{"id":13573,"date":"2023-04-17T15:40:56","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T15:40:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insulation.org\/io\/?post_type=articles&p=13573"},"modified":"2023-04-17T15:40:56","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T15:40:56","slug":"the-foundation-president-and-treasurer-share-plans-for-2023","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/insulation.org\/io\/articles\/the-foundation-president-and-treasurer-share-plans-for-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"The Foundation President and Treasurer Share Plans for 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Foundation for Mechanical Insulation Education, Training, and Industry Advancement (Foundation) was just established as a 501(c)(3) in July 2021, but it has already improved the future of the industry with its activities and educational investments. For an update on the current activities, turn to page 22. For a longer perspective, Foundation President David J. Cox, Owens Corning, and Foundation Treasurer John Lamberton, Irex Contracting Group, were kind enough to share what the Foundation Board hopes to accomplish during 2023 and how you can be a part of it.<\/p>\n

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Q: A large part of the Foundation\u2019s mission is to develop educational materials for the mechanical insulation industry. What is in development for the rest of 2023?<\/h2>\n

John:<\/strong> Developing content specific to our industry is what we want to accomplish. There is no other place where someone in the mechanical insulation business can go to get courses that are specific and unique to our business. Prior to now, it just didn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n

A bunch of new classes were just announced for January and February, but there will be courses posting all throughout the year. All the topics are specific to our industry and how we do things. They will cover a lot, including safety sessions, business management and technology, and learning about insulation materials.<\/p>\n

Creating this content, however, takes a great deal of time and money, and it will be through the generosity of our members to make this all possible.<\/p>\n

Dave:<\/strong> Another part of our mission is to advance and expand the commercial and industrial insulation industry.\u00a0 A good way of doing that is to track industry progress and trends. To meet that need, the Foundation funds an industry measurement survey every 2 years (which began in 1997) to gain data about the size and growth of our industry.\u00a0 Most people I know like solid market data, and there is no other survey this comprehensive in our business\u2014that I know of \u2014that gives us these kinds of insights. This year, we are even looking at specific category groups. (See page 22 for more on this year\u2019s survey.)<\/p>\n

Q: Now that the Foundation has become a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, what are you most excited to accomplish?<\/h2>\n

John:<\/strong> Becoming a 501(c)(3) opens a lot of doors that we didn\u2019t have access to in the past. I\u2019m hoping that this status encourages more companies to donate to the Foundation, as their contributions will now be tax deductible. I\u2019m also hopeful that our new status may allow us to seek federal grants to help us develop educational content beyond what we have already done.<\/p>\n

Dave:<\/strong> I echo John\u2019s comments. He is known for saying the main function of the Foundation is to be the education resource incubator for our association. The organization has done a great job with the new Education Center as the go-to national source for education on mechanical insulation.\u00a0It is our hope that the new tax-exempt status can help us further our training and education mission.<\/p>\n

Q: What are the Foundation\u2019s goals for 2023?<\/h2>\n

John: We hope, with the contributions from our industry, to give back and focus on:<\/p>\n