TAMPA, Florida, Sept. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — Amscot Financial, a leading provider of convenient, consumer-oriented financial services, has concluded its ninth annual “Just a Dollar” campaign, designed to raise funds for local education foundations in the 17 Florida counties where Amscot has branches. The 2014 campaign included Miami-Dade and Broward counties, where Amscot has recently opened new branches.

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Throughout the month of August, Amscot Financial associates asked each customer if they would like to voluntarily contribute a dollar to their local education foundation. Amscot kept track of each contribution by county to ensure that it was donated directly to the education foundation serving the county in which the branch is located. Through customer generosity, the 2014 ‘Just a Dollar’ campaign raised $146,172. Amscot matched the overall contributions, up to the first $10,000, bringing the grand total to $156,172.

Including customer contributions and Amscot matches over the past nine years, more than $1,000,000 has been raised for local education foundations via the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations (CFEF), a Gainesville-based umbrella organization.

According to CFEF executive director, Mary Chance, the Funds raised on behalf of Florida’s county-based educational foundations are used to support reading and scholarship programs. She also states that the local education foundations focus their fund-raising efforts on programs that are not supported by Tax dollars.

Ian MacKechnie, founder and CEO of Amscot Financial, had this to say about this year’s ‘Just a Dollar’ campaign, “To be able to surpass a million dollars, with this year’s campaign, says a great deal about the generous nature of our customers and to our dedicated associates in each and every one of our branches…we hope to continue our support of local education in the years to come.”

Founded in 1989, Amscot Financial employs more than 2,000 associates who work at the company’s retail branches and at the company’s corporate headquarters in Tampa.

Amscot Financial’s service centers are open seven days a week and are typically open Mondays through Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday hours are typically from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Select Amscot locations are open 24 hours a day. The company currently operates retail locations in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando, Polk, Hardee, Highlands, Manatee, Sarasota, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake, Volusia, Brevard, Marion, Miami-Dade and Broward counties.