SNL Financial Hosts A Holiday Bake-Off To Benefit Troops In Iraq

Joint fundraiser with Crutchfield to send entertainment electronics to U.S. military overseas

Charlottesville, Va. (Nov. 14, 2007) — SNL Financial today announced a joint fundraiser with Crutchfield Corporation to send portable audio and video entertainment to overseas military troops. Operation B.R.A.V.O. – Bringing Relief and Video Overseas -- was started by Crutchfield in 2003 to supply electronics and entertainment to soldiers deployed in the Middle East.

This year, Crutchfield is planning to send 200 MP3 players and up to 200 DVD players to command staffs in Baghdad, who will distribute them through a lottery system for the holidays. To complement this equipment, SNL Financial will donate hundreds of DVDs by holding an employee baking fundraiser on December 3rd.

"The Operation B.R.A.V.O. Bake-Off is open to anyone in the local community who wants to come and give money, sample and vote on their favorite entry, or donate gently-used or new DVDs," said SNL fundraiser co-chairs, Beth Fish and Abby Newton. "We will also have entry recipes available for a donation. It's our way of saying ‘thank you’ to our troops. We all want to do something special for the men and women who are in Iraq."

The bake-off will take place at the SNL Financial building in downtown Charlottesville at the corner of Market Street and 7th Street N.E. on December 3rd.  Barista On Demand will be serving coffee.

"We do this to let the troops know that people are thinking about them back here and that we appreciate their sacrifice," said Crutchfield's Bill Hamilton. "The commanders say it means so much to the soldiers coming back from missions, where there is extreme high stress and possible combat or injury — to roll back into the base, sit down, watch a movie or listen to music – and change their world."

About Crutchfield Corporation

Crutchfield is the nation's oldest direct integrated marketer – catalog, call center and Internet – of consumer electronics products. Since its introduction in 1974, the Crutchfield catalog has been an authority on car and home entertainment products and was the first vendor-authorized audio/video retailer on the Internet.

About SNL Financial

SNL collects, standardizes and disseminates all relevant corporate, financial, market and M&A data — plus news and analysis – for the Energy, Banking, Specialized Financial Services, Insurance, Real Estate and Media & Communications industries. For more information, visit www.SNL.com.