Also, check out GRF's 30th anniversary web page throughout 2011.

“We’re 25 years old this year,” firm founder Michael Gelman recalls proudly from the firm’s 6th-floor office overlooking Bethesda, Maryland. “But our roots go back even further than that.” The journey began, he says, when he left his job in 1977 to start a career as a sole practitioner. He had accumulated a wide range of accounting experience at his first job at Leopold & Linowes, a now-defunct accounting firm. “But, just like GR&F, they specialized in providing services to the nonprofit sector.”

At first, as with any bold new venture, going out alone was a challenge, Gelman confesses. “Despite my background, I did not start out with many nonprofit clients. When you’re trying to start a business, you take virtually any client that can pay your fees. You’re constantly in business development mode trying to make it all work.” Still, he says he knew the nonprofit industry was ultimately the direction in which he wanted to take his career.

Michael Gelman is not a man who forgets those first days and the past is always within arm’s length. Recalling that time, he reaches into a desk drawer and removes his one-page client sheet from 1978! Enthusiastically, he leans over his hardwood desk and runs a finger down the page, reading off from his list of first clients. Occasionally, he interrupts his own train of words to point out an individual or organization that he believes is still with the firm today – after 25 years. After highlighting five or six such clients, he looks up and exclaims: “How’s that for developing successful relationships?”

Over the next few years, Michael set benchmarks he hoped would help him sustain a direction and a healthy level of growth. He did well. As a result, however, he eventually began to consider the possibility of taking on an industry partner. “You reach a point,” he says, “where you realize you are beginning to succeed and you become a victim of that success. As work flows in, you begin to understand the limits of what you can and can’t do. There aren’t enough hours in the day to perform work for your clients while you continue to develop your business.” In 1979, Michael became friendly with Jerry Rosenberg, a budding accounting professional who had worked for the federal government for the past 11 years and developed experience working with government contractors. Jerry, too, was ready to go off on his own. It was a good match. The two partners hired administrative support and, in 1981, the accounting firm of Gelman & Rosenberg was launched.

But as the new endeavor got off the ground, new concerns became apparent. With power, so the adage goes, comes responsibility. “There were people in the office supporting us, but we still had a relatively young firm. We had to grow from a revenue standpoint, not just so we could survive but so we could pay people’s salaries. Which meant making sure our clients paid,” Gelman says. “We were trained as accountants to manage money and now, as businessmen, we had to manage money as well, but in a different way.” Still, the results of their hard work showed for Gelman and Rosenberg. Their practice grew throughout the 1980s as their book of business expanded and more people joined the team.

But one final addition remained: “I’ve known Michael Freedman since the 1960s when we were fraternity brothers at the University of Maryland.” Gelman thinks a moment, then laughs. “Even back then, everyone thought Freedman was some kind of accounting wizard.” Over the years, the former schoolmates stayed in touch. Gelman occasionally took Michael Freedman to lunch, impressed by his friend’s knowledge and making no attempt to hide the fact that he wanted him to join the firm. “I always thought Michael would work well with Jerry and me,” Gelman says. Finally, Michael Freedman relented and, in 1988, the firm assumed its current title, Gelman, Rosenberg & Freedman.

When Freedman came, he brought colleagues who have since grown with the firm and become critical to its identity. “Gelman, Rosenberg & Freedman wouldn’t be what it is today without our tax partners, Walter and Eric; our international rock-star accountant, Bob Albrecht; and David Graling, our managing partner, who steers the ship and keeps everyone in line,” says Gelman, his voice drifting to silence. “Jim Larson and Terri McKnight have joined on more recently, but they’ve been a welcome and steady addition. We’re fortunate to have had a lot of continuity over the years, both with clients who’ve shown loyalty and with our people inside who’ve made us strong. Our reputation and standing in the Washington-area community could not survive without these people.”

It’s been an interesting ride. Michael Gelman recalls some of the more challenging (and humorous) moments over the years. “The firm is like a tight-knit family, but one year it literally became that. It was busy season, February or March maybe, we were right in the middle of things and then suddenly, without warning, our secretary quit. We had ten thousand things going on at once and we had no idea where our administrative support would come from. On the spur of the moment, I called my wife, Susie, and Jerry called his wife, Shelley, and they both came in to help with the emergency…and for the rest of the busy season they worked with us, managing all our administrative services! It’s not anything we could ever have imagined happening in a million years. And they both said, “Never again!”

“And then…this is funny, and shows just how long we’ve been around. It was just after fax machines came out and people still weren’t sure how to use them or what they meant. We had one client who faxed us his settlement sheet and he wrote on it, ‘Please keep this; it’s my only copy.’ You could envision this rolled-up piece of paper making its way through this thin wire. I immediately pinned the comment up on our kitchen wall.”

And what values does Gelman, Rosenberg & Freedman represent? What would we like our clients to know about us? “We value community,“ Gelman emphasizes. “We hope our clients see us as very dedicated to what we do on both a professional and a personal level. I have often said that we should treat each client as if he’s our “only” client. We have come to specialize in nonprofits not simply because of our training, but because of a general desire to improve our communities. I am inspired by the people who work in the nonprofit sector – they work for low pay but they have this incredible commitment to their missions. It enhances my level of professional satisfaction to know we’re doing good work to help these groups.”

Gelman sighs, leans back in his chair, and puts his hands behind his head. “I guess that’s 25 years in a nutshell. We created a new accounting firm from scratch…built something from nothing. Thinking about all the years that have passed reminds me of a quote that’s always been important to me. It’s by Machiavelli.”

He sits forward again, rummages through his ever-resourceful desk, and removes a yellowed sheet of paper that has seen more than its share of years. He holds the bottom of the paper in one hand, glances down at the words printed there, and reads:

‘It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage, than the creation of a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institutions and merely lukewarm defenders in those who would gain by the new ones.’

“It’s scary starting something new, but invigorating” he says, looking up with a smile. “But we launched our firm anyway and look what happened. Look how far we’ve come. Convincing clients and those who have worked for us over the years that there’s sustainable value in what we do….I think, over a period of 25 years, we’ve done enough to convince people that our work and our employees really can make things happen. I think we’ve done enough to prove this place really is special.”