From left: Jenny Colvin, Cecilia Bailey, and Telly Papanikolaou
BETTENDORF, IOWA (February 8, 2024) — The Quad Cities Community Foundation has announced the members of its Center for Nonprofit Excellence Advisory Committee. The committee is made up of fifteen local leaders who will be involved in creating the foundational governance model for the Center and carrying forward its mission of strengthening regional non-profits.
The Center for Nonprofit Excellence is a new resource hub for the region’s non-profit sector, providing local organizations with access to resources, training, and collaboration opportunities.
The Community Foundation has designed the Center to be for nonprofits, by non-profits, meaning that, from the beginning, non-profits have been instrumental in creating the structure of the Center and guiding its mission. This is clear in the makeup of a new fifteen-person Center Advisory Committee, which met “officially” for the first time in January and will guide the rollout of several “flagship” programs this year.
“We received applications from more than eighty community members who were interested in joining the committee,” said Sue Hafkemeyer, the Community Foundation’s president and CEO. “That level of interest speaks volumes about the dedication of our region’s non-profit sector. Choosing the committee from this group of amazing candidates was difficult. We prioritized representation of different demographics, not only among committee members, but also among the organizations they represent.”
The resulting committee is a diverse, passionate, and experienced group representing a range of local non-profits. Their organizations are large and small, new and longstanding, and focused on everything from building affordable housing to alleviating food insecurity. Committee members will each serve a two-year term before rotating out to allow more organizations to participate.
From left: Ashley Velez, Tom Fisher King, and Chase Norris
“Our donors want non-profits to grow, be sustainable, and have every resource they need to take on their mission,” said Hafkemeyer. “We believe the best way to make that happen is to let the organizations lead the way. By placing these non-profits at the center of early conversations and decisions, the Community Foundation is creating resources and programming that are truly for non-profits, by non-profits.”
These fifteen local leaders serve the Center for Nonprofit Excellence Advisory Committee:
- Alvaro Macias, vice president of business development at Ascentra Credit Union, City of Moline elected official
- Ashley Velez, executive director at Humility Homes and Services Inc
- Avery Pearl, assistant director at Together Making a Better Community (TMBC) at the Lincoln Community Center
- Brian Ritter, executive director at Nahant Marsh
- Cecilia Bailey, executive director at Quad Cities Open Network
- Chase Norris, executive director at Clock Inc
- Jenny Colvin, chief development officer at River Bend Food Bank
- Kevin Maynard, executive director at Quad City Arts Inc
- Lee Gaston, finance director at Center for Active Seniors (CASI)
- Michael Glanz, executive director at Arc of the Quad Cities Area
- Malavika Shrikhande, commissioner and trustee at Davenport Public Library
- Nicole Carkner, executive director at Quad Cities Health Initiative
- Nicole Cisne Durbin, chief executive officer at Family Resources, Rock Island-Milan Board of Education elected member
- Telly Papanikolaou, chief executive officer at Alternatives
- Tom Fisher King, executive director at Habitat for Humanity Quad Cities
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.
