The FACE of charitable giving in Fulton

The town of Fulton, Illinois, knows a thing or two about legacy. An authentic Dutch windmill overlooking the Mississippi celebrates the town’s cultural heritage, while Heritage Canyon and its recreated nineteenth-century village transport visitors into the past.

For Connie Koehn, Heidi Kolk, and Jeanine Tufty, today’s Fulton residents have their own legacies worth preserving. That’s just one of the reasons they serve on the affiliate advisory board of the Fulton Association for Community Enrichment (FACE), a geographic affiliate fund of the Quad Cities Community Foundation.

FACE was established nearly fifteen years ago to help Fulton residents leave a legacy while supporting their home community. “Who’s in the best position to support Fulton, Illinois?” asked Koehn. “It’s the people who live in this town, who care about it and know what its needs are—and its treasures. But we saw them having easy ways to give their money elsewhere and realized there wasn’t an easy way for them to give back to their own community.”

A member of the original taskforce assembled to assess the feasibility of a community foundation in Fulton, Koehn recalled that it didn’t take long to realize they would need support. “By handling our back-office functions and providing their accounting, investment, grantmaking, and fiduciary expertise, the Quad Cities Community Foundation allowed us to get up and running and operate with a strictly volunteer board.”  

“We’re proud to support an organization with so much passion for its community,” said Anne Calder, vice president of development at the Community Foundation. “With its knowledge of that community’s needs and its tireless work to help meet them, FACE makes a true impact in the Fulton area.”  

Since its founding, FACE has supported a wide variety of causes. Organizations from the fire and police departments to cemeteries, libraries, and museums have established endowments and other charitable funds through FACE, while grants made from the FACE Community Impact Fund have funded initiatives at those same organizations and others, including an observation beehive at the Andresen Nature Center, large-print books for the local library, and chemistry equipment for Fulton High School.  

In June 2020, FACE came together with the Morrison Area Community Foundation, another geographic affiliate fund of the Quad Cities Community Foundation, to award $105,000 in grants through the Illinois COVID-19 Response Fund to nonprofits in Whiteside County. The trustees of the D.S. Flikkema Foundation Fund, one of FACE’s endowment funds, also made COVID-related grants to support community needs. 

Getting the word out about FACE’s work and how it can help others is an ongoing goal. “We’re always working on communicating why it’s important to leave a legacy,” said Kolk.

“And many people don’t yet understand what an endowment is,” added Tufty, affiliate advisory board chair. 

With its 15-year anniversary approaching, FACE hopes to change that. It recently won a grant to fund a “show-and-tell” for its endowment holders with a dual goal. As each organization creates materials that promote its work and its endowment, its board will better understand that endowment and the value in growing it over the years. At the same time, it will leave the celebration with materials it can share to build up its donor base and its resources as Fulton citizens learn how their charitable giving can make a lasting impact.  

“Particularly in a small town, people who leave money to an endowment—no matter how much—are helping to build a reservoir to sustain the community,” said Koehn. “I think that’s very powerful.” 

Looking ahead, Kolk and Tufty agree that engaging the younger generation is key to advancing FACE and its impact on the Fulton community. “We’d love to see them bring in new ideas,” said Tufty.  

“Ultimately, we want to make sure that the things that are important to us in Fulton are not only maintained but furthered through long-term giving,” said Koehn. “I hope that in the future we will grow enough in terms of resources that we can play an even larger role in helping to address the needs and desires of the community.”