Reaching new heights—together
By Sherry Ristau / President and CEO
I have said before that philanthropy is never an accident. Behind every act of generosity is a story, an intention. Today, I can add that the same goes for the work of transformation. Without strategic priorities—a clear vision and a plotted course of action to make it happen—we can’t do justice to our mission to transform the region through the generosity of donors.
Yet even the best plans change, as every one of us has learned. When we established our last set of strategic priorities three years ago, we couldn’t have guessed what lay ahead. First, the historic flooding of the Mississippi in 2019 and then, the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020—both presented unprecedented challenges for our community and asked us all to adapt in ways we might not have thought we could. But that ability to adapt, to bring to bear what’s best in us and to learn as we go, means we’ve emerged stronger and more resilient than before.
It’s in the spirit of building on all our accomplishments over the past three years—planned and unplanned—that we set our sights on leading the way to an even more vibrant and inclusive community. After a year of reflecting on our past and looking ahead to the future, with our updated strategic framework, our board and staff are powered by incredible energy and excitement to take our work with donors, nonprofits, and the Quad Cities community to new heights.
I want to take a moment to share with you where we’re heading as an organization with our new strategic priorities.
Our first major priority is to keep connecting the generosity we know thrives in the region with the Community Foundation’s mission. The Disaster Recovery Fund was a powerful reminder that anyone and everyone can engage in building the future of the Quad Cities community through the Community Foundation. That’s a message we believe in.
And when we say anyone and everyone, we mean it. Our second strategic priority builds on the commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion we made with our last plan. This goal starts with our own organization and extends to the ways we use our voice and charitable gifts to amplify efforts across the region. Already our executive team is engaged in learning and implementing the latest thinking on how to foster an environment where all feel they are welcome and can thrive, and the two $100,000 Transformation Grants we made early this year were in focused support of equity in the region.
With our third priority, we go straight to where philanthropic transformation happens: the intersection of what’s most important to donors and what’s most important to the community, today and into the future. While those things may change, the principles that guide us to them—community, leadership, collaboration, and excellence, to name just a few—don’t. We are firm in our commitment to donors and fulfilling their philanthropic goals. We are also uniquely positioned to thrive at this intersection, building on everything we know about the community we love to help connect the generosity of donors to the areas of greatest need and most promising opportunity.
Our intentions are set, and we will continue to learn and set new goals—all in service of earning our reputation as the region’s trusted champion of generosity, growing the base of philanthropists in the Quad Cities, and being deeply effective in helping donors achieve their goals.
To everyone who’s played a role in our story, the story that guides our next steps, thank you. We’re here to work with you to further generosity in the region—and we can’t wait to see what we’ll achieve together.