Consult Your Community's vision to empower every entrepreneur with the freedom to pursue the American Dream. We do that by giving small businesses a free team to find ways to help them grow. Since 2015, we have mobilized over 2 million hours of free business support for nearly 2,000 small businesses.

To put that in perspective, that's as many hours of service mobilized for small businesses as Taproot Foundation (the sector leader in skills-based volunteering) has done for nonprofits. We've done so on 1% the budget and half the timeline.

Consult Your Community (CYC) volunteers have helped food trucks launch into brick-and-mortar stores, small nonprofits secure grants, and mom-and-pop stores stay open through the pandemic.

How we work: We pair small businesses with free teams of trained collegiate volunteers. The national organization certifies chapters at universities after putting founding teams through a 6-month training and vetting process. Students are trained and empowered to knock on doors and reach out through Chambers of Commerce and university networks to find under-served small businesses. Teams provide up to 400 hours of free strategic support over 12 weeks. Student volunteers build real-world skills. Founders get the support they deserve.

Small Business Stories from a Decade of Service

The Governor of North Carolina gives kudos to Consult Your Community.

CYC helped Maryland-based entrepreneur Laura Bacon transition from virtual programming to the launch of her brick-and-mortar third space.

A CYC @ UMD alum from 7 years ago (now an E-Commerce Director for L'Oreal), Katherine shares what she learned working with small businesses.

Hear how incredible DMV small businesses like Trippy Tacos are from a local influencer and let your mouth start watering and your heart start swelling.
A former client, Laurie talks about the community she's built with Proteus Bicycles in College Park, MD
During the first month of the pandemic, hatmaker Evetta Petty told us that she would have to close her business in 2 months without support. With a free team from CYC, she found ways to grow. Fast forward to today: Manhattan Chamber of Commerce feted her SMB of the Year.
Chandler Tang talks about CYC's impact on her as a solopreneur.

Why We Need Funds

We have been 100% volunteer-run for over a decade, and to ensure CYC lasts for decades to come and to grow the organization, we are raising funds for full-time staff and operational requirements needed to be eligible for larger grants.

→ Expansion of Technical assistance for small businesses.

→ Development and deployment of AI literacy training for small businesses to reach 35,000 Americans over next 5 years

→ Future Community & Educational events

→ Scalable growth into additional cities

The Impact We Can Create with Your Help

$25,000 keeps our program free for all small businesses in DC for the next year

$75,000 will fund our new AI literacy program for 6,000 early-career learners and small business owners so they can both thrive in the rapidly evolving job market

$100,000 helps us hire our first full-time hire, a program manager to bring this AI upskilling program to life

$400,000 would increase the # of people we serve by 2x

Consult Your Community Fundraiser: Toast to 250 with Local Small Businesses

A Fundraiser to Keep Our Services Free for Small Businesses for Another Decade