Visionary investments in today and tomorrow

By Sue Hafkemeyer / President and CEO

In a few short weeks, I’ll be celebrating my one-year anniversary as president and CEO of the Quad Cities Community Foundation. Over the course of those 12 months, I’ve witnessed just about all the ways our community’s generosity runs throughout our organization’s work, from gifts of all kinds and sizes made by passionate Quad Citizens to grants that fuel our region’s nonprofits as they grow and thrive.

This past Sunday, at my first-ever Community Foundation Scholarship Reception, I had the joy of seeing one more example of our mission at work. All in one room were the generous donors who make these scholarships possible and the ambitious students who are at such an exciting moment on their educational journey—along with our dedicated scholarship committee volunteers and, of course, proud members of our staff and board. 

This year, we awarded $522,400 in scholarships to more than 50 students—nearly $50,000 more than we awarded last year. I encourage you to read our full announcement and join us in congratulating each and every student who received a scholarship.

With everyone gathered at our reception, I couldn’t help but appreciate how our community’s students were getting a firsthand experience of philanthropy. For many of them, receiving a scholarship is their introduction to the work of the Community Foundation and our mission to transform our region through generosity.

Transform our region through generosity—aren’t those words so wonderfully embodied in the actions of our donors to scholarship funds?

Those donors understand that scholarships are important not just in shaping students’ futures but also in nurturing the broader economic development of our community. Helping to open doors to higher education and skills training for our future workforce, their generosity is vital to those students as individuals—and it’s vital to our whole community’s ability to flourish in the decades to come.  

While I watched students and their families chat and share refreshments with donors after the scholarships were given out, I felt hopeful that enduring connections were being forged—not just between givers and recipients but between our future leaders and the Community Foundation. And as I count down the days to the start of my second year at the Community Foundation, I look ahead hopeful that they will see a place for themselves in our mission—that no matter where their education takes them, they will always find their way back to their community.