Amscot Financial Partners With Customers To Raise More Than $150,000 For Local Education Foundations

Community

Individual Amscot customers in August – donating $1 a time – contributed $142,360, 
a 33 percent increase over the same period a year ago. Combined with Amscot's match of $10,000, a total of $152,360 will be distributed to local education foundations throughout Amscot's service area. Over six years, Amscot and its customers have contributed more than $547,000 to education foundations in communities where Amscot operates branches.

Tampa, FL – (September 7, 2011) –Amscot Financial, a leading provider of convenient, consumer-oriented financial services, announces the successful conclusion of its 2011 ‘Just a Dollar’ fund-raising campaign. In the month of August, individual customers contributed $142,360, donating $1 a time. Their contributions, combined with Amscot’s match of $10,000, mean that $152,360 will be distributed among local education foundations to support students, teachers and public schools in the counties Amscot serves.

This is the campaign’s sixth year. The six-year total, including Amscot’s matches, amounts to more than $547,000 contributed to local education foundations.

The funds raised will be used by local education foundations to address the needs of students within their respective communities, said Mary Chance, president of the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations, (CFEF).

“Our member foundations seek to fill the gaps between what public resources can provide and what students and teachers need,” Chance said. “Budgets have been stretched so tight at so many of our school districts and the simple fact is that our students and our teachers need more resources to achieve the kind of outcomes that we expect for our children.

“On behalf of our member education foundations, I offer my thanks to Amscot Financial and to every customer who contributed a dollar,” Chance added. “Our member foundations are just so impressed that Amscot and its customers continue to record year-after-year increases in the amount of funds they are able to raise. It just goes to show that when a lot of people pitch in – even just a little – we can all accomplish great things.”

Ian MacKechnie, founder and CEO of Amscot, said: “Amscot’s philosophy with regards to community programs has always been ‘Kids First.’ We believe that our future is being determined by the education that children in our communities are getting today. And we know that resources are key to that equation. That’s why we are very pleased with the response of associates and our customers. We are looking forward to the continued success of this program and to the day when we can say we broke the $1 million mark.”

Founded in 1989, Amscot Financial employs more than 2,000 associates who work at the company’s 174 retail branches and at the company’s corporate headquarters in Tampa. The company currently operates retail locations in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando, Polk, Hardee, Highlands, Manatee, Sarasota, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake, Volusia and Brevard counties.

Amscot Financial is The Money Superstore™, offering an array of convenience-oriented financial services, including the cashing of personal checks, out-of-state checks 
and government checks; cash advances; Western Union wire transfers, notary services, 
pre-paid debit cards, free money orders income tax preparation. Amscot Financial also allows customers to make bill payments to more than 200 different utilities, municipal governments, cable and telephone companies.

About Amscot Financial
Headquartered in Tampa, Fla., Amscot Financial is a leading provider of income tax preparation and electronic filing services, refund anticipation loans, prepaid debit cards, check cashing services, cash advance services, bill payment services, money transfer services and money orders through its wholly owned division, Amscot International Money Order Company.  Amscot also offers the Amscot Card, a pre-paid debit card that allows owners to make purchases from any location that accepts MasterCard™. Amscot Financial currently operates 174 tax preparation offices and 174 retail financial service centers throughout Florida and employs more than 2,000 people. Amscot Financial has been recognized by the Tampa Bay Business Journal as one of Tampa Bay’s Best Places to Work for four consecutive years. For additional information, please visit the company’s Web site at www.amscot.com.

For more information, please contact:
Joe Kilsheimer, Public Relations, at (407) 880-2512 or