Trent Cotney's Season of Giving - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Trent Cotney from Adams and Reece. You can Read the transcript below or Listen to the podcast.

Intro: Welcome to Roofing Road Trips with Heidi. Explore the roofing industry through the eyes of a long-term professional within the trade. Listen for insights, interviews, and exciting news in the roofing industry today.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Hello, everyone, and welcome to a actual live in-person Roofing Road Trips from RoofersCoffeeShop. My name is Heidi Ellsworth and I am here with Trent Cotney. Trent.

Trent Cotney: Hey, good to see you again.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: In person.

Trent Cotney: I know, I know. It's [inaudible 00:00:26].

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I think I've done more in-person podcasts, video casts with you than I have anybody else, because it seems like we're always kind on the same road trip.

Trent Cotney: Yep, absolutely.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Well, we're here right now at NRCA Fall Meetings in Nashville, Tennessee. I wanted to grab a little bit of your time, Trent, and talk about what you do every year that is so spectacular, so special. And that is celebrating the giving season. We've been doing this now in RooferCoffeeShop with you, I think this is going to be our fourth year.

Trent Cotney: Yeah.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: You are so dedicated to the industry, to what's happening out there, and especially to giving back to our very important foundations. Before we dive into that, why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself to everybody. For those few who don't know you, let them know.

Trent Cotney: Sure. I'm Trent Cotney. I'm a partner at Adams and Reece, construction team leader, and I serve as NRCA's general counsel, general counsel for a lot of other associations, FRSA, CRCA, Western States.

Like you said, this is a real important thing. I think it's great what we've done over the last four years. Don't know how much we've raised, but I think it's close to 50,000 at this point.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: It is. It is.

Trent Cotney: It is a lot of money, and so really looking forward to-

Heidi J. Ellsworth: So generous.

Trent Cotney: ... talking about it today.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah. What we've done in the past is we've had some coffee conversations. We've also talked with the four specific associations, or I should say foundations that we've worked with, and that is the Florida FRSA research and scholarships. It is also the CRCA, which is Chicago Roofing Contractors Association, Davis Foundation, which is part of Western States Roofing Contractors Association, and the Roofing Alliance. These are all four foundations that are pretty near and dear to your heart. Can you talk a little bit about them?

Trent Cotney: Yeah, so look, I've always been a big believer that you should give back. Part of my philosophy is I owe everything as far as my success to the industry. I think it's real important that we give back not just for present needs, but for the future. Most of these associations have a scholarship element where they're getting students out there into hopefully the industry, a lot of great philanthropic charity type roofs, all kinds of different things that they're doing. But I really think it's important to support the industry that supports us, right?

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Exactly. Exactly. I mean, you and I both, long time in the industry, come from families that are in construction. Really people kind of forget that how important it is to give back at that level too, and to really help the industry.

I mean, when you look at something like what the Roofing Alliance does, I mean they are supporting research, they are supporting new associations. I mean, they were a key sponsor for National Women in Roofing and they do scholarships every year. And then of course, I'm a trustee on Davis, and so I think we gave out 10 $5,000 scholarships this year.

Trent Cotney: That's great.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Chicago and Florida both, they do such important work for the industry. And so trying to get people to look at that, first of all, look what they're doing, attend the events, I think that's always really important. Be involved.

But then also giving some money here at the year-end, I think that's a good way to think about it. I know I'm going to. And you're going to do something special for everybody.

Trent Cotney: Right. End of the year, if you're like me, you're thinking about how much am I going to owe in taxes? As we all know, charitable reductions, all of these are 501(c)(3)s. They all have the capability of acting as a deduction on your taxes. That's obviously a bonus.

But one of the things I like to do, and we've done this every year, is to incentivize people to donate. So I will match up to $2,500 for each association. That's $10,000 total [inaudible 00:04:31] to that through the end of the year. This is different. In previous years I've only done it on one day.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yes.

Trent Cotney: This time I'm expanding it to the end of the year. Basically you got a lot of time to think about it, figure out what your taxes are, figure out what you want to do. I'm happy to do that. This is something that is near and dear to my heart. When I leave this earth and my son takes over for me or does whatever, I want to be able to look back and see some of the good that I've done. Right?

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yes. Yes.

Trent Cotney: That's what I think we should all want to do. I think these associations are a great way to do that. They're such good people, they're so dedicated. If you go to an event, if you go to a live auction, we've got alliance tomorrow, you just make these relationships. There's a common theme of people that care about giving back. I just think it's our duty.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I do too.

Trent Cotney: So want to incentivize you, take my money. Everybody hates lawyers. Now is the chance.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Now is the time.

Trent Cotney: Now is the chance.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And it's so easy to donate because we have it all on the Giving Back page, which is sponsored by Adams and Reese, that page. But this is a personal donation coming from Trent that is going to match everything that we're able to raise between now, so basically think now as in mid-November through the end of the year, everything you do. All you do is go to RoofersCoffeeShop, go to the Giving Back page, and then pick who you want to donate to or all four. I have to tell you, last year I did all four. I wanted to be fair.

How you'll go on there, donate, it's very easy online and talk about it. I think that's the other big thing, Trent, is anybody who's doing this or seeing this, talk about it to other roofing professionals and say, "Hey, this is something." Think about it, $100 to an association, we only need 25 people to do that and we've got a match.

Trent Cotney: Yeah.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah. I mean, that's not too many people out there to do $100 each. You spend a hundred dollars going to McDonald's, it feels like anymore.

Trent Cotney: Exactly.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Not quite.

Trent Cotney: Why not do it?

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah.

Trent Cotney: Again, encourage you if nothing else, get to know what these groups do. Part of this is about education and making sure that we're getting the word out on these different groups that are doing things. Each organization does a great job of promoting itself within the organizations, but I want us to shine a bigger spotlight on it.

Like I said, if you're like me, once the holiday season is over and you got that last week before the end of the year, that's when I'm thinking, what can I do here?

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I got to do something. Yeah.

Trent Cotney: So why not? That's what I'm saying. They're all great groups.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Unless you're a procrastinator, like me, then start early, because I'm like, I just got to get it done so I don't forget.

The other thing too, I think that is really key to this, and you just mentioned it, is really in the past we've done a coffee conversation. We decided this year to try something a little bit different. We're going to be writing articles and doing videos for all the different foundations because we want to really shine a spotlight on them.

And so watch for these articles, watch for the articles coming out on Trent's involvement, but also just overall what those foundations are doing and how you can support them. Follow that call to action at the bottom of that article and you'll be able to donate from there too.

So a little bit different this year than we've done in the past, but it's the same giving, and we want everybody to be involved because this is what makes this industry great.

Trent Cotney: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Excited. I think it's a great format.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: That's awesome. Well, Trent, as always, you are so generous.

Trent Cotney: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Thank you. I am inspired as always, and I love it when we can do these in person. This is pretty awesome.

Trent Cotney: It's great.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I know. For everyone out there, thank you so much for listening. Be sure to check out all of our podcasts under the read, listen, and watch navigation on RoofersCoffeeShop, and check out those Roofing Road Trips. On your podcast channel, be sure to subscribe and set those notifications so you don't miss a single episode. We'll be seeing you next time on Roofing Road Trips.

Outro: Make sure to subscribe to our channel and leave a review. Thanks for listening. This has been Roofing Road Trips with Heidi from the rooferscoffeeshop.com.