When Hanis T. Bourjos’s representatives began brainstorming ways to commemorate the accounting firm’s 100th anniversary, they discussed many ideas, including a company bus trip to Disney World.
But the Baton Rouge-based business is finally celebrating its 100th anniversary in a way that officials hope will have an impact across Louisiana for years to come.
The company established the 1924 Fund, an employee-driven endowment that makes annual contributions to nonprofit organizations that benefit the communities in which HTB operates, including Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Denham Springs, Hammond, and Alexandria. did.
“Rather than making a big splash, we want to stay alive in the future,” said Jay Montalbano, managing partner at HTB, which has more than 170 employees.
Montalbano said he plans to focus his donations on three areas: family support, culture and education. This is because these areas are tied to HTB’s values.
An investment committee has been established, consisting of employees from all HTB offices. The committee will consider all donation requests and decide how to allocate the funds. Applications for donations can be made through the Fund’s landing page or by HTB employees.
The goal is to make the first donation in time for the 2025 holiday season, Montalbano said.
He said it was “pretty unique” for a company of HTB’s size to establish an employee-contributed fund, based on research conducted by the company.
Workplace giving programs are becoming increasingly popular. The Blackbow Giving Fund, a donor-advised fund, announced that more than $5 billion was donated through its workplace giving program in 2023. Benevity, a Canadian company that works with employee donations from large corporations such as Nike, UPS, Microsoft, and Adobe, saw a 14% increase in donations processed in 2023, and the company expects another double-digit percentage increase in 2024. It is expected to make a huge leap forward.
A survey by Fidelity Charitable, the giving arm of investment giant Fidelity, found that 59% of employees feel it is important for their company to support the communities in which it operates. Ta. Workplace giving programs are also associated with higher employee satisfaction and companies with higher employee satisfaction. A sense that an employer’s values are in line with one’s own personal values. This is extremely important for Millennial and Gen Z workers.
The Baton Rouge Area Foundation works with a network of nonprofit organizations that help manage the foundation’s investments and provide guidance on giving. For example, if HTB wants to make a donation focused on financial literacy, BRAF can provide a list of organizations dedicated to that cause, Montalbano said.
The company has set an initial goal of raising $100,000 for the 1924 Fund, with all employees and partners contributing. HTB exceeded that total thanks to donations from some interns and retirees, with more than 100% of its employees contributing, said Claire Harrell, the company’s operations manager.
The company has not yet decided how much money it will distribute to charities in the first year, or how many organizations will receive funding. Because HTB is an accounting firm, Montalbano joked that it is looking to allocate funds based on the company’s presence in each city. But in the end, a decision was made to give the committee discretion over the allocation of donations.
“It’s going to depend on the composition of the committee and what’s going on,” Montalbano said. “Maybe one of our communities will be affected by something that happens that year.”
The amount of donations and which charities receive them will depend on the membership of the committee and the amount of donations in the future. The members are expected to change every year.
“A group of us met a few weeks ago to brainstorm ideas to further expand the fund starting next year,” Montalbano said. “We want to put more money into it.”
