Grimstad Leads a Team Effort of Support with Moss Adams

Gary Grimstad is a devoted UW alumnus. He went to school here, met his wife here, and the UW was the only university to which his daughters applied. Now Gary’s passion drives his company’s corporate support of the UW and Foster School of Business.

Gary (BA 1975) has long been a UW sports supporter as a hardcore football and basketball fan. He has also been an individual supporter of the Foster School, and chairs the Accounting Development Fund, a relationship that connects faculty to classroom speakers, research projects and mentorship opportunities for students.

So in 2004, when Moss Adams asked individual offices to become more involved with their local universities, it was easy for Gary to volunteer to be the UW liaison for the Seattle office.

Gary—and Moss Adams—jumped right in. Gary focused on Foster, and initiated the process of endowing a professorship. In December 2008, the full endowment of $510,000 was vested. Half of the partners who donated are UW alumni.

“It’s been a real team effort,” says Gary. “The Moss Adams Foundation has matched our contributions dollar for dollar.”

Matching dollars help corporations give even more. In the case of Moss Adams, every one dollar that is donated by the Seattle office becomes three: the Moss Adams Foundation and the UW both match the contributions, thanks to Gary’s careful planning.

Moss Adams is a regional public accounting firm providing accounting, tax and consulting services. Although the company recognizes the value in supporting an institution like the UW because it’s good for the community, Moss Adams began forging closer ties with universities for one primary reason: Recruitment.

The vast majority of new hires are students just graduating with a Bachelor or Masters in Accounting. The relationship with Foster gives Moss Adams the opportunity to increase their name recognition among students and thereby recruit the best and brightest. National firms have historically been the major financial contributors so a firm like Moss Adams had to work harder to get noticed. Becoming a corporate supporter gives Moss Adams greater visibility among Foster students. And it’s already paying off.  Foster graduates beat a path to Moss Adams in equal measure to the national firms.

Once into the last year of fundraising for the professorship, Gary spearheaded the drive for scholarships to build on the momentum of the Moss Adams donations. “Once someone starts giving to an institution like the UW, it becomes a habit,” he says. And that habit will only continue to strengthen Foster, the local business community and the talented staff at Moss Adams.