The Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management (BCNM) at Robert Morris University is ten years old this year. Our board of directors has been stellar in its guidance and support. Founding board chair Bill Meyer of the United Way, his successors, Peter Lucas of Maya Designs, Bill Stein, of Family Tyes, and now Rebecca Lucore, of the Bayer Foundation have been invaluable partners in our development. Each of our board members has helped us to define our mission and deliver our services. They have taught stimulating classes, attended countless planning sessions and participated in repeated evaluation of our work. I am personally grateful to each one. Please take a moment to look at our Advisory Board - we feel very blessed in our fine leadership!

Being an integral part of RMU these ten years has been a privilege and a pleasure. Recently retired University President Edward A. Nicholson has been BCNM's "Godfather," along with Scott Izzo of the Richard King Mellon Foundation and Jim Denova of the Benedum Foundation. Also, Robert Morris University's President, Gregory Dell'Omo, Provost David Jamison, and Dean Derya Jacobs of the School of Business have been unstinting in their support and friendship.

These ten years also have brought us enormous luck in regards to the people who have chosen to work for BCNM. Each staff member - Scott Leff, Carrie Tancraitor, Cindy Leonard, Carrie Richards, Garrett Cooper, Jeff Forster and Yvonne VanHaitsma - has brought valuable skills and a tremendous willingness to work on behalf of our clients, students and community.

So what have we accomplished because of this abundance of talent? In ten years, the Bayer Center has:

• Executed more than 500 contracts for consulting work, mostly intensive and specific;
• Educated 4,226 participants in our continuing education programs;
• Graduated 6 cohorts from RMU's Master of Science in Nonprofit Management degree program;
• Attracted more than 300 smart and generous volunteer coaches, mentors and teachers - including ESC, the United Way's Managing for Excellence Initiative, class instructors and Marketplace mentors;
• Conducted useful and practical research on the region's nonprofit wages and benefits and the technology usage

With the help of these fine folks and all of you, the next ten years look full of promise and opportunities to serve. Our driving question remains: How can BCNM use its resources to help the region's nonprofit leadership build the strongest possible community solutions for a just and humane society? Please help us to continue to get the answer right! What's next?

Sincerely,

Peggy Morrison Outon
Executive Director