Moss Adams Raises Money to Built School in Nepal

Moss Adams LLP is helping buildOn change lives. The accounting and consulting firm is our first corporate partner in San Francisco to raise funds for a school and participate in our Ambassador Donor Trek Program. And since buildOn is focused on educating girls and women, Moss Adams decided to align their fundraising and advocacy with Forum_W, an initiative to support women in the public accounting profession and help women rise to the ranks of leadership at Moss Adams.

“It’s about promoting the fact that Moss Adams has initiative to empower women,” said Ryan Baker, Moss Adam’s Transaction Service Manager in San Francisco. Moss Adams is committed to buildOn’s core values– compassion, empowerment and responsibility—and was voted as one of the 100 Best Companies to work for by Working Mother in 2011. One of the things that separates Moss Adams from other companies is a culture of giving back, Baker explained. “The opportunity to make a difference, that’s appealing to a lot of people we recruit.”

Moss Adams was introduced to buildOn after Luc Arsenault, Partner at Moss Adams, attended buildOn’s Annual Dinner in San Francisco in 2011. Luc was so moved by the impact that buildOn had on his community locally that he decided join its West Coast Board this year. The firm started its fundraising campaign in June and the group is more than halfway to reaching its goal of $45,000.

“Luc was very passionate about the mission, and I certainly became passionate about it,” said Baker, who reports directly to Arsenault.  Baker is organizing a trip to Nepal in November with Moss Adams employees. “I am a firm believer that educating the disadvantaged, by providing an opportunity for a village in Nepal, will create a butterfly affect. I personally believe it will help end and mitigate conflicts in the region, and help its culture develop political systems and work together.”

The group going to Nepal consists of 15 Moss Adams employees from the Northern California Offices (San Francisco, Santa Rosa, and Silicon Valley) who Baker reached through an internal marketing campaign. Every employee going on the trip is responsible for raising $3,000. “This is a big push for us, too,” Baker said. “It’s a team-building opportunity that will change the culture of our workplace. The people who go on trek are going to be that much closer, and that will carry over to our day jobs.”

Visit Moss Adam’s We buildOn page to contribute support their efforts.

We couldn’t accomplish our goals at buildOn without the help of our donors. Our Global School Construction initiatives make it possible for us to break ground on a school every five days. Groups that fundraise with us choose how to use their money raised: to send students to build schools in rural villages with very little infrastructure, buy materials to build classrooms, provide literacy classes, or to educate buildOn members through service and service learning. Each month we’ll profile one of the many buildOn campaigns using our fundraising platform, We buildOn.