A good call

Our pro bono work for a telephone crisis hotline

Who can you turn to for help when your worries reach the crisis point? For adults with psychological aliments, for people suffering from intense stress, or for those who are lonely and need someone to talk to – a crisis support hotline is there. In this case, services are staffed entirely by volunteers of the foundation that runs the hotline: from the Board and leadership, to the professional counseling and training team, to the administration and phone teams.

Several former PwC colleagues serve as advisors to the foundation. The Office Head asked these colleagues if PwC could help with the foundation’s accounting. We examined the annual financial statements and accounting, and realized that there was a lot of work to be done. PwC decided to offer accounting and also audit services pro bono. Audit for non-profit organizations certified by ZEWO requires a very high standard, and is actually more work than for-profit companies. For this reason, PwC started with audit for one regional chapter of the organization. This led to further professional support from PwC for operations Swiss-wide. Since 2021, PwC provides audit services also to the Swiss umbrella organization. Teams at PwC work together as a trusted community of solvers to support non-profit organizations in various areas such as fundraising and data protection as well.

In 2022 in regional office alone, phone teams responded to tens of thousands calls. Telephone support hotlines are crucial for society. We consider it a good call to give back to society through our pro bono work, for organizations like this.