Chapter Operational Assistance
Did one of you SCORE Volunteers test "positive" for COVID-19?
It is your duty to notify the rest of the chapter members that someone tested positive and share what SCORE engagements they participated in during March.
DO NOT SHARE THE PERSON’S NAME.
Contact
volunteer.services@score.org
in case of any protocol questions or concerns.
Questions on CARES Act Additional Funds
Unfortunately, SCORE did not receive additional relief funding through the CARES Act. The additional funding would have been used to scale up our response to the COVID-19 crisis. While SCORE had strong bipartisan support in the House, and support from some members of the Senate Small Business Committee, the majority of the Committee did not feel comfortable allocating additional funding to SCORE given the OIG audit findings from last year. Because this funding was mandatory and not discretionary, it also bypassed the usual input from appropriators, many of whom are supportive of SCORE. To say we are disappointed and frustrated with this outcome is an understatement.
Their rationale was based on leftover bad feelings from the OIG report published in April 2019. While they commended SCORE’s proactive response to every finding in the report, calling our centralized accounting system and increased compliance measures, “outstanding,” they still want us to continue to demonstrate our positive response over more time, before they allocate additional funding.
Despite this frustration, SCORE remains committed to delivering on our mission of fostering vibrant small business communities through mentoring and education. Business owners need our help now, more than ever. I know you will not let this deter your work, and I will not let it stop SCORE HQ from working to find additional funding to support our efforts. We will focus on fundraising through the SCORE Foundation, and reach out to the SBA to see what other grant opportunities are available. A few of our contacts in Congress have suggested there may be an additional relief bill in a month or so. We will stay in touch with key contacts and be ready for this additional negotiation.
In the meantime, we are also organizing a volunteer-driven letter writing campaign to key members of the Senate Small Business Committee to demonstrate our positive impact as an organization.
Stay tuned for the letters and process if you are interested in participating.
SCORE has always demonstrated an amazing ability to adapt to trying times. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we will continue to demonstrate success through virtual mentoring and online education, which position SCORE as the SBA resource partner best equipped to serve small businesses in the virtual environment they are now exclusively relying on.
If you have strong connections to an organization that might be willing to provide funding to SCORE to support our COVID-19 efforts, please reach out to me and we can connect on a call.
Thank you for all that you do to support SCORE and the small business owners we serve.
Reminder to Document Revenue Loss
P
lease
document
every event you are
cancelling
with projected number of attendees and revenue. Use this document template
here
and share it back with
accounting@score.org
. We will use this to track and share with Congress and SBA as we work to make sure SCORE chapters have the funds they need to operate through the COVID-19 time period.
If you need to
refund
attendees:
1.
Here
are the instructions on refunds using PayPal
2. If the funds were collected by another method other than the National PayPal account, please complete the
attached form
and email it to
accounting@score.org
. We will issue refund checks as quickly as possible.
If you are working to
cancel
venue contracts, please see our legal guidance below of what steps to take
here
.
