BETTENDORF, IOWA (September 25, 2025) — The Diane and late Hunt Harris family is making a transformative, historic $10 million endowment gift to permanently name the Quad Cities Community Foundation’s Hunt and Diane Harris Center for Nonprofit Excellence.
Their extraordinary act of generosity ensures that the Harris Center, which the couple originally dreamed about creating more than a decade ago, will have permanent operating resources needed to strengthen and sustain the non-profit sector across the Quad Cities region. The gift is a powerful investment in the family’s lifelong dedication to building a vibrant, strong, generous community across the Quad Cities region.
“The Harris family’s foresight and generosity are nothing short of remarkable,” said Sue Hafkemeyer, Community Foundation’s President and CEO. “This gift demonstrates their confidence in our region’s non-profits and ensures the Harris Center will always be here as a connector and capacity-builder for the sector. It will impact every nonprofit in the Quad Cities and, by extension, our entire community.”
Built “by non-profits, for non-profits,” the Quad Cities Community Foundation’s Center for Nonprofit Excellence was launched in 2023 to serve as a hub where non-profits can come together to collaborate, strengthen operations, and expand their reach. Since its launch, more than 1250 participants have participated in the Center’s wide range of educational workshops, peer-networking sessions, and other learning opportunities. More than 85 individuals representing fifty organizations enrolled in the Center’s first two flagship programs, which focus on non-profit management and board training. Outcome assessments show that participants are already putting the lessons and tools from these programs to work and making an impact in their organizations and the community.
“When our non-profits are strong, our whole community benefits,” said Diane Harris. “Hunt and I watched our local organizations grow stronger and smarter by working together. This gift, and the programming it makes possible, is meant to ensure that learning, collaboration, and growth continue for the good of our entire community.”
The Harrises are visionary philanthropists, whose decades of leadership and generosity have helped shape a stronger, more vibrant Quad Cities. Diane previously served as board chair for the Community Foundation and as a leader on many non-profit boards across the region. She continues her charitable work in Naperville, Illinois, where she now lives close to family. Hunt, who was president of Star Forms and Isabel Bloom, and a former Community Foundation committee member, passed away in 2023. The couple formed the Hunt and Diane Harris Family Foundation in 1986. They worked closely with the Community Foundation for years, eventually converting their private foundations to funds that, through their grantmaking, have reached every corner of the Quad Cities, from economic development to education to health and the arts.
“Our parents have always believed in the power of non-profits to transform communities,” said Alex Harris of Naperville, Illinois, son of Diane and Hunt. “With the Community Foundation, they have championed local organizations and worked to give them the tools and resources they need to grow. I’m proud that this gift indelibly names their incredible legacy of generosity.”
During their years of board and committee service with the Community Foundation, the couple were among the first to imagine a space dedicated to resourcing non-profit organizations, a collaborative center that would help them grow stronger and serve the community with greater impact. Their early contributions, alongside those of other community funders, laid the groundwork for what is now the Harris Center.
“Through their leadership, vision, and giving, Diane and Hunt touched the lives of nearly everyone in our community,” said Hafkemeyer. “Their charitable legacy recognizes that non-profits are the backbone of our community and need to be well-resourced and supported. Now, the Harris Center will stand as a permanent marker of their generosity and their faith in that belief.”
What is an endowed fund?
An endowment gift provides sustained funding for a non-profit or cause. The original gift is invested and not spent. Each year, a portion of the earnings from the investment is used to support the donor’s mission.
The Quad Cities Community Foundation champions generosity. It is the place where generous people in the bi-state region make both lifetime and estate gifts of all sizes to support the long-term needs and opportunities of their community, and the specific organizations and causes most meaningful to them.
