Stepping up on giving back

By Sue Hafkemeyer / President & CEO

Last year, generosity in America reached new heights. That’s one way of looking at the data recently published by the Giving USA Foundation in its annual report on national philanthropy. The researchers found that total charitable giving was up 4 percent from 2020 to 2021, hitting a record $485 billion.

Let that number sink in for a moment. The gifts that make up that staggering total—and the individual, corporate, and foundation donors behind them—are driving critical work in every nonprofit sector in communities all across the country, including right here in the Quad Cities. What an incredible display of generosity!

There’s more to the story, though. Adjusted for inflation, giving actually dipped last year. Not much, relatively speaking—about three-quarters of a percent. But when we’re talking about hundreds of billions of dollars, that represents some truly significant resources for organizations that could always use more. 

Now, the COVID-19 pandemic showed everyone what we at the Quad Cities Community Foundation have always known: how dedicated, flexible, and resourceful our community’s nonprofits are in the face of adversity. No one knows better how to do more with less. But they shouldn’t have to. And we shouldn’t let them. Working in service of missions that lie at the heart of our community’s quality of life, they deserve as much of our generosity as we can possibly give them, especially when times are tough.  

For the 34 local nonprofits receiving $577,262 in Operations and Program Grants from the Community Foundation this month, an infusion of flexible funding is welcome good news. Making up our largest single grantmaking distribution each year, those dollars come directly from donors through 12 different funds and the Quad Cities Community Impact Fund. And those dollars fund two very important but sometimes overlooked areas on a nonprofit’s balance sheet: general operating support and ongoing programs.

In fact, in the economic climate reflected by the Giving USA report, funding those two areas could not be more important right now. Just as inflation may be taking a toll on you and your family, it’s taking a toll on the individuals and families served by our community’s nonprofits. It’s taking a toll on nonprofits themselves, too, making it even harder for them to meet those needs. At the same time, those nonprofits have been wrestling with many of the same challenges we hear about businesses facing: staffing shortages, supply chain knots, sky-high demand.

Unrestricted gifts to a nonprofit’s mission will help them weather whichever of those difficulties—or any others—factor into their unique situation. We know they can and will rise to the occasion, but we also know they will benefit immeasurably from donor support, making the most of every resource we can give them.

When times are tough, we all feel that urge to tighten our belts. Perhaps now is the time to dig deeper and ask yourself what else you can give to your community and the organizations that matter to you so they can stay focused on their missions. According to the Giving USA report, two-thirds of all charitable giving in 2021 was done by individuals, whether through checks or donor-advised funds. That’s $327 billion bringing Americans’ values, passions, and generosity to life for worthy causes. In other words, what donors do matters—what you do matters. Let’s make it matter to our community today.