Kendall Jones Neukomm (00:00)
Hello everyone, and welcome to Whitley Penn Talks, where we give you valuable insights to help you make confident informed decisions and move your business forward. My name is Kendall Jones Neukomm and today we’re celebrating the spirit of giving and the meaningful work being done through Whitley Penn’s philanthropic fund. I’m really excited for this episode. It’s highlighting something that we’re doing internally that we’d like to share and talk a little bit more about externally. So today we’ve got Toby Cotton and Emily Landry on the line.

Hi Toby, hi Emily, thank you both for being here.

Toby Cotton (00:38)
Hey Kendall, thanks for having us.

Emily Landry (00:40)
Thank you, Kendall.

Kendall Jones Neukomm (00:42)
So to begin, would love for the audience to get to know both of you just a little bit more. So Toby, we’ll start with you. How about you introduce yourself and share a little bit more about your journey here at the firm.

Toby Cotton (00:54)
Sure, now again, thanks for having us today. This is something that’s very exciting for the firm and just everybody in the community as well. A little bit about myself, I’ve been at the firm a little over 23 years, almost 24 years now. The firm’s changed a lot, right? Like when I started back then, we had about 60 people. I had just been married and the firm has grown a lot, obviously, over those years.

Today I’ve got twin daughters at the University of Oklahoma, so life looks a lot different today than it did when I started at the firm. ⁓ So that’s usual, right? Life changes and ⁓ things, life goes on. ⁓ But the firm has continued to grow and do very well. The thing that I love about the firm is that the roots of this firm are based in client service and growth and our connection to the community, right?

The client service aspect of what we do is so connected to our community and that’s just something that has not changed, right? No matter how big we get, no matter how much we grow, ⁓ that has not changed throughout those 23 years. So I just love every minute of it.

Kendall Jones Neukomm (02:02)
Awesome, thank you. And how many times are you planning to go up to Norman this year, this fall?

Toby Cotton (02:06)
Well, I’ve already been up twice. ⁓

Just got back from the big win over Michigan, so boomer.

Kendall Jones Neukomm (02:13)
Yeah, boomer sooner. Emily, how about you introduce yourself? And I know you’ve been a guest on the podcast before. In fact, you’ve hosted WP Cares for many, many episodes and we love that series. But how about you introduce yourself and kind of ⁓ share a little bit more about your role with this fund.

Emily Landry (02:33)
Sure. Emily Landry, I’m a partner in our CAAS and tax department and I have had the distinct privilege and honor of getting to be the nonprofit industry lead in our tax group and working with nonprofit clients for many, many years, 11 years with the firm. And one of the things that came about as part of that role is just getting to help launch this philanthropic fund on behalf of the firm and excited to speak to you about it more today.

Kendall Jones Neukomm (03:07)
Awesome. Thank you both.

So before we dive into today’s conversation, I want to encourage our listeners to subscribe to our email list using the link in the episode description. Over the next few months, Emily will be sitting down with several of our nonprofit recipients from this spring’s philanthropic fund giving to share their stories and highlight the incredible impact that the Whitley Penn Philanthropic Fund has had on their organizations.

You won’t want to miss these inspiring interviews, so we’re really excited to share those coming up this fall. Now, let’s jump into today’s exciting updates. So first off, we’re going to talk about the founding of the fund and kind of what that process looked like. So Emily, how was the Whitley Penn Philanthropic Fund formed and what does it mean to you to be able to lead it?

Emily Landry (03:56)
So Daniel Boarder had a vision for a fund that would allow the firm to give to our local nonprofit community. He worked with Shane Miller on building out the idea. From there we worked on what exactly that might look like and created a mission statement to encompass what we had discussed.

And that mission statement is to cultivate a legacy of generosity amongst Whitley Penn partners and employees for community impact by supporting local initiatives, empowering underserved populations, and fostering sustainable growth in our neighborhoods. There’s so many ways we get to serve our communities from time, talent and treasure. We’ve talked about client service already. We work really hard on producing educational content for nonprofits and we have so many opportunities to volunteer and then also to do sponsorships in our local communities.

