The world has less than a decade to meet the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals established in 2015. In that same year, the IFMA Foundation became aware of these critical objectives and, in addition to its educational responsibilities for certification of academic programs and scholarships, created the Global Workforce Initiative (GWI) which provides enablement for nine of the other goals.

Since that time, the Foundation has developed partnerships with underserved communities and programs that assist them. Through advocacy and education, the Foundation has helped these programs meet critical goals. There is connectivity between many of the goals which not only constitute a sustainable environment, but also include social and economic objectives. This is why adoption of the SDGs are so critical to transforming FM.

SDG 11: Partnerships for Sustainable Development

The Hot Bread Kitchen

Near the training facilities of the Hot Bread Kitchen in East Harlem, New York, USA, is a group of women learning the culinary industry while nearby another education program takes place. The women in this room are learning the essentials of facility management, studying for a career they had not imagined. The partnerships between the IFMA Foundation, the HBK, the IFMA’s New York City Chapter are increasing the local FM workforce while helping minority women and immigrant communities obtain good jobs (see Figure 2).

“In response to disproportionate job loss in the food sector industry in 2020, Hot Bread Kitchen quickly adapted their workforce programming. In partnership with the IFMA Foundation, a facility management training program was launched,” said Karen Bornarth, HBK vice president of industry partnerships and initiatives. “This field, which historically has had a lack of gender and racial diversity offers the potential for higher salaries, stability, and opportunities for professional growth.” This is an example of how the Foundation is supporting multiple sustainability goals with one program.

SDG: 16 Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions

JUST FM

Members of the IFMA Foundation believe in the shared-value investment of a better-prepared sustainable future and workforce. The key to unleashing a company’s competitive advantage and increasing corporate growth and potential lies in training today’s youth and incumbent workers for tomorrow’s business challenges. Partnerships work and can make a difference in social justice and FM. GWI programs like the one in Denver, the IFMA Foundation, together with its partners and major donors, Sodexo, ABM and A&A Elevated Facility Services, promote JUST FM programs to attract minorities and women to the field through education, outreach and internship programs.

Besides being a great profession, particularly when FMs are on the front lines of ensuring that buildings are safe and healthy for people to return, FM can contribute to the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental and Social Governance (ESG) measures tracked by corporations. JUST FM is an industry movement promoting how good FM practices are contributing to an organization’s social justice policies, as well as FM’s benefits to health and well-being, productivity, cost savings and experiential, creative environments as well as contributions to the local and global communities and the planet.

SDG 11: Sustainable Cities & Communities

RISE in the U.S. Rocky Mountains

Another FM talent development program is RISE (Rebuilding an Inclusive and Sustainable Economy), sponsored by the Denver Economic Development and Opportunity (DEDO), partnering with the IFMA Foundation, the IFMA Denver Chapter, industry partners and the Community College of Denver. The class is composed entirely of minority students, including 50 percent women and 50 percent veterans.

The class received an IFMA certificate for completing the Essentials of FM as well as the chance to compete in an exciting challenge called “Ignite FM” sponsored by the Foundation and IFMA’s Denver Chapter.

Houston & FM apprentices

In April of 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor named the IFMA Foundation the national sponsor for facility manager apprenticeship programs. Partnering with Goodwill Industries of Houston, Workforce Incubator, and IFMA’s Houston Chapter, the Foundation was awarded a grant from the Texas Workforce Commission for an FM pre-apprenticeship program. This program, now part of the IFMA Foundation Center for Apprenticeships and Work-based Learning, will provide FM training to 50 underserved area citizens. The team will work with local employers to provide entry-level jobs to students completing their IFMA Essentials of FM certificate and OSHA10, filling the talent gap which is expected to grow in that area by 16 percent each year for the next 10 years.

SDG 8: Decent work & Economic Growth

Google & the workforce intermediary

While Google needs no introduction, its reputation as a company with a strong culture and high employee engagement spilling over to the FM and corporate real estate functions may not be so well known. Google management sought the value of partnering with the Foundation to enhance its upskilling strategy as well as increase its internal talent pool.

