Count Me In (full name: Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence) is a

charitable organization A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

that provides financial assistance, business coaching and

consulting A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice or services in an area of specialization (generally to medium or large-size corporations). Cons ...

services to

woman A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or Adolescence, adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functi ...

owned Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as ''title'', which may be separated and held by diffe ...

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

es. The assistance is provided through three basic programs: an

online community An online community, also called an internet community or web community, is a community whose members engage in computer-mediated communication primarily via the Internet. Members of the community usually share common interests. For many, on ...

for women business owners supplemented by live events; the "Make Mine a Million $ Business" award, providing up to

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

50,000 to businesses with a minimum of two years in business and $250,000 in annual

revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of product (business), goods and services related to the primary operations of a business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some compan ...

; and the "Micro to Millions" award, offering up to $10,000 for businesses not meeting the time or revenue requirements for the larger award.

History

Count Me In is a leading national not-for-profit provider of resources, business education and community support for women entrepreneurs seeking to grow micro businesses to million dollar enterprises. Founded in 1999 by Iris Burnett and Nell Merlino, Count Me In began as the first online microlender, and in the following years discontinued the microlending program in order to focus on providing the education and resources women need to grow their businesses and find funding from other sources. The estimated economic impact of accelerating women's business success will generate at least four million new jobs and $700 billion in economic activity. Leading the charge and making their organizational vision a reality is co-founder with Iris Burnett, and CEO, Nell Merlino, the creative force behind Take Our Daughters to Work Day. Merlino was an entrepreneur who founded the organization based upon her personal experiences in growing her own small business. Facing questions regarding sources of capital, hiring quality talent and financial planning, she was unsure where to find answers. Recognizing that other women were likely facing similar circumstances and questions, she founded Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence to act as that informational resource. In 2005 the "Make Mine a Million $ Business Competition"—known informally as "M3"—was launched in the cities of

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

;

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

;

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

;

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

; and

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. Awardees were chosen by panels of local business owners. Following the initial launch, the M3 Competition spread across the country to include women entrepreneurs from every city and in every service or industry. “ Beatriz Helena Ramos, founder and president of Dancing Diablo, a creative advertising company located in Brooklyn and Caracas, went from seeing herself as an artist/animator making $200K in annual business revenue to being the CEO of a million-dollar plus company creating jobs. She was the inspiration for our Make Mine a Million $ Business program.” ~Nell Marino. Today, the organization boasts a growing community of tens-of-thousands of women entrepreneurs utilizing an array of resources and tools to develop and grow their businesses. The organization announced a goal of helping one million woman-owned companies achieve $1,000,000 in revenues by 2010. In support of this goal, Count Me In established partnerships with

American Express American Express Company or Amex is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment card industry, payment cards. It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street, also known as American Expr ...

' OPEN credit card as well as the

QVC QVC (short for "Quality Value Convenience") is an American free-to-air television network and a flagship shopping channel specializing in televised Shopping channel, home shopping, owned by QVC Group (formerly Qurate Retail Group). Founded in 19 ...

network and

Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, m ...

to provide marketing and technological support."Make Mine a $Million,"
''Enterprising Women'', 7(4).

In media and popular culture

* Count Me In was

Nely Galán Nely Galán (born 1963 in Santa Clara, Cuba) is an independent producer and a former President of Entertainment for Telemundo. She created and executively produced the Fox reality series '' The Swan''. Nely Galán was born Arnely Alvarez in Sant ...

's charity in ''The Apprentice'' (U.S. Season 7) (''Celebrity Apprentice'').

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
Charities based in New York (state) Organizations established in 1999 Women's organizations based in the United States Microfinance in North America 1999 establishments in New York (state)

History

In media and popular culture

See also

References

External links