But the philanthropic fund really gave us a way to unite as a firm towards a larger vision of giving financially in the community and for the firm leaders to model stewardship in the local nonprofit community.

Kendall Jones Neukomm (05:05)
Awesome, thank you for sharing. And Toby, how does this fund reflect Whitley Penn’s core values? I know you’ve shared a bit, but if you don’t mind diving in there just a bit more.

Toby Cotton (05:14)
Yeah, sure. You know, in public accounting, the firm, one of our core values is client service, right? That’s just one of the things that is built into our DNA, built into who we are. And that leads into us being a part of and serving our community. And I think we all feel very, very lucky to be where we live, to be a part of this firm.

And I think we all feel that way, that humility of wanting to give back because we feel so blessed to be where we’re at and I think that just blends in so well with the DNA of the firm with a client service mentality and just doing that for the community.

Kendall Jones Neukomm (05:55)
Yeah, definitely. It’s such a sense of pride to be able to have that opportunity to give back to those around us and doing it from the firm as a whole is awesome. So I agree. Thank you. And then Emily, what kind of impact have you seen directly in the communities that we serve maybe as a result of this fund or just in general?

Emily Landry (06:15)
So in our initial spring grant cycle, we gave away nine grants, one for each of our different office locations. And so two of the grants were really interesting to me. We’re going to help build a chicken coop with New Danville and for Neighbors Eden and Midland, we’re gonna help buy lawn equipment and meals for their volunteer team to service lawn care for elderly residents in the city of Midland.

And then we decided to team up with the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country after the July 4th floods around Kerrville. And we were able to raise $63,000 and we’re really honored to see how they’re going to use that money to help rebuild that community.

Kendall Jones Neukomm (07:00)
Definitely, yeah, three great opportunities in different areas around the state to serve that need and to help in different ways. So thank you for sure. And we’ll do another round of grants in the fall, correct?

Emily Landry (07:15)
That’s correct.

Kendall Jones Neukomm (07:17)
So, in some of that selection throughout the spring in this first round of giving, how do you select which organizations we support through this fund?

Emily Landry (07:30)
Each office has a team that reviews the grants submitted by their office and you can submit a grant nomination form through the internet. ⁓ I get a copy of that submission and then whoever’s reviewing inside of each office location can send me this is my first and second choice. I verify that they’re a 501c3 and good standing with the IRS to make sure we’re going to comply with North Texas Community Foundation’s rules for being able to give away that grant money. But for us, it’s also a tough choice because we work with so many nonprofit organizations professionally and just have relationships with so many in our community.

It’s a good problem to have have relationships with so many organizations, but if you’re a client listening and you want to receive a grant from our philanthropic fund, I just want to encourage you to connect with a Whitley Penn employee who’s volunteering, serving in some capacity maybe as a board member or donating to your organization and encourage them to nominate you for the grant. The philanthropic fund is driven entirely by employees and partners from every dollar we raise to the organizations that are nominated and then ultimately selected.

Kendall Jones Neukomm (08:29)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, thank you so much. That’s ⁓ great for those listening out there. So get to know your Whitley Penn professional just a little bit more and we can push that forward for sure. Yeah, so Toby, for Whitley Penn employees, ⁓ obviously we can submit those nominations and things, but what would be your advice on how we as employees can get more involved?

Emily Landry (08:55)
Absolutely.

Toby Cotton (09:10)
Yeah, I know, good question. There’s multiple ways to get involved. ⁓ Before we talk about the fund, I mean, I would encourage everybody, you know, we are, you know, truly, you know, happy to be, you know, a part of the community and love serving our community. So get involved in your community, right? Get involved with your church, your nonprofit, whatever it might be.

