SCORE Offers Business Advice for Non-profits

"SCORE, “Counselors to America’s Small Business,” is a resource partner of the SBA dedicated to entrepreneur education. SCORE is the premier source of free and confidential small business advice to help entrepreneurs from idea to start-up to success. SCORE provides free face-to-face online counseling to small business owners. SCORE counselors also mentor non-profit organizations, including both faith-based and secular. As part of its efforts to help nonprofits grow, a team of SCORE counselors worked with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, plus materials from the Executive Coaches of Orange County, CA, to develop a workshop for nonprofits that need help expanding their services. The goal of the workshop is to teach nonprofits how to develop funding resources to become more sustainable. The workshop is available at SCORE chapters nationwide, along with a resource workbook and presenter’s guide. SCORE CEO Ken Yancey says, “SCORE is a leading source of business advice and information for nonprofit organizations – our communities’ other small businesses.” Yancey adds, “This opportunity helped us share SCORE expertise with nonprofit corporate leaders. The new workshop on capacity building utilizes the experience of SCORE counselors who work with nonprofits every day.”  To visit SCORE, click here.

SCORE Offers Business Planning Tools for Non-Profits

SCORE, a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration, is a more than 40 year old non-profit with over 10,500 volunteers who provide free business counseling and no or low-cost workshops to new and emerging small businesses across our nation. While most of SCORE’s work has focused on small businesses, over the years it has assisted some start-up and emerging non-profit organizations, particularly on business issues. As a result of these experiences, SCORE strongly believes that to be effective, competitive and sustainable, non-profits must not only be caring and creative, they must also run their operations as businesses. To help non-profits become more “business-like” in their operations, SCORE has published “Business Planning Tools for Non-Profit Organizations.” To download a copy of this publication, click here.

SBA financial assistance for faith-based organizations clarified:

This notice clarifies the eligibility of certain for-profit subsidiaries of not-for-profit organizations, including community and faith-based organizations, for financial assistance under these U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) loan programs: 7(a); Certified Development Company (CDC); and, Microloan. (See 13 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) § 120.110 (a)).

Pursuant to Executive Order 13342, signed by the President on June 1, 2004, the SBA was, among other things, directed to incorporate community organizations, including faith-based organizations, into the Agency’s programs and initiatives to the greatest extent legally possible. As a result of that Order, SBA began working with its technical assistance grant recipients, including Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), Women’s Business Centers, and Small Business Development Centers, to extend their technical assistance programs to not-for-profit organizations, including faith-based organizations. The Agency is now clarifying that for-profit subsidiary companies of community and faith-based organizations may be eligible for SBA financial assistance.

All SBA borrowers must meet certain eligibility requirements, which are set forth in the Agency’s regulations, found in subpart A of 13 CFR Part 120.These regulations also prohibit SBA loans to several types of businesses, including not-for-profit businesses or businesses principally engaged in teaching, instructing, counseling or indoctrinating religion or religious beliefs, whether in a religious or secular setting.

However, for-profit subsidiaries of not-for-profit organizations (including community groups and faith-based organizations) that meet the Agency’s eligibility requirements, including SBA’s size standards, are eligible for financial assistance under SBA’s 7(a), CDC and Microloan programs, so long as these subsidiaries are not principally engaged in teaching, instructing, counseling, or indoctrinating religion or religious beliefs.