Quad Cities Disaster Recovery Fund

Being a generous community requires connection, collaboration, and preparation so that we can advocate and respond when a disaster happens. The Quad Cities is just this kind of community.

Thanks to the generosity of over 250 donors and businesses who have made gifts to the fund thus far, the Quad Cities Community Foundation has made two grants totaling $80,000 to be immediately administered in partnership with the Quad Cities Open Network. Funds will provide swift and flexible financial support to all households who lived in 324 Main Street.

As we bring the Quad Cities Disaster Recovery Fund for COVID-19 relief to a close, it is our privilege to report the profound impact of the generosity shown by our community.

The moment Kathy Weiman walked into a COVID-19 vaccination site and saw the line of older Quad Citizens waiting to receive a shot thanks to her organization’s efforts, she knew the stress of the last year was worth it.

For many refugees in the Quad Cities, it was hard to feel informed as the pandemic unfolded. With the help of a grant from the Quad Cities Disaster Recovery Fund, World Relief helped bridge that gap.

More than $1.8 million was granted from the Quad Cities Disaster Recovery Fund at the Quad Cities Community Foundation to support the region during the COVID-19 pandemic.

When disaster strikes, communities must come together to work together to figure out how to respond immediately, and recover long-term.

As the world faced an unprecedented crisis last year, giving did not slow—it accelerated—with donor advised funds, which you can start at the Community Foundation.

It seems like only yesterday—and a lifetime ago at the same time—that I was sitting with my colleagues Kelly Thompson and Anne Calder in the Quad Cities Community Foundation office on March 12, 2020, an otherwise uneventful Thursday afternoon were it not for the emerging news about the novel coronavirus.

“I wish you could have seen the expression on his face when I told him he was going to get to bring home his very own desk,” Ann Schwickerath, executive director at Project Renewal, recalled.

Here’s the headline: Three-quarters of responding Quad Cities nonprofits are still operating at or above pre-pandemic capacity—providing the same or greater services as before.

When Sam Reidy kicked off her second year as an intern at Exelon’s Quad Cities nuclear plant and was reminded that the annual philanthropy project led by the summer’s interns could not be done on-site because of COVID-19 restrictions, she knew she faced a unique hurdle. “We met with the senior leadership team and they challenged us to still figure out a way to do it,” she said.

The Quad Cities Community Foundation was started nearly 60 years ago by the community, for the community. Donations to the Quad Cities Disaster Recovery Fund are part of a legacy of generosity that has a ripple effect on the lives of people in the Quad Cities today, tomorrow, and in the year ahead.

Lynn and Dennis Quinn started an endowment fund and seeded it with “a small amount” at the Quad Cities Community Foundation many, many years ago. Their intent was to begin a relationship with the Community Foundation, and then go from there.

Quad Citizens across the region have stepped up over the past two months to support the Quad Cities Disaster Recovery Fund at the Quad Cities Community Foundation. Thank you to these businesses who have made contributions to the fund.

More than $1 million has now been swiftly granted back out into the region to support eastern Iowa and western Illinois’ response to the COVID-10 pandemic.

The Mount Carroll Community Foundation has awarded $50,000 in grants to support Carroll County nonprofits in their response efforts to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Fulton Association for Community Enrichment (FACE) and Morrison Area Community Foundation (MACF) have awarded $105,000 in grants to support Whiteside County nonprofits in their response efforts to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lynn and Dennis Quinn of Bettendorf, and their family, will match every dollar donated up to $50,000 with two additional dollars from their $100,000 gift, to result in an additional $150,000 for relief and recovery.

As both sides of our river town look to reopen and continue to address the long-term impacts of this pandemic, the “how” looks different than it did two months ago—even two weeks ago. The “why,” however, has not changed. In fact, it is what we are unified in. It is what we have in common.

A third round of grants have been awarded to Quad Cities-area nonprofits supporting the community’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Linda Bowers stepped up early with a $50,000 challenge gift to spur local, individual, and business giving to the Disaster Recovery Fund. Now, she is gifting another $50,000 challenge to the Quad Cities so that the fund can continue to meet basic needs for those most vulnerable people during this pandemic.

A second round of grants have been awarded to Quad Cities-area nonprofits supporting the community’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Joel Ryser knows resilience. And he also knows generosity. Now, he’s donating 25 percent of every purchase from his nonprofit, Hot Glass, to the Quad Cities Disaster Recovery Fund.

Quad Citizens raised more than $150,000 during the “Unite Quad Cities for COVID-19 Recovery” giving event spearheaded by KWQC TV6, The Quad-City Times, United Way of the Quad Cities, and the Quad Cities Community Foundation.

The first $150,000 donated this Monday will be matched dollar-for-dollar. All contributions will support the Quad Cities Disaster Recovery Fund at the Quad Cities Community Foundation.

Media, foundations and nonprofit funders in the Quad Cities are uniting to support the community’s response during this COVID-19 pandemic. “Unite Quad Cities for COVID-19 Recovery” will be a 24-hour giving event this Monday, April 6.

The COVID-19 federal stimulus bill includes several encouragements for charitable giving that can help all of us share generously with the charities we most care about during this critical time of need.

The first grants made from the Quad Cities Disaster Recovery Fund to support the community’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic have been awarded. Since opening the grant program last week, nearly 70 nonprofits have requested upwards of $2.5 million in support.

Trinity Health Foundation has committed $50,000 for the health and wellbeing of their front-line staff and community.