And I would say just don’t sit on the sidelines, right? Like be involved in it, be a part of it. I encourage people to be in leadership of those, of those organizations so that you can be a real big part of that volunteer right so none of that that takes time it takes you know your expertise doesn’t even necessarily take money but it does take your expertise and time and heart to do that so I encourage everybody do that be a part of whatever it is that you feel led to do but specifically about the fund obviously financially everybody can participate at any level and I think that’s what’s so great about it. What I love about it is that we’re doing this together and it doesn’t matter what level you’re doing that at. mean, Emily mentioned the flooding that happened in Kerrville and the Hill Country and how we were all able to come together and have an impact. know, $63,000 that was raised in a very short amount of time is a lot. to see us come together at all different levels was really impactful.

I encourage everybody to just participate, right? Like be a part of it. And then again, if you want to, if you have something that is dear to your heart that you’re involved in, you know, talk to your department lead, say, Hey, I’d like to be a part of this process. And so that’s to me, it doesn’t necessarily have to be financially, but be involved, right? Raise your hand, use your time and it’ll be beneficial, right? We all get back so much more than we give in any of those situations. So please be, please get involved.

Kendall Jones Neukomm (11:06)
Definitely. And I will say, for my own experience, I’m involved with Leukemia and Lymphoma Society now, Blood Cancer United. And just in giving time, it’s been impactful for me to see some of the behind the scenes of that organization and how they bring a fundraising event to life, for example, and how that truly comes to be. it’s interesting what you learn and who you meet in those types of organizations. So I love that.

Toby Cotton (11:33)
Yeah, that was something that Jim Penn, I know early on in my career that he said, hey, whatever it is you’re passionate about, get involved, but don’t just sit on the sideline, right? Like he was very adamant about being involved in it and being involved in it in a big way. ⁓ I remember Mark Topol was very, very involved with Big Brothers, Big Sisters, and that was impactful to me to watch him and how much time he spent. And it wasn’t money, it was time, you know, and his expertise and caring for those kids.

So that was something that I know our early leaders did and modeled for us. And so I encourage everybody to follow that model, right? And get involved and spend your time and know we’re busy, it definitely is benefiting our communities.

Kendall Jones Neukomm (12:19)
Yeah, for sure. And if you’re not sure where to get involved, we’ve got Emily on the line to share a little bit more about ⁓ any of those opportunities. So anyone listening, if you have questions or you want to get involved in the DFW area, the Permian Basin, San Antonio, Austin, Houston, any of the above, we’ve got connections, we’ve got ideas that we can at least help you get started with. Because I know all of these nonprofits need time, talent, and treasure just about all the time.

So definitely a good thing to keep in mind. If you’re not sure where to start, just start somewhere. ⁓ Awesome. Well, Emily, that kind of brings us to our next question here on the fund specifically. What are your future goals? Where do see this going in the next five years, 10 years, et cetera?

Emily Landry (13:06)
This may be a big dream, but one day I’d love to align several of our firm objectives for the nonprofit industry, what we’re doing in education, our volunteer day, and the philanthropic fund to make the impact felt at multiple levels throughout the community and really deploy it more unified together. I think that that would be really interesting opportunity to do.

I have such a great job, I joke frequently that I think I have the best job at Whitley Penn because I have the opportunity to talk to nonprofits and I get to make the world a better place by helping them make the world a better place. But I also have this really sweet position as the steward of the philanthropic fund for the firm. I see what we do behind the scenes. We raised $15,000 in one hour for the Hill Country Relief.

And I was the only person who got to see what was going on behind the scenes. And I’m sending an email to Kristen and Toby, you’re not going to believe this. This is so crazy. I also see the emails that the recipients send us when they got the philanthropic fund grant and they’re stunned by our generosity. And they share stories of we were so discouraged. Things were not going our way. We absolutely needed this money. It came at just the right time. Those little things that are just such a treasure to get throughout the work week. So I think those things and then the information I receive from our employees and our partners, it helps drive the conversations I have with Toby and then ultimately the conversations he has with management committee about the objectives that our philanthropic fund should have each year.

