An Interview with Fuller Landau, Corporate Sponsor of the Cats and Birds Campaign
The requests for corporate sponsorships and charitable donations can be never ending, for many businesses. But with an obviously limited budget for charitable spend, corporate donors must be selective about where they allocate the money. We recently sat down with Mike Stoyan, a Partner at Fuller Landau LLP, to learn more about their philanthropic objectives and why they chose to sponsor Nature Canada’s Cats and Birds initiative.
Nature Canada (NC): You likely have no shortage of options for corporate sponsorships and donations at Fuller Landau. Why did you choose to get involved with the Cats and Birds campaign through Nature Canada.
Mike Stoyan (MS): As a mid-sized accounting, tax and business advisory firm, we receive many requests for corporate sponsorships and donations. Over the years, Fuller Landau has supported a number of causes – both financially and with many volunteer hours – in such fields as healthcare, education, the arts, and the environment. Margaret Atwood has been a long-time and valued client of our firm, and when we heard that she had become involved in the Cats and Birds campaign through Nature Canada, and was working on a graphic novel to promote the campaign, we got really excited. From our perspective, it was a great opportunity to show real support not only for Margaret and the arts, but for the environment as well.
NC: What about the environment, in particular, pulls on your heartstrings?
MS: We are incredibly fortunate to live in such a geographically diverse country as Canada, with millions of acres of parks and wildlife habitats. It is our responsibility to make sure we protect it, and the environment in general. Every little bit helps, and while the cat and bird issue might seem trivial at first glance, the consequences of not addressing it could be devastating on a much broader level.
NC: It sounds like you’ve done your research and really understand the underlying reasons behind the need to keep our cats indoors in order to protect birds. What surprised you most, when you were learning about the campaign?
MS: I read a statistic, somewhere along the way, that Environment Canada estimates over 77 million birds are killed each year in Canada by pet cats. That number is shocking! It represents a huge threat to our natural wildlife, but is completely preventable. And it’s easy to imagine the snowball effect that this issue can have. When one part of the system is out of balance, everything else is at risk also.
NC: Aside from your support for Nature Canada and the Cats and Birds campaign, how else has Fuller Landau demonstrated a commitment to nature and the environment?
MS: At Fuller Landau, we were an early adopter in transitioning to a paperless office. Our client files are all stored securely online, so we can minimize the printing of hard documents, and unnecessarily wasting paper resources. It was a big step in the right direction. We have worked closely with the property managers at our office premises to advocate for energy efficiency, and have implemented stringent recycling policies across the firm. Whenever possible, our team is encouraged to carpool or take public transit to commute to/from work, and we have participated in a number of community revitalization efforts over the past several years. Every little bit helps, and we’re always looking for more ways to get involved and do our part.
On behalf of Nature Canada and the Cats and Birds campaign, we extend a big thank you to our corporate sponsors at Fuller Landau. To learn more about them, visit www.fullerllp.com.
