Hubbell-Waterman Foundation grants $1.2 million to 43 nonprofits

Grant awards include a $140,000 commitment to Putnam Museum and Science Center

The Hubbell-Waterman Foundation, now administered in partnership with the Quad Cities Community Foundation, recently announced $1.2 million in new one-time and multi-year grants to 43 local nonprofits. Spanning the foundation’s three focus areas of education, social welfare, and culture and the arts, the grants advance the foundation’s vision of a growing, thriving, and compassionate Quad City community whose strengths are in education innovation, its quality of life, and its commitment to fostering economic opportunities.

“Through philanthropy, we can create the opportunity for people to improve and change their lives, whether it’s from an economic, health, or learning perspective,” said C. Dana Waterman III, one of the foundation’s trustees. “We are proud to support more than three dozen nonprofits with this funding.”

The foundation’s largest grant this year will go to the Putnam Museum and Science Center in Davenport, a $140,000 commitment to help fund a transformational reimagining of the museum’s facilities and programs. “We have a long history of partnership with the Putnam, and we wanted to be a lead donor in their campaign initiative,” said Waterman.

In the area of social welfare, a $50,000 grant will support the implementation of the Zero Suicide initiative launched by the Quad Cities Behavioral Health Consortium in partnership with Vera French Community Mental Health Center and the Quad Cities Open Network. Created by the global Education Development Center, Zero Suicide helps improve suicide care in healthcare systems. “This is another area we’ve been involved in supporting,” said Waterman, “and we were pleased to have an opportunity to provide funding for this important initiative.” 

Across its grantmaking, the Hubbell-Waterman Foundation funds both larger nonprofits and smaller programs, as well as established institutions and newer organizations. This year, in culture and the arts, it will provide $20,000 for general operating needs at the Quad Cities Symphony Orchestra, while a $50,000 challenge grant will help the newly opened Deanery School of Music with operational support. In addition, the foundation is providing $80,000 for grants to be made by Quad City Arts through its Arts Dollars program.

Established as a charitable trust in 1967, the Hubbell-Waterman Foundation’s grantmaking has grown in scale to almost $2 million annually in new and multi-year grants while its focus has sharpened on three areas of need in the Quad Cities. Since its founding, the foundation has awarded more than $35 million in grants.

In 2018, the foundation initiated a relationship with the Community Foundation for technological and administrative support, while continuing to make all grantmaking decisions among trustees.

“We have been thoughtfully transitioning more administrative services to the Community Foundation to be able to develop the institutional knowledge and memory necessary to support our ongoing programs,” said Waterman. “We need an organizational structure and affiliation that provide us with the continuity, stability, and sustainability that will enable the current trustees and our successors to continue to pursue the work of the foundation in the Quad Cities.”

“We’re so pleased to partner with the Hubbell-Waterman Foundation,” said Kelly Thompson, vice president of grantmaking and community initiatives at the Community Foundation. “Simply put, we can do more together—and that means philanthropy will continue to thrive and grow in our region.”

The following nonprofits received grants from the Hubbell-Waterman Foundation:

*  Indicates the first installment of a multi-year commitment.

Culture and the Arts

  • Ballet Quad Cities: Using Ballet to Improve Social Emotional Learning, Self-Expression, and Literacy in Quad City Youth—$25,000

  • Figge Art Museum: Education Programs—$55,000

  • Mississippi Valley Blues Society: Blues in the Schools: Augmenting History and Music Education with Blues Performances and Workshops—$5,000

  • Quad City Arts: Arts Dollars 2022—$80,000

  • Quad City Symphony Orchestra: Operational Support—$20,000

  • Quad Cities Community Broadcasting Group, Inc.: Access to Opportunity—$15,000

  • River Music Experience: InTune: Building Positive Futures with Music Mentoring—$20,000*

  • SBC Outreach Music & Arts Academy: Office Operations—$5,000

  • The Deanery School of Music: Operational Support in our Crucial Foundational Stages—$50,000

Education

  • Fresh Films: Yearly Learning, Skill-Building & Career Program for At-Risk Quad City Teens—$9,000

  • Girl Scouts of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois: The Girl Scout Leadership Experience for Girls in Scott and Rock Island Counties—$30,000

  • Hope At The Brick House, Inc.: Enhancing Learning for At-Risk Children—$10,000

  • Junior Achievement of the Heartland: Inspiring Tomorrows Today: JA BizTown and JA Finance Park Learning Experiences—$18,000

  • Junior Theater: Breaking Down Barriers: Shows are Free for All to See—$8,000

  • Putnam Museum and Science Center: The Putnam Reimagined—$140,000*

  • Spring Forward Learning Center: Improving Literacy Rates for At-Risk East Moline-Moline Elementary Students—$30,000*

  • WQPT Quad Cities PBS-WIU Foundation: Education and Outreach Services—$50,000

  • YMCA of the Iowa Mississippi Valley: Camping Counts: Chance for Success—$25,000

Social Welfare

  • Argrow's House: Critical Equipment—$23,940

  • Boys & Girls Clubs of the Mississippi Valley: 2021 Operational Support—$20,000

  • Cafe On Vine: Daily Readiness Program—$6,000

  • Child Abuse Council: Child Abuse Prevention and Community Education—$20,000

  • Family Resources, Inc.: Survivor Services and Victims of Crime Support—$40,000*

  • Grow Quad Cities Fund-Iowa: Quad Cities Career Connections Program: Apprenticeship Signing Day—$10,000

  • Hand in Hand: Pre-K Expansion—$41,000

  • Heart of Hope Community Outreach Ministries: Wings to Fly Higher—$20,000*

  • LivWell Cares: Free personalized placement, information & referral services for low-income seniors in the QCA—$6,000

  • NAMI Greater Mississippi Valley: Development Operations Support—$30,000

  • Narratives QC: Empowering At-Risk Young Adults to Reach Their Full Potential—$10,000

  • One Eighty: Transportation to Improve Workforce Training for At-Risk Davenport Residents—$15,500

  • Project Renewal of Davenport: Summer Youth Program—$8,500*

  • Q2030: Quad Cities Regional Vision—$40,000*

  • Quad Cities Open Network: QCON-SEAP—$25,000* 

  • Quad Cities Open Network: Zero Suicide—$50,000*

  • River Bend Food Bank: Expanding to End Hunger Capital Campaign—$20,000*

  • River Bend Food Bank: Backpack Program—$60,000

  • Safer Foundation: Youth Empowerment Program (YEP) program support—$25,000*

  • School Health Link: Program Support for Youth Healthcare Services—$10,000

  • Tapestry Farms: Investing in the Lives of Refugees in the Quad Cities—$10,000

  • The Martin Luther King Center: Operating Support—$30,000

  • Unity House: Improving the Safety and Security of Unity House Residents in the West 8th Street House—$8,000

  • Vera French Foundation: Sustainability & Expansion to Reach More At-Risk Youth—$75,000

  • Youth Service Bureau of Rock Island: Peer Justice Program—$15,000

In addition to these new grants, the Hubbell-Waterman Foundation also paid out over $750,000 in multi-year grants awarded in 2020 and 2021. To read more about grants made in prior years, click here.

Eric McDowell