Last week, the RMC Research & Education Foundation formally kicked off an effort to help "Bridge the Gap" between program funding commitments, such as the work taking place at the Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSH) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and other projects, and the required use of endowment funds to fund these programs. Although the Foundation’s Board of Trustees recognizes the time is not right for embarking on a major capital campaign, they chose to move forward with a more modest campaign to "Bridge the Gap" to continue to fund these important programs without continued erosion to the endowment. The concept is to raise at least enough money to meet the annual commitment to fund the MIT CSH and the other foundation programs in 2013 and 2014 without using principal funds.

In just the quiet phase before the official launch of the "Bridge the Gap" campaign, the Foundation has raised $990,000 toward its roughly $2.3 million goal, including 18 companies contributing at the leadership level of $50,000 over two years. Most payments are occurring in 2013 and 2014 to support the effort.