Mahoney Times: Mahoney Donates $10,000 to Local Charities

By Roz Allyson, CPA, Managing Partner

In 2021, the partners at Mahoney created a Donor Advised Fund. The Donor Advised Fund Committee consists of Mahoney team members, but no partners. The first order of business for the committee was to decide how the Donor Advised Fund would function. They decided that any team member can request a donation to a nonprofit they would like to support. The committee is then responsible for soliciting and reviewing donation requests and deciding which requests will be honored.

In 2021, the committee received 13 applications, and our firm was able to give to each organization!  The Donor Advised Fund donated a total of $10,000 to the following organizations:

• • Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless
  • Avenues for Youth
  • Misericordia Heart of Mercy
  • Simley Soccer Booster
  • Immaculate Heart of Mary Academy
  • University of Wisconsin-River Falls Foundation
  • Coco’s Heart Dog Rescue
  • Joseph’s School
  • Glacier Hills Elementary Booster Club
  • Inver Grove Heights B.E.S.T. Foundation
  • SSPHS Trap Team Boosters
  • Home for Life Animal Sanctuary
  • Wingspan Life Resources

Collaboration with Diversity, Equity and Belonging Committee

An unforeseen but exciting outcome of this giving is that we were able to collaborate on some goals with our newly formed Diversity, Equity and Belonging Committee. That committee had set a purpose of “Promoting an organizational D & I Strategy to establish and sustain a workplace of opportunity, valued differences, and a sense of belonging.” The committee set forth the following responsibilities:

• • Aligning diversity and inclusion initiatives to the company’s mission, values, and objectives
  • Outlining key diversity and inclusion needs and goals while promoting actionable steps to achieve them
  • Evaluating the effectiveness of ongoing efforts and providing recommendations

Two different scholarship foundations were submitted as applicants to the Donor Advised Committee — the IGH B.E.S.T. Foundation and the University of Wisconsin-River Falls Foundation which gives post-secondary scholarships to Simley High School students.

The Donor Advised Committee reached out to the Diversity, Equity and Belonging Committee to see if there was some common ground that they could find in donating to these foundations. It was a perfect match, and both scholarship foundation applications were granted with the stipulation that the money be given to a student of diverse background with financial need, heading into the accounting industry. It was a win-win-win situation, creating great opportunity for young adults in our community!

Thank you to our Donor Advised Committee on a successful inaugural year! We look forward to seeing which nonprofits benefit from the Fund in 2022!