(Photo by Dylan Todd)
ORLANDO | Michael Slaymaker will retire from his role as CEO of Orlando Youth Alliance at the end of 2024 after holding the position for seven years.
Slaymaker became the board president of the OYA in 2007, a time when the organization had no staff and a budget of less than $2,000. He was asked to be the first CEO of the OYA in 2017.
“I absolutely love being CEO of Orlando Youth Alliance but there’s only so many hours in the day,” Slaymaker says. “The organization is growing at leaps and bounds and they really need more than just a part-time person.”
Slaymaker says the growth in the organization is tremendous. He says when OYA first started out there was only a handful of donors, now there are almost 400 donors a year.
As the nonprofit grew, the community recognized the impact of OYA. It was honored as a recipient of the Nonprofit of the Year from The Pride Chamber and won the award for Innovation & Excellence in Fundraising from the Association of Fundraising Professionals at the 2023 National Philanthropy Day.
“It’s neat seeing the community rally and understand the future of making sure that our youth community is taken care of, motivated and engaged,” Slaymaker says. “I’ve been excited to be a part of that for 17 years and still will be in the future.”
OYA has support groups in Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Polk Counties along with many other activities for LGBTQ+ youth, a mental health referral program, oversees the Polk County Pride Festival and has given out over $100,000 in college scholarships, according to a press release.
Slaymaker will be moving into a new part-time role with the organization — Trustee of the Building Trust Fund, with a goal to purchase a building with the trust fund. Slaymaker says he will be managing the details like location and sizing.
To help transition, Slaymaker will stay on until the end of 2024 to help the new CEO in any way he can.
“We built into our budget that we could go ahead and hire somebody and have me at the same time be there as some overlap so that I can help to train and orientate,” Slaymaker says. “That way our organization won’t miss a beat.”
The OYA board of directors is conducting an executive search for a new CEO. The posting can be viewed in the coming month on afpcentralflorida.org/jobs.
