SCORE

SCORE's 389 chapters provide confidential one-to-one and team business counseling and low-cost entrepreneurial training workshops and seminars. In addition, many counselors are virtual volunteers, providing online counseling directly from their homes or offices.

SCORE's 10,500 volunteers have more than 600 business skills, and share their wisdom and lessons learned in business with their clients. SCORE counselors are working or retired business owners, executives and corporate leaders.

Counselors come from a variety of occupations and backgrounds. Many volunteer counselors owned small businesses for years; others have worked for major firms such as 3M, General Electric, and Procter & Gamble. Counselors share a belief that small business owners are more likely to succeed if they have a business mentor to guide them.

The SCORE Association, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a nonprofit association dedicated to entrepreneurial education and the formation, growth and success of small businesses nationwide.