“My SCORE counselor John Edwards has always given us helpful advice and have been very encouraging and supportive right from the beginning” says Rose Rambo the proud Chairperson of The Assistance League ®Costume Bank.
 
Costume Bank, the name itself explains their activities. It is a costume rental facility in down town Los Altos. The unconditional support and hard working Rose made the facility as the premier costume rental store in peninsula.
 
Rose Rambo grew up in Montana, went to undergraduate school at Oberlin College in Ohio where she majored in Sociology and secondary education. Upon graduation, she spent 5 years in Germany teaching math to the Army soldiers that did not have a high school diploma but needed one to remain in the Army.
She earned her MSIA (Masters of Science in Industrial Administration) from Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. Then she worked for 20 years in many different positions at ROLM in San Francisco (which was purchased by IBM then Siemens).She also worked 3 years as a Vice President and General Manager at Polycom, managing the audio division.
All these success in her life cannot stop her being a successful parent. She took a break for few years to raise their son.But while doing this she did lots of volunteer jobs in very different places for many years.
 
She joined Assistance League in 2007 for the opportunity to apply her business skills in a non-profit environment and because it is a smaller community based organization that welcomes new influxes of ideas and energy. Assistance League of Los Altos is a 60 member organization that just recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. Costume Bank is its biggest fundraising activity.
Their largest philanthropic project is H.O.M.E. (Home of Medical Emergencies), a 42 unit apartment complex across the street from Stanford Hospital for outpatients and their families, similar to Ronald McDonald House but for adults.
 
“I have heard about SCORE from friends who have donated their time and skills to the organization. At one time, I was also one of SCORE's monthly business speakers, focusing on accounting and book keeping. As part of our strategic plan discussions, one of our goals was to determine the long term viability of the Costume Bank given the economy and the competition from web-based locations.”
She added  “I contacted SCORE to obtain a recommendation on who they might suggest help us with our viability study,only to find out that SCORE also has been helping non profit organization for many years.”
 
She proudly stated that they have had 2 specific activities that have resulted from SCORE advice:
First of all, with SCORE counselor John Edward's help they addressed the immediate question about the viability of the Costume Bank business. That lead to an evaluation of the business and pointed out the importance of taking advantage of the upcoming Halloween season. With SCORE's guidance and encouragement, they then pulled together a comprehensive advertising campaign and sent out mailers, had interviews with local newspapers, and generally increased their visibility in the community.
 
When asked, Rose explained their growth, "Our Halloween business increased 20% over the prior year". Then in January 2010 with lots of help from John, They developed a strategic plan for the next two years which focused them on their immediate challenges, that of membership and the importance of focusing on a few key activities. This discussion, along with the success of their Halloween business, has significantly affected the overall attitude and ambiance of the membership. People are more positive, are having much more fun, and are more focused on implementing a few projects well, rather than discussing the past and the missed opportunities. And their revenue continues to be significantly above that of last year, even in this tight economy.
 Rose Rambo’s next plans with the Assistance League are to focus the next two years on implementing the strategic plan and on continuing to improve their fundraising revenues. “Our next most immediate challenge is to increase the number of active members and use the positive attitude and the focus to draw people considering volunteering their time along with, of course, the importance of our philanthropic programs supporting H.O.M.E., local foster children and their families, and cancer patients.” On a personal note, her hope is to continue the traveling adventures, with Africa and Nepal on the horizon.