The Foundation partnered with the San Mateo County Community College District’s Contract Education unit to design and deliver FM and high-performance leadership training to Google employees and its FM outsourcing partner, Cushman and Wakefield.

A recent article by Professor Nicola Lowe chides American companies for failing to take some of the responsibility for skill development and not leave it up to education systems. “Skill shortages are a problem of employment, not education,” she said. Lowe calls nonprofit organizations like the IFMA Foundation “workforce intermediaries” who can help companies with skill enhancing strategies.

SDG 4: Quality Education

Accredited Degree Programs (ADPs) & scholarships

The Foundation’s GWI serves as an intermediary to the FM industry by providing academic accreditation to FM academic programs through ABET Applied and Natural Science Accreditation Commission. It sets the standards to certify quality FM education programs (ADPs-Accredited Degree Programs and RDPs-Registered Degree Programs) in higher education institutions such as Pratt institute, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Breda University, University of Minnesota, Temple University and Singapore University of Social Sciences, amongst others. This program and scholarships initiated the Foundation’s work in 1990.

FAMU’s early adoption of GWI

One ADP in the U.S., Florida A&M University (FAMU), a historically black college and university, was one of the first academic institutions to establish an innovative program to introduce FM to grade school students through a tennis and nutrition program. Directed by Dr. Roscoe Hightower, FAMU also used the Madden Football video game to explain FM through building a football stadium, along with creating a budget to operate and maintain it. Many of these FAMU students have also received IFMA Foundation scholarships through the years.

Scholarships & sustainability

The IFMA Foundation has awarded US$1.7 million in scholarships to almost 600 students in the last 20 years. Recently, a Sustainability Facility Professional® (SFP®) Scholarship was implemented by Eric Teicholz, a former trustee of the Foundation.

“There is a growing sense of urgency about climate change and its impact on all aspects of our lives and the environment,” said Teicholz. “Unlike the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no vaccine to mitigate its impact. The Eric Teicholz Sustainability Scholarship program has been established to provide financial support for a future generation of facility managers in their study of climate science as it relates to the built environment.”

Trustees meet the students

In 2016, trustees of the IFMA Foundation met FM students at Chaffey College in California. This was the Foundation’s first GWI program and the trustees were excited to meet this class of young learners and older incumbent workers who were looking for a new career.

Most of the students were Hispanic or came from low-income families. One woman sat next to her son who she had convinced to learn about the FM industry, lured by the number of jobs with good salaries available in the area and the chance to be part of sustainability work. She was so enthusiastic about FM that she became president of a newly formed IFMA student chapter that earned IFMA’s Student Chapter of the Year award the next year for its accomplishments at the IFMA’s World Workplace.

During the meeting, trustees talked about their own successful careers in the FM field. One young woman was fascinated by one trustee’s story, Tony Pucci, a senior vice president at ABM. After that meeting, she was so enthusiastic and eager to jump into work, she became an intern at Tony's company and was later hired to be an operations manager. Therefore companies like ABM, as well as JLL and Sodexo, are corporate advisors to the Foundation which acts as a talent scout for their job searches.

The Chaffey program is the result of the faith of a local CFO who believed the GWI could take people out of poverty by providing meaningful employment. She introduced the Foundation to administrators and professors who helped start the program. Later, the region’s economic development agency joined as a partner which provided even more assistance to the GWI. Local IFMA chapters provided expertise and an IFMA Fellow as an instructor.

These are just some of the ways the IFMA Foundation supports many of the UN's SDGs while inspiring participants.

The program “unlocked something in my brain. It brought me from a dark place and was my lifesaver. I wanted to come out of the pandemic a better person. Now I want to give back,” said Quiotta H., a graduate from the Hot Bread Kitchen.

FMs can assist in these SDG endeavors by joining the IFMA Foundation’s Virtual Summit Feb. 24-25. The event will also provide FMs an opportunity to give input to an ISO standard workgroup. For more information, visit ifmafoundation.org.