Providence law firm Marasco & Nesselbush LLP, in December announced the establishment of the Marasco & Nesselbush Charitable Foundation with the goal of providing support to nonprofit organizations that work to improve Rhode Islanders lives.
The foundation over the holiday season made a $5,000 donation to the Samaritans of Rhode Island, a $2,000 donation to the Groden Center, and $1,000 donations each to the Lupus Foundation of New England, the Rhode Island Community Food Bank and McCauley House Ministries based on contest run through the firm’s face book page.
The foundation raised $25,000 in 2012. R.I. Sen. Donna Nesselbush, D-Pawtucket, and partner at Marasco & Nesselbush said the foundation is the result of a long history of giving and community spirit at the firm.
PBN: Why is charitable giving important to you and to Marasco & Nesselbush?
NESSELBUSH: My law partner Joe Marasco and I met in law school and studied for the bar exam together. While in law school, we realized we had the same reason for pursing a law degree: we both wanted to help people. We then dedicated our careers to helping the disabled and injured. In doing so we have worked with many outstanding nonprofit social service and health care facilities that took care of the health and human service needs of our clients while we ministered to their legal needs. Blessed with success we decided to set up a charitable foundation to give money back to the nonprofit community that helps us help our clients.
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PBN: Why is now the right time to establish the foundation?
NESSELBUSH: We have achieved a level of success that allows u sand compels us to give back. We are ever mindful that “those to whom much is given, much is expected.” An unbroken circle of giving and receiving is a universal icon which both Joe and I revere.
PBN: You garnered a 100 percent employee participation rate in establishing the foundation. To what do you attribute the spirit of giving among your staff?
NESSELBUSH: Marasco & Nesselbush has a mission statement and established set of values. Our mission is to “provide exceptional client service and to obtain extraordinary legal results to improve the lives of our clients and staff, and to serve our community.” We achieve our mission by exceeding expectation with intelligence, respect, kindness and compassion, honesty and integrity, team spirit, enthusiasm, positivity, patience, high standards, attention to detail, efficiency, productivity, and profitability. Each employee is given a copy of our mission and values when he is hired. Joe and I or a manager also sits down with each new employee to review our mission and values to be sure our team members know and understand our mission. Also our team members experience firsthand the situations and needs of our clients. We are pleased and proud that our team members’ experiences with our clients, in the context of our mission and values, have inspired them to full participation.
PBN: What are you looking for in the nonprofits to which you choose to make donations?
NESSELBUSH: We ask our team members to nominate nonprofit agencies or causes that have touched their lives personally or professionally. All we ask is that the nonprofit has helped our clients or our team members.
PBN: In what other ways does your firm promote giving back and community service?
NESSELBUSH: Throughout the year our team members work closely with our clients. In serving them we get to know our clients and their needs outside their legal needs. As Thanksgiving nears our firm organizes a food drive so that we can provide five needy families with Thanksgiving baskets. The firm pays for the turkeys and our team members donate the other food and goodies to complete the meal. We also have established a client-service initiative through which our team members earn points for the good deeds they do. Good deeds include, among other things, going ‘above and beyond the call of duty’ for a client. For instance one of our team members felt badly for a client and bought a back pack and filled it with school supplies for a client’s son. We also enter our law firm as a team in many local walks for causes and our team members earn [initiative] points for participating in the weekend walks and helping to raise money for those walks, causes, and organizations.
