Bruce Sekanick, FAIA
President, AIA Ohio Foundation
The AIA, and the architectural profession in general, supports a wide range of interest groups. From health care knowledge committees to technology and career stage member groups, the profession has something for everyone. The hard part is connecting with these groups, as they are often found on the outside edges of the “official” AIA groups and organizations and, the smaller they are, the harder they are to find. That can certainly be said of Foundations that are affiliated with or support state components.
In the mid-2000s, I reached out to the AIA to obtain a list of chapter affiliated foundations and, I was a little surprised that no such list existed. While architectural foundations do not exist in all states, and while they are not “official” entities under the AIA, many AIA state components have established foundations to support their mission related to scholarships, grants, research, and public awareness. In Ohio, the AIA Ohio Foundation, originally chartered as the Architects Society of Ohio Foundation, was chartered in 1968. The Foundation, like many of its counterparts across the country, focuses on supporting the needs of students as they prepare to enter the profession.
In early 2024, the AIA Ohio Foundation became aware of a startup group of architecturally affiliated foundations that started to meet in late 2023 to discuss common issues, needs and concerns. While each foundation in the group had different functions, focuses, and leadership structures, the groups were all dealing with the same concerns on how to best support the profession. In nearly all the organizations, scholarships were, and are, the primary focus of their existence. In some cases, the foundations were created to develop most or all the programming for the state AIA component. In other cases, the foundations were established to run affiliated Centers for Architecture. Other groups are still trying to find their focus and purpose beyond basic scholarships. In all cases, the foundations, and their board leadership, were working without access to other similarly focused organizations. The Architectural Foundation Forum (AFF) was established to change that.
Since its creation, the Architectural Foundation Forum has helped connect architectural foundations from all parts of the country. From state organizations like California, Utah, South Carolina and Iowa to local components such as Baltimore, Washington DC, Austin and Tampa Bay, the group has grown to include representatives from a range of both new and established boards. With monthly meetings focusing on either topics of common interest or the work of a specific foundation, the Architectural Foundation Forum is helping foundations of all sizes use the experience of others to improve their programs and meet their missions. The AIA Ohio Foundation continues to work with the AFF to discuss new opportunities and to share our programs and experiences with others.
As the AIA Ohio Foundation works to strengthen and expand our programs and to increase our scholarship opportunities, we look toward collaborating with other similar groups to provide guidance and assistance. The AFF provides the AIA Ohio Foundation with the resources to improve our operations, programs for members, students and the public.