Soon I will begin my term as chairman and I would like to personally thank Jim Voss for his outstanding leadership this past year and express my gratitude for the opportunity to serve the PCI Foundation in this capacity.
The start of a new year is always a good time to stop and reflect, so I’d like to take a moment to look back on the enormous accomplishments the PCI Foundation has had in just 12 short years. We’ve gone from connecting with 40 students our first year to more than 550 students last year. We started with two studios, and to date have been collaborating with 25 studios from across the country.
Going into 2020, here are just a few of the accomplishments from 2019:
· redesigned and modernized our website
· launched Project Precast
· created a professional video series
· increased student engagement through social media
· expanded our sustaining donor program
· generated 74 new donors and $83,000 though our opt-out program
· established a new community engagement partner award program
Folks, if you are not drinking the Kool-Aid it is time to pour yourself a glass!
We have received eight applications so far for studios from some of the most prestigious universities in the country. This means that we could realistically be looking at 20 studios in 2020 and engaging with more than 1200 students on an annual basis.
This is a game changer that is without question the best investment we can make as producer members for the highest return. There is nothing more powerful than teaching students about our precast concrete systems.
The curiosity these young minds exude while learning about the attributes of precast concrete quickly transforms into a level of comfort and an appreciation for the value of our solutions and products, which results in them specifying our systems down the road as working professionals.