Celebrating all the shapes generosity can take

By Sue Hafkemeyer / President and CEO

This April 16–22, the Quad Cities Community Foundation joins nonprofits across our community and our country in celebrating National Volunteer Week. Like those nonprofits, we couldn’t fulfill our mission without the time, talent, and insights of the more than 160 volunteers who serve on our committees and lead our organization as members of our board of directors.

Throughout this month, we’ll share stories of some of these volunteers—people like Laura Scott and Rachel Pitchford—and their impact on our work and our community. You’ll hear why they give their time to the Community Foundation, what they personally get out of the experience, and how they hope their example might inspire others to show up for the causes they care about. We’ll also highlight local organizations like the Martin Luther King Center that have made a concerted effort to engage more volunteers in their work—with wonderful results.

We lift these stories up not just because it’s National Volunteer Week but because we recognize that generosity comes in so many different shapes—and that all those forms of generosity are necessary. When you think about the generosity that makes our scholarships and annual grant programs possible, for instance, you might naturally think of our donors and their gifts. You should also think of our volunteers, who studiously review each application and spend time working alongside our staff to ensure that those gifts reach their full potential to build a more vibrant, equitable, and inclusive Quad Cities. We simply couldn’t reach for a goal like that without each of those different generous contributions along the way.

And that’s not even to mention the students and nonprofits who apply for those scholarships and grants. They may not be volunteers in the usual sense, but they embody one of the core attributes of those who give their time: engagement. They’re engaged in the Community Foundation’s mission, yes; but even more important, they’re engaged in bettering themselves to better their communities. They care, they act, and they connect—and those are the building blocks of transformation. The Latin root of the word “volunteer” means “will,” after all.

So, when we say that everyone has a place at the Community Foundation, we really do mean everyone. We welcome your passion for doing good in your community and your ideas for how we can do more good together. Your energy and your voice are just as important as your time, talent, and treasure, when you offer them for your community's benefit. Thank you for everything you do to ensure that generosity lives here.