SIOR Foundation President’s Message
Sponsored by the
SIOR Foundation 2012 President, J. Peter Whatmore, SIOR,
Senior Vice President, Executive Managing Director Southwestern
Ontario CBRE Limited, Ontario, Canada
Promoting and supporting initiatives that educate, expand, and
enhance the commercial real estate community and its stakeholders
Celebrating 50 Years of Service
1962-2012
Foundation on Track
to Deliver in 2012
The SIOR Foundation successfully completed one of our best
Phonathons in Dallas on December 5, and our collections from this
event have both exceeded budget and my personal expectations
for this event. We received pledges of $174,400 and at the time
of writing, our collection exceeds 90 percent. Truly an outstanding
achievement that speaks to the generosity of our members. Thanks
to all who supported this event, which continues to be our most
significant fundraiser of the year.
At the Miami conference, we held our Great Escape Giveaway
event, a staple in our annual spring fundraising.
Although results are not available at the time of writing, I want
to acknowledge and thank Fundraising Chair Mike Ohmes and his
committee for their great work and enthusiasm in advancing our
success this year.
As we recover from the devastation of the last several years of
economic decline, our members have generously contributed to our
success by sharing in their own. And while our dream of increasing our corpus to $5 Million by 2012 will not be achieved, your
Board of Trustees remains completely focused on the importance of
this milestone, and have recommitted to attaining this goal by 2015.
We need your continued support and help, so please think of SIOR
Foundation as part of your Charitable giving program.
We have many opportunities throughout the year in which you
can participate, and one of the easiest is the 1% Solution! The 1%
solution is a contribution made at the time of closing of a transaction where the member or members involved agree to make a
donation to the SIOR Foundation of 1% of the commission earned.
What a great way to celebrate success, and in fact get our clients to
join the celebration with perhaps their own contribution in support
of your generosity. A $100,000.00 fee could earn the Foundation a
$1,000.00 donation from the transaction, less than the cost of the
celebration dinner you planned. It is a perfect opportunity to support our work and an excellent time to make a meaningful contribution. Please join this great initiative today.
Another way to participate is through one of our two Named
Funds. These funds pay tribute to two long time SIOR’s who made
significant contributions not only to SIOR, but to the broader com-
mercial real estate sector:
• The Mildred C. Hanson, SIOR Memorial Scholarship, named in
recognition of the late Millie Hanson, was created to support and
recognize bright, talented woman who are working on degrees
in real estate. Every year we receive applications for scholar-
ships from across the country, and this year will be no exception.
Should you know anyone who is working on a degree in real
estate who you think would be a worthy candidate, please advise
our staff so we can secure applications for potential funding. I
would hope that every Chapter in the organization would give
consideration to seeking out potential candidates for this highly
sought after Scholarship program. We will be mailing informa-
tion to University’s shortly.
• In 2010, The David T. Houston, Jr. SIOR Scholarship was developed to honour our long-time member, educator, and mentor to
