From Passion to Purpose: How CPAs Can Make a Difference Through Volunteerism

by Daniel Nguyen-Fleming

Have you wondered how to find a cause you are passionate about and how you can leverage your skills to make a difference? 

During a WSCPA Member Exclusive webinar held earlier this year, Daniel Nguyen-Fleming, WSCPA Director of Membership, talked with several CPAs who are committed to making a difference through volunteerism and giving back to the profession. 

Can you share your journey into nonprofit work, either professionally or personally, and how your role as a CPA has influenced that path?

Michaela: I started working with nonprofits professionally and doing audits for them early in my career. I quickly found that working with the nonprofit organizations that we serve was just more rewarding. As a manager, I had an opportunity to get unofficial board experience by serving on Wellspring Family Services’ associate board. I served for several years and then about five years ago, I began serving on the Board of Directors and now am the Chair of the Wellspring Board. I get a lot of personal fulfillment from my time spent in the not-for-profit world, whether it's auditing nonprofits or volunteering with them.

Martha: My desire to be involved in the community has been a part of me since childhood. My family and I were often on the receiving end of community kindness while I was growing up, and it instilled a desire within me to give back. As a teen, I ran toy drives or volunteered at soup kitchens. Now in a professional setting, I'm excited to be able to give back in other ways, too. As a CPA, I worked in nonprofit tax for about five years and helped clients navigate complex tax law and prepared returns that allowed them to tell their stories. It was rewarding to be working with nonprofits in that way.  

Richard: I've always had community-focused role models. My values were instilled when my father served in the armed forces and then later transitioned to government work and my mother, who was raising the kids, still found time to volunteer at community events and parent-teacher associations. Early in my career, I was surrounded by mentors who were volunteering and serving on boards. They encouraged me to find a way to contribute that was meaningful, no matter how big or how small. I found it was easy to build on those low commitment volunteer experiences and naturally grew into positions with more responsibility. As a professional accountant, one of my first opportunities was serving on the finance committee for the board of a nonprofit community theater. They needed financially-literate volunteers to help serve on their committees. One of my first responsibilities was performing audits of their internal controls, because they needed that specialized skillset that we bring as accountants and CPAs.  

How has your experience serving on WSCPA committees and boards shaped your perspective on volunteering and giving back?

Martha: As a student, I received a scholarship from the Washington CPA Foundation and today, I sit on the very same board. It is rewarding to be an active part of the board that gives students the same opportunities that I was given years ago. When I received my scholarship from the Washington CPA Foundation, it opened many doors for me, and not just through financial support. I was welcomed into a network of professionals, who were more than willing to share their experiences, their resources, and in some cases, their friendship. I learned so much by receiving the WSCPA Foundation scholarship and I am motivated to cultivate those opportunities for others­­—for future CPAs and students who are trying to navigate what realistically can be a complex path to follow. I'm excited to continue that mission as part of the Foundation board.

Michaela: I got involved with the WSCPA many years ago through the Not-for-Profit Resource Group. They held monthly meetings on interesting topics where I could go and learn, and over time I was able to build relationships and friendships with other CPAs that are part of the WSCPA and part of that group. I got involved in planning the Not-For-Profit Conference that happens in the fall, and the more I got involved, the more I got out of it. We get back a lot from what we put in, effort wise. Saying “I want to learn about these topics” grew into so much more than that just by showing up and raising my hand and saying, “I can help with that.”

What motivates you to remain actively involved in the community, service and nonprofit organizations?

Richard: I’m motivated by opportunities to meet individuals and hear their stories. It's the opportunities to make a real difference in the lives of stakeholders, customers, community members. I know people whose lives were shaped because I was volunteering on income tax assistance or WSCPA's Washington CPA Foundation awarding scholarships and giving college and university opportunities to folks who could never have dreamed of that pathway. When you get to meet these folks and catch up with them yearly and see how they're progressing toward their goals and their dreams, and when they finish school and they're out in the working world and they become your colleagues, it's just an amazing sense of satisfaction that you had a real tangible impact on the lives of a real person. It's not just a statistic of millions of people helped. It's these real personal stories with faces and names, real community members. It just lives in my heart and motivates me to keep going.

Martha: What makes it so easy to stay motivated is how easy it is to get involved. You don't have to know anybody to get started. If you're passionate about supporting pets, call up your local humane society and ask them for volunteer opportunities. You don’t need to be part of a board, but you can if you’d like to be. Boards are always looking for members who have financial literacy, but as you build your network of connections, those opportunities are going to come up organically to the point where eventually you'll have to say no and push them off. If I am feeling completely overwhelmed at work and I really need to do something outside of my house, it's easy to find an opportunity to volunteer. And it’s very rewarding at the end of the day!  

What would you recommend for those who want to volunteer but don't necessarily want to volunteer in a financial capacity?

Michaela: If somebody knows you're a CPA, you will likely be asked to join the finance committee. Be prepared to say no a lot, but you can set boundaries and offer to do other things.

Martha: I think that if you want to do something for fun, find out or determine what is that “fun” for you. What does that look like? Is it hands-on building houses? Is it planning networking events? Is it teaching? Find something that you're passionate about and you’ll find that those opportunities are plentiful, beyond serving on the finance committee of a nonprofit board.  

Richard: I wouldn't discount the value of financial literacy activities, even if you don't want to volunteer in a finance role. The financial literacy that you have, the acumen, the ability to translate that with management and operational objectives, being able to advise on that, or the ability to advocate for members of your community who aren't able to speak as fluently. I think there are still a lot of opportunities, even if you don't want to be volunteering in an accounting role or doing more journal entries.

What strategies do you use to help balance that professional responsibility piece with the passion for community service? In addition to being prepared to say “no, thank you.”

Michaela: I view my ongoing volunteer commitments just as important as my paid work. I don't really prioritize one in front of the other. Calendar management is key to making all those puzzle pieces fit together. It probably also helps with my firm being really supportive of it. We have a time code to “charge” our volunteer hours to. 

Martha: Join a firm with a similar passion or a company with a similar passion for volunteerism. Firms that are committed to making an impact in their communities will sponsor volunteer events. They encourage and support external community involvement. They'll be flexible with your schedule. It makes it easier to get involved if your co-workers are also a part of it! As far as being prepared to say no, I would recommend defining exactly how you want to be involved and what causes are important to you. Once you define what you want out of it, you will be able to say yes to those volunteer opportunities that are in alignment with your passion, and it’ll be easier to pass on opportunities that will not be as fulfilling.  

What advice would you like to give your fellow CPAs looking to get involved in nonprofit or community work?

Richard: Do it. Get involved. Even if you don’t know from the outset what the perfect volunteer experience is going to look like, the best way to start is to lend a hand and start making an effort.  

Michaela: If you haven't done any volunteer work lately, but you want to get involved, sign up for something. Just raise your hand. There's so much need out there that somebody will take you up on the offer.  

Martha: The best advice I could give is to just go and get started. There is a lot of need in our communities and it's not hard to start doing something. You don't have to start as president of the board, a trustee or even a treasurer. You could just sign up to walk dogs with your humane society, serve in food kitchens, volunteer your time to sort through donations, build a playground, etc. Call up a nonprofit you’re passionate about and ask them how you can volunteer. Nonprofit organizations would be happy to get a call from you.  

Looking for volunteer opportunities?
Visit the Volunteer Opportunities page on the WSCPA website at wscpa.org/giving.

Watch the full Member Exclusive interview: visit wscpa.org/volunteer24.

Photo: © iStock/Glenn Pettersen