Executive Summary

GHJ, a Los Angeles–based accounting and advisory firm, has long supported community engagement through employee giving and its private foundation, GHJ Foundation. However, the firm’s manual approach to matching employee contributions created administrative burden, low participation, and limited visibility of the program among employees. In 2022, GHJ implemented Groundswell to simplify the process, improve employee engagement, and modernize its giving program.

GHJ valued Groundswell’s collaborative approach, which allowed their team to help shape the platform with input and feedback at every step. Groundswell incorporated GHJ’s suggestions and ideas into its product roadmap, acting as a true build partner rather than just a vendor.

The results have been clear: participation in the match program has increased from less than 5% of employees to over 70%, with the administrative workload for the GHJ team reduced significantly.

The Challenge

Before Groundswell, GHJ’s employee giving process was manual and time-consuming. Employees completed and submitted a donation form, along with the supporting charitable gift acknowledgement via email, which the GHJ Foundation team then reviewed, verified eligibility, processed, and matched by check.

“The process of matching donations was burdensome,” explained Donella Wilson, President and Chief Philanthropy Officer of GHJ Foundation. “Because there was limited awareness of the matching gifts program among employees, many needed to be walked through the process one-on-one. But more importantly, it wasn’t furthering one of our goals of GHJ Foundation, which was for employees at all levels to get involved with their communities and experience philanthropy firsthand.”

Despite the firm’s strong culture of giving, participation lagged. The team began looking for a technology-driven solution that would reduce administrative burden, empower employees to give where they want, and strengthen employee engagement and retention.

The Solution

GHJ partnered with Groundswell to modernize and automate its employee giving program. Groundswell provided each employee with a personal giving account, and seeded the account with a donation credit from GHJ Foundation, enabling them to support any verified nonprofit directly through the platform. Employees could now easily give through Groundswell’s online platform, matches occurred automatically, and the distribution timelines shrank to just 24 hours.

The switch immediately reduced the administrative workload for the GHJ team and streamlined the donation matching process. “Groundswell completely removed the back and forth paperwork,” said Wilson. “Everything from employee matching to charity vetting is now handled in one place.” The time saved through automation allowed GHJ to reinvest in its employees, doubling its match ratio from a 50% match to a 100% match. The move also aligned with GHJ’s commitment to flexibility and inclusion, allowing employees to give to causes that reflected their personal values. Instead of being restricted to pre-determined giving campaigns — which sometimes led to feedback from employees who felt their personal causes were left out — employees could now give to the organizations that mattered most to them.

Finally, Groundswell has also been a tool for GHJ’s employee-led grants committees. GHJ Foundation has two grants’ cycles per year, with grants committee members being GHJ employees from various departments, who volunteer to serve. Each grants committee selects areas of need, identifies potential grant recipients, performs due diligence, and votes to approve grants. Groundswell is one of the resources the grants committees use to find and research charities.

The Results

Since implementing Groundswell, GHJ has seen measurable improvements in engagement and efficiency across their giving programs:

• Participation: nearly 70% of GHJ employees participate in the program, and the team is looking to add additional benefits related to their volunteering program.
• Matching engagement: Employee participation in the matching program increased from less than 5% to more than 70% after moving to Groundswell, even as the firm doubled in size during that period.
• Efficiency: Administrative work and manual tracking were significantly reduced.
• Employee experience: Employees now have full control over where and how they give, with access to Groundswell via both the web and mobile app. Matches occur automatically, and the distribution timelines are now just 24 hours.
• Visibility: Real-time reporting and visibility allow GHJ Foundation team to easily monitor the matching gifts budget and track community impact (however with no attribution to individual employees, as employee giving is anonymous with Groundswell).

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Groundswell has made giving easy for everyone — both employees and administrators," said Wilson. "We're able to focus on impact instead of paperwork."

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Conclusion

By partnering with Groundswell, GHJ modernized its employee giving program and significantly increased participation without increasing administrative resources.

For GHJ, the shift has transformed corporate giving from a manual process into a scalable, inclusive program that reflects the firm’s culture of purpose and community engagement.

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