So I steward this role well and really lead it the direction that the firm wants that this philanthropic fund to go. So your feedback matters and I think it’s important that you get involved and if you want to be part of the grant nomination review process or you want to nominate 500 organizations, do it. I want you to be involved and to be passionate about nonprofits. I think it’s one of the most amazing things we get to do here.

Kendall Jones Neukomm (15:27)
Yeah, I would agree. and I believe was it two or three years ago, we added the Whitley Penn, the volunteer day as a benefit for employees. So every employee at the firm gets, I believe, eight hours per year of, of unquestionable volunteer time. So you can just take the day or two half days throughout the year and go and volunteer your time, ⁓ without tapping into your PTO at all. So I think that’s an awesome perk for sure.

Emily Landry (15:56)
Yeah, and I know several of our departments do that as a team building activity and some of them have had a really great time. I’ve heard some really good stories of what Fort Worth Audit got to do this year together and those are things where I think it would be really wonderful if we could find ways to help not just our grant recipients get financial support but maybe some volunteer hours put behind their cause too.

Or maybe the runner-up doesn’t get financial support, but they get the volunteer hours. Those are things that are long-term goals, but one-day goals.

Kendall Jones Neukomm (16:30)
Yeah, I love it. Well, let’s hear it for all the long-term big ideas. think if you say it, it’s your one step closer to it happening. So got to put it out there first. Awesome. Well, Toby, to wrap us up today, are there any upcoming initiatives or events that you think we should know about as it relates to the fund?

Toby Cotton (16:51)
Yeah, there’s one big one coming down the pipe. WP Gives Day is coming. So be on the lookout, be on the lookout for your email on the intranet. We’re going to announce that soon. You know, we’re all busy, right? Like our days are filled with serving clients. ⁓ But we do want to spotlight and like pay attention to WP Gives Day. So that’ll be coming down the pipe. Everybody pay attention to that. It’s a good way for us to take time, slow down and remember what we’re doing, right? And remember that we are serving our communities and how much we love doing that. So I love that we’re going to take time to slow down and do that and spotlight that.

Kendall Jones Neukomm (17:36)
Awesome, and can you tell us what month the day will be in? Do you know?

Emily Landry (17:41)
I don’t know that we’ve fully landed. I think since our podcast is coming out in October, maybe November would be a good month. Month of gratitude. That seems, maybe we can convince somebody in marketing to fully execute that vision for us.

Kendall Jones Neukomm (17:42)
It might be a secret.

Toby Cotton (17:49)
Yeah. ⁓

Kendall Jones Neukomm (17:50)
Okay.

I know a couple people over there, we’ll see what we can do. Well, WP Gives Day, sounds like it will be amazing. I look forward to it coming up this fall, and I look forward to the impact that we’ll make, again, as a collective group. So thank you both so much for your time, and I really appreciate having this conversation today.

Toby Cotton (17:59)
Yes, thanks so much. is such, it’s so wonderful to just be a part of, number one, the firm, right? I just love being a part of Whitley Penn. But then for the firm to be able to come together and do this and such a big part of our DNA, thanks for having us and love being a part of this.

Kendall Jones Neukomm (18:33)
Awesome, awesome. Yeah, for sure. Well, I will go ahead and officially formally wrap us up. But again, this has been a great conversation and we look forward to all that will come and your big goals and dreams with the fund, Emily. I know that we’ll achieve awesome things through this effort. So for those listening, if you enjoyed today’s episode, be sure to subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or listen right on our website at willypenn.com slash podcasts.

Emily Landry (18:34)
Thank you, Kendall.

Kendall Jones Neukomm (19:00)
If you’d like to hear directly from the organization whose lives have been touched by the Whitley Pinn Philanthropic Fund, be sure to check the link in the description and sign up for our email list so that you are in the know when those come out. Thank you again, Toby and Emily for joining us and I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of your day.

Toby Cotton (19:19)
Thank you.