Intuit Picks Stimulus Grant Winners

Intuit has awarded grants of between $10,000 and $20,000 in value to 10 tax and accounting professionals.

The software company made the awards after receiving more than 700 applications in response to its Power to Get More Done Stimulus Grant Contest (see Intuit Names 25 Finalists for ‘Stimulus Grants’). Judges from the National Society of Accountants, the National Association of Enrolled Agents, the National Association of Tax Professionals and Intuit itself selected the winners.

Applicants were asked to submit proposals for how they would use the grant to expand their businesses and better serve their communities. Each winner will receive $10,000 in cash and up to $10,000 in Intuit products and services.

The judges evaluated the applicants based on the quality of their business strategy, their need for a grant, the expected return on investment from the use of the grant funds, and the applicant’s ability to implement their business plan. For example, some of the winners plan to bring new services to a low-income Latino community, revitalize a small town devastated by a tornado, offer job training to the unemployed, and assist those on the verge of financial disaster.

The winners include Rebecca Bambarger, a tax professional servicing the horse industry in Chino Hills, Calif.; Robert Beninger, owner of B&J Business Solutions in Cocoa, Fla.; Aliyah T. Bonaparte, owner of Pyramid Accounting Solutions in Philadelphia; John W. Davis, co-owner of Davis & Hodgdon Associates CPAs in Williston, Vt.; Gerri Harrison, owner of Gerri Harrison Financial Services in Johnson City, N.Y.; Reynaldo Lozano, owner of Superior Tax Service in Greeley, Colo.; Randall Kelly, co-owner of Randy Kelly Accounting in Lewis, Kan.; Amy Mezo, a CPA in Jonesboro, Ill.; Susan Schutz, co-owner of Apis Business Solutions in Glendale, Colo.; and Marybea Varvel, owner of House of Numbers, in Camino, Calif.

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