What does it mean to be a positive presence?
For Sister Concetta Bendicente, it meant working and living among the community she hoped to reach. In the mid-1970s, she led the efforts to rehabilitate the condemned house at Fifth and Warren in Davenport that would become Project Renewal’s home. To this day, the K–12 after-school and summer program aims to empower children and families by acting as a loving presence in the same neighborhood where Sister Concetta first began offering social services nearly 50 years ago.
“It’s really her ministry of presence that has allowed us to build such deep relationships,” said Project Renewal’s executive director, Ann Schwickerath, who lives in the once-condemned house, now just part of the organization’s expanded campus. “One of the things Project Renewal has always done really well is meet people where they are, accept them for who they are, and ask questions like, ‘What do you need, what do you want, and how can I help?’”
That intentional, responsive presence has endured over the last five decades thanks to the organization’s attention, every day, to the things the community’s children need to succeed, from educational support to recreational and experiential activities to social-emotional skill-building. Now, a nonprofit endowment fund started by Project Renewal at the Quad Cities Community Foundation will be a key part of how it endures for decades to come.
“To be that positive presence for our children and families, we need financial stability,” said Schwickerath. “We allocate our funds carefully and practically, and our endowment fund is one more opportunity for us to do that.”
“A nonprofit endowment fund is an invaluable investment in an organization’s long-term stability and sustainability,” said Michelle Payne, vice president of finance. “This is a permanent, reliable source of unrestricted support for Project Renewal and an exciting new way for it to engage donors.”
Before they voted to establish the endowment in early 2019, Project Renewal’s board of directors had discussed the benefits of doing so for years, holding off only because of concerns over the organization’s ability to put money away for the future while continuing to fund the day-to-day, hands-on operations so closely tied to its impact. “We needed every penny to do what we were doing,” said Schwickerath.
The opportunity came through a match grant challenge issued by the Community Foundation—raise $15,000 from donors and receive an additional $15,000. With the challenge funding, Project Renewal finally felt confident in setting aside the dollars to establish its fund.
Since then, the organization has been working on building the endowment. “We’ve been here so long, donors can see how our mission supports children, families, and the stability of the whole neighborhood,” said Schwickerath. “And that means they can see the impact we can have, with their help, far into the future.”
What is a nonprofit endowment fund?
By building an endowment fund with the Community Foundation, nonprofits unlock a permanent, flexible source of funding for their organization. Here’s how it works:
Pooled and invested with our other assets, the endowment fund earns a return and distributes an unrestricted grant to support their mission every year.
We provide training and support so nonprofits can build their endowment with their donors.
Over time, as the fund increases through gifts, investment returns, and the power of compound interest, your annual distribution will grow as well.
Donors benefit, too—and not just from seeing organizations they believe in thrive! Establishing a nonprofit endowment fund with the Community Foundation opens new avenues for giving, including complex gifts like gift annuities, gifts of stock, real estate gifts, cryptocurrency, charitable remainder trusts, and more. And all donor gifts to endowment funds are tax deductible as allowed by law.
Donors and nonprofits can start endowments to support organizations in our region. Learn more and access helpful resources like our Nonprofit Endowment Building Toolkit here.