Rolling into 2018

Ideas. The good ones are like snowballs. It just takes one, a little push of inspiration and off it goes, growing greater with every roll.

As I look back on 2017—and even more so, ahead at the New Year—I am so grateful for all the ways people like you have transformed the region through