Episode 54: Grassroots Fundraising with Tom Moroz

On this episode of the Capital Insight Podcast, Tom Moroz, founder and director of Stonehedge Holistic Learning Center, shares his journey with grassroots fundraising and the challenges and surprises he’s encountered along the way.

Tom is a finance professional with over 30 years of experience. Last year he helped lead an effort to transform Stonehedge Gardens, a landscaped sanctuary in Pennsylvania that aims to bring people together to heal and inspire, from a charitable nonprofit to a social enterprise by adding a public benefit corporation with revenue-generating activities. He reached out to The Kassan Group for guidance on how to raise investment funding to grow Stonehedge and help it become financially sustainable. Stonehedge is currently raising funds through investment crowdfunding.

Reflecting on the process of launching his grassroots fundraising campaign, Tom says it has been educational for both him and his team, as well as for potential investors who are unfamiliar with the concept of crowdfunding. In return, he’s been surprised by who is interested in supporting his business venture. “It’s gratifying to know that what we’re offering is a value to the community and that they really want to be a part of it both financially and in participation of what we’re doing.” Listen to the episode to learn more about Tom’s journey in crowdfunding.

Tom Moroz has been connected with the Stonehedge vision since he was a teenager and was a close friend of both of the original founders. He has an MBA-Finance and brings over 30 years of corporate finance experience from both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. He was a management consultant for Deloitte, an international accounting firm, and was the head of finance for a large hotel operation in NYC as well as the head of regional finance for the Open Society Foundations, an international human rights foundation with an annual operating budget of nearly $1 Billion.

The Capital Insight podcast intro and outro is voiced by Marina Verlaine. She can be contacted at reel.peach.vo@gmail.com