Conversations that drive change in our nonprofit sector
by Daisy Moran, Director, Quad Cities Community Foundation Center for Nonprofit Excellence
and Micaela Booth, Vice President, AFP-QC and Director, Birdies for Charity
Last fall, the Quad Cities Community Foundation and AFP-Quad Cities partnered to host a local screening of Uncharitable—a powerful documentary exploring how philanthropy can empower nonprofits with the freedom and confidence to create lasting change.
Since then, more than 150 nonprofit professionals, board members, and funders across the region have viewed the film through a virtual screening initiative. These screenings sparked powerful, challenging, and hopeful conversations around the entrenched mindsets and inherited narratives that shape how we think about overhead, sustainability, and what it means to do good in our community.
The impact of these conversations has been clear. Viewers across the sector shared how the film challenged their assumptions or affirmed beliefs they had long struggled to name. Even those deeply familiar with nonprofit work described the experience as both frustrating and inspiring—but most of all, liberating. The film laid out a different framework for thinking about nonprofit success—one rooted in trust, investment, and long-term impact.
One of the most encouraging outcomes has been the shift in how nonprofit professionals and funders are talking about operational costs—not as inefficiencies, but as essential to mission delivery. This new lens is informing how organizations build budgets, structure grants, and advocate for the true cost of impact. These are the kinds of shifts that, over time, have the potential to fundamentally reshape our sector for the better.
The success of this initiative also highlighted the power of collaboration. The partnership between the Community Foundation and AFP-Quad Cities provided a model for advancing shared priorities—and for creating space for deeper, more trust-based conversations.
The Quad Cities has always been an incredibly generous region. What’s emerging now is a growing willingness to examine how that generosity is structured, and how it can be leveraged for greater, more sustainable impact.
The conversation sparked by Uncharitable is just the beginning—but it’s a meaningful step toward a stronger and more equitable future for our nonprofit community.