Vault Consulting’s philanthropic atmosphere pervades throughout the entire year. The accounting and research organization established its volunteer committee in early 2018, after realizing it would require more than one or two people to lead the company’s Good Samaritan efforts. The committee is currently run by six staff members, including Jess Roper as the committee chair. The volunteer committee functions around the year and has three peak seasons for major planning: summer, fall, and winter.
Each June, Vault’s not-for-profit client, Celebrate Fairfax, Inc., hosts some seventy thousand attendees at the Fairfax County Government Center over the course of two days for the annual Celebrate Fairfax! Festival. Fellow Vaulters from the accounting and research side volunteer each year to assure that funds are properly accounted for. “Four or five of us are locked in a room counting big mountains of money. One year it was about two hundred thousand dollars, but in recent years we’ve seen a shift towards credit card transactions,” recalls Roper. Volunteer Committee Chair Roper describes the summer volunteer activity dotingly but also relates the weight of being involved, “there are always two or three armed deputies guarding the door.”
During the fall, the zeal for giving back to the community morphs from accountants living out their dreams—counting big piles of money—to Vaulters getting down and dirty for the good of their surrounding community. Last year, at the all-staff event, Vaulters literally found themselves in the weeds for the popular not-for-profit DC Central Kitchen. Researchers and accountants alike spent an autumn day doing year-end harvest season cleanup at the nonprofit’s partnering farm in northeast DC.
Subsequently, after the all-staff volunteer event in the fall, the volunteer committee shifts its focus to the holiday charity. In the past, Vault supported Edgewood/ Brookland Family Support Collaborative (EBFSC) by donating to the ‘Adopt-a-Family’ drive during the holiday season. Last year, Vaulters supported the foster care community by donating 48 backpacks to Comfort Cases. Staff members took some time out of their day to pack backpacks with toiletries, blankets, stuffed animals, books, and other items that one would anticipate young children might like to have if they’re removed from their homes.
Vault matches the number of monetary funds that its staff members individually donate. More often than not, Vaulters rank at a 100 percent participation rate for the holiday charity donation drive. At year’s end, when Vaulters are enjoying the fruits of their labor at the annual holiday party, there is a special time allotted during the end of the speeches to recognize and reflect with great reverence on the lives and communities staff members touched throughout the year.
To learn more about Vault’s volunteer initiative, please visit their Social Media.