In the late 1990s, many employers were facing short-term and longer-term human resource challenges. Those challenges have prompted many employers to pursue new strategies for finding and retaining qualified employers. Intermediary organizations have emerged as a valuable resource for helping employers find and keep qualified workers. Whatever their institutional form and whether they are in the private, public, or nonprofit sector, employer intermediaries perform one of or more of the following general functions: (1) organizing and representing employers (they can bring employers together to aggregate and represent their interests in work force developing planning and policy); (2) brokering (they can serve as a broker between employers and local players in work force development, including educational institutions, social service agencies, and community-based organizations); and (3) delivering services (they can deliver services directly to employers and their work force, often serving a particular target population). Nine employer intermediaries performing one or more of these functions have been identified and profiled. The following are among the six challenges and opportunities that emerged from the profiles: targeting priority clients among segments of the employer community; conducting effective outreach to other employer and community institutions; matching organizational capacity to proposed activities; and gearing funding strategies to the long haul. (MN)