Firms giving back: Sax LLP names fourth annual Founders' Award recipient

Deloitte announced the creation of a $250,000 scholarship program to help fund tuition at Grambling State University, an HBCU, for students who are seeking a MAcc degree from Louisiana Tech University's College of Business.

The scholarship aims to further diversity within the accounting profession and fund graduate assistantships, as well as undergraduate and graduate tuition at Louisiana Tech University.

"By eliminating the financial barrier many students face when seeking access to higher education, not only do we anticipate helping to diversify and grow the regional accounting workforce, it is our earnest hope that many graduates of this program will go on to become tomorrow's leaders of the accounting profession, fueling the long-term change we are seeking," said Stephen Metoyer, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer at Deloitte Tax LLP, in a statement. "This investment complements other bold initiatives we are undertaking, including our Making Accounting Diverse and Equitable (MADE) and Deloitte Tax Scholars programs.”

More information is available on GSU'ssite here.

Top 100 firm Sax LLP named the Fighting Children's Cancer Foundation as the recipient of its fourth annual Founders’ Award. The organization was awarded $15,000 for best addressing this year’s Founder's Award theme of “Imagination.”

Nearly 150 nonprofit organizations submitted video applications this year for the Founders' Award. Organizations had to answer the questions of, "What creative solutions have you implemented to address your nonprofit’s challenges in the past year?" and "How have you leveraged imagination to overcome the adversity your organization has faced?" A panel of five judges ultimately determined the winner and two runner-ups on criteria that answered the following questions: "Is this response telling of what the organization seeks to accomplish?"; "Is this response telling of progress and impact the organization has made?"; and, "Is this response in line with an organization seeking to further its mission?"

“The Founders’ Award event is beloved by our firm, as it is a great way to make a big impact on organizations that do so much on so little,” said Todd Polyniak, partner-in-charge of Sax’s Nonprofit Practice, in a statement. “We have a new team of award judges each year, but the feedback from them is always the same – how difficult it is to determine a winner out of so many deserving organizations. That goes to show you how much good work is being done by our local nonprofits, and we are privileged to be able to honor them in this way.”

For more on the Founders' Award, head to Sax's site here.