personal, local and national rewards. As a SCORE Volunteer, you:
- Become a recognized leader in your local business community
- Feel good knowing you helped someone achieve their goals
- Make new friends and network with SCORE volunteers and business leaders in your area
- Grow professionally and personally with SCORE's Lifelong Learning training programs
Learn more about our volunteer opportunities:
Mentor
A SCORE mentor is an advisor who seeks to help individuals or small businesses reach their goals. Mentors provide free business advice and education to both aspiring entrepreneurs and existing business owners to help them succeed in starting or expanding their business. As a mentor, you’ll help clients solve problems, make businesses more efficient, and assist with developing long-term business plans.
Mentors use their industry-based knowledge and expertise to help business owners who are looking for guidance.
Additionally, many of our mentors find that their mentorship role led them to discover new sources of insight and knowledge which have helped their own businesses and leadership styles. This paired with the task of teaching others how to manage people or projects and illustrating ways to succeed in other aspects of business inspire mentors to continue with their own professional growth—all of this while helping their communities and the small businesses in it.
The ideal mentor is empathetic, flexible, and loves connecting people to the right resources. Mentors often have significant experience within their field, excellent communication skills, and the ability to dedicate a few hours a week.
Subject Matter Expert
As a SCORE subject matter expert (SME), you assist clients with your specific skill and expertise. In this role you will co-mentor alongside one of SCORE’s certified mentors. As an SME, you will provide free business advice and education in your area of expertise to both aspiring entrepreneurs and existing business owners to help them succeed in starting or expanding their business.
As an SME, you’ll likely discover new sources of insight and knowledge by working with other SCORE members and especially SCORE clients that will help you with your own business and leadership style. You’ll have access to an amazing network of SCORE volunteers, and many resources for professional growth—all of this while helping communities and the small businesses in it. We strive towards WIN-WIN relationships!
Subject Matter Experts should have the ability to dedicate a few hours per month.
Workshop Presenter
Are you interested in volunteering with SCORE, but don’t think mentoring is the best role for you? Consider volunteering as a workshop presenter. Workshop presenters/instructors share their small business content and knowledge with their local community. If you have a few hours to give at least once year, our SCORE clients will benefit from your expertise.
As a workshop presenter, you’ll:
- Create and deliver presentations in your community
- Facilitate roundtable discussions
- Lead educational seminars, meetups, and other networking events
- Track the statistics on your workshop program
Join us as an educator who mentors, shares expertise, presents workshops, facilitates roundtable discussions, and develops innovative ways to achieve the American dream.
Administrative Roles
Are you looking for a volunteer opportunity but don’t feel that you’re ready to mentor or train entrepreneurs? There are many other ways that you can help. Every SCORE chapter depends on the talent and time of volunteers to help entrepreneurs achieve their dreams of small business ownership.
We’re currently looking for community ambassadors, and general volunteers to work on specific projects. These volunteers are staffed on tasks based on their unique skills and are welcome to assist with leadership and administrative tasks—they really are the backbone of the organization. For example, you might be able to sharpen your email marketing, networking, and social media skills while helping your local community and the business owners in it. If you are interested in aiding a local chapter with data and analytics, pulling reports, helping with local events, or serving in other capacities that will make your local chapter more effective, let us know.
Examples of other roles include:
- Community Ambassador
- Partnerships & Fundraising
- Media Contact for National and Local PR
- Marketing
- Chapter Administrator
- IT Administrator
- And more.
Contact your local chapter to learn more about the opportunities in your community.
Join Our Community
Volunteering at SCORE means you are joining a community of more than 10,000 diverse volunteers who are all committed to helping small business owners succeed. Whether you have owned your own small business, come from a Fortune 500 company, retired, college student, have a sincere commitment for helping small businesses or volunteering, there is a place for you as SCORE volunteer.
Volunteer with SCORE