AIA Ohio Foundation: Looking to the Future
Bruce Sekanick, FAIA, President of the AIA Ohio Foundation Board of Trustees
The AIA Ohio Foundation recently made a number of changes that are focused on strengthening the organization and positioning it for future growth. Meeting in late June, the Board of Trustees acted on several initiatives that have been on the organization’s radar throughout much of this past year.
The Foundation is pleased to announce that through a nearly six month-long selection process, the Board selected Dan Bickerstaff, AIA, from AIA Cleveland to fill one of the open trustee positions. There were many strong candidates, and all of the individuals nominated for a trustee position will be considered when the Board fills a second position later this fall. We congratulate Dan and welcome him to the Board.
Addressing the open trustee positions were only part of the work of the Foundation over the past three months. In order to strengthen our reporting process, the Board also adopted new financial policies that were developed to provide more clarity in our financial transactions and to enhance the ability of the board to make appropriate decisions regarding our investments. These new policies, presented by Treasurer John Rogers, FAIA, FACHA, were developed to as best possible, mirror rules in already in place at AIA Ohio in order to minimize confusion of operating policies within the two entities.
To those who have followed our past articles, the AIA Ohio Foundation has been looking at new branding as a result of the change to the AIA logo. As an affiliated organization of the AIA, we wanted to maintain a strong connection to AIA, but we did not want to duplicate the AIA logo. A committee led by Eric Pros, AIA, went through three iterations of designs and presented several variations to the Board. Going forward, the AIA Ohio Foundation will be represented with a new logo – one that clearly identifies who we are, while also connecting the Foundation visually to the work and goals of AIA and AIA Ohio.
Early fall will see the Foundation reaching out to members as part of our Emeritus Campaign and our Marr Citation program. We also plan to announce a new fundraiser for 2022. All of these efforts are dedicated toward helping those in the profession, and those soon-to-be in the profession, meet their financial obligations and advance their knowledge. The Foundation is please to again this year help fund the AIA Akron laptop program for Kent State students in need of financial assistance.
Finally, the next meeting of the Board will take place in October, and the Board asks that anyone who is planning on submitting a request for funding contact the AIA Ohio Foundation with you request over the next few days. Our policies require a 30-day prior notification to the Board for all grant requests and we hope to address the requests, as best possible, in a timely manner.
The Board is pleased to have the opportunity to advance the profession through giving, and we thank AIA Ohio for your support.