09/04/2026
“With SCORE you have someone in your corner who can ask you the right questions, connect you with experts, and help you access a world of opportunity.”
For Amanda Chavero, founder of Dear Donor, building a business meant turning a decade of nonprofit experience into a new kind of opportunity: helping small organizations do more without significantly increasing their overhead.
But expertise in her field didn't automatically mean knowing how to build a business.
So Amanda turned to SCORE.
Her mentor, Mark Lancaster, helped her develop a long-term vision, navigate HR questions, distinguish growth from scale, and even plan for maternity leave as her business expanded.
The results came quickly. In Dear Donor's first full year, Amanda raised more than $700,000. The following year, with two employees on her team, she raised $3.2 million with a 40% success rate.
Today, Dear Donor is helping nonprofits build capacity and secure the resources they need to make their missions possible. And Amanda is doing it with the confidence and perspective she gained along the way.
“I love helping my clients capture their dreams,” she says, “and I appreciate SCORE’s help in realizing mine.”
