Quad Cities Community Foundation provides more than $100,000 in grants to local nonprofits to help build capacity

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If you wanted to reserve one of the meeting spaces in the Moline Public Library, you would find a clean, welcoming location but—they will admit—very little in the way of technology. 

“As the needs of our community have changed, the library has transformed into a community space, a central location where people can come together and it’s an incredible honor to serve as that place,” said Kelly Giovanine, marketing development coordinator at the library. “But it has been almost 12 years since we’ve had an upgrade. Libraries need to be at the forefront of technology and when someone walks in and sees an old-school projector from the 1980s, it doesn’t speak well for us.”

Thanks to a $15,000 Nonprofit Capacity Building Grant from the Quad Cities Community Foundation, the library will see some upgrades in the New Year.

The Community Foundation recently awarded more than $100,000 to 10 local organizations to help them build their capacity. The grants provide funding for staff training, board development, strategic planning, technology, and critical equipment needs to help them transform their ability to carry out their mission. The grants are made from the Community Impact Fund, a permanent endowment that enables the Community Foundation to respond to high-priority needs and opportunities in the community as they arise.

Helping nonprofits build capacity is one of the best ways to help them accomplish their mission, said Kelly Thompson, vice president of grantmaking and community initiatives.

“We are committed to supporting a strong nonprofit sector in the Quad Cities. This particular funding equips nonprofits with support for things like technology and strategic planning, so they can focus on their infrastructure and move forward in their mission,” Thompson said. “It’s a worthy investment as these organizations work to meet the needs in our community. Each of these organizations is utilizing this funding in exciting ways.”

The Moline Public Library has a large space to accommodate up to 225 people and a children’s room where more than 100 people can meet for movies, concerts, meetings and STEM programs. “But we don’t even have a projector that works,” Giovanine said. “People call to reserve it and they end up going somewhere else because we don’t have the amenities.”

The library will leverage the $15,000 alongside an additional $35,000 they have raised through the Friends of the Moline Public Library, to purchase and install a new sound system, a 75-inch large screen TV, a SmartScreen and upgrade computers. The library has been fundraising for the upgrades for several years and would have had to wait to raise more funds without the grant.

“Each year, our general operating needs become our priority,” she added. “We are so thankful for the Community Foundation and what they do for the community as a whole. Without them, so many great things in our community would simply not happen.”

The following organizations have been awarded Nonprofit Capacity Building Grants this winter:

Nonprofit Capacity Building Grants are awarded in the spring and fall each year. Online letters of interest for 2019 spring grants will be accepted from February 1, 2019 through March 15, 2019 at https://www.qccommunityfoundation.org/nonprofitcapacitybuilding.

For more information about starting a fund to support the region, or on how to apply for a grant, visit www.qccommunityfoundation.org.

Melanie JonesGrant, Nonprofits, Nonprofit Capacity Building Grant