(SARASOTA, Fla., February 6, 2018) Wells Fargo presented Manasota SCORE Chapter 116 with a Community Development grant of $7,500 to provide “Small Business Technical Assistance in Manatee and Sarasota Counties.” The chapter’s grant application included a summary of the chapter’s local community impact through its innovative business education and outreach programs, mentoring and new online resources. In 2016, the organization supported 217 new business starts and 654 non-owner jobs created. In 2017, Manasota SCORE assisted 829 clients, 43% were in-business clients, and donated 11,200 volunteer hours to the community.
Jason Russ, Wells Fargo Program Consultant, and Jenn Poppen, Senior Business Banking Specialist, presented the donation at Manasota SCORE’s January member meeting. Accepting the funds for Manasota SCORE were Dennis Zink, Chapter Chair; Bill Murray, Vice Chair; Pat Loftus, Chapter Secretary; and Eric Warneke, who worked with Poppen on the chapter’s recent Financial Education Workshop. Bob Bertlesbeck, Chapter Treasurer, was also instrumental in helping to write the grant application.
“This funding assistance from Wells Fargo will help us increase our impact on the local business community,” said Dennis Zink, “and we appreciate Wells Fargo’s confidence in our ability to provide quality business education programs and innovative resources to assist business owners.”
Manasota SCORE provides free, confidential business mentoring in addition to educational workshops, Meetups and podcasts that offer information on a variety of topics important to existing business owners and potential entrepreneurs in Sarasota and Manatee counties. In 2017, 536 attendees benefited from local SCORE workshops, and there were 7,175 downloads of business education podcasts in the SCORE sponsored Been There, Done That! with Dennis Zink series.
For more information, visit Manasota.SCORE.org.
About Manasota SCORE
Manasota SCORE provides free, confidential business education and mentoring services for established businesses and startups, offered by 80 volunteers with experience and skills in a broad range of business settings. The chapter is part of national SCORE, started in 1964, that has over 300 chapters and 10,000 volunteers. For more information, visit www.manasota.score.org.
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.9 trillion in assets. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 8,300 locations, 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 42 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 263,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 25 on Fortune’s 2017 rankings of America’s largest corporations. News, insights and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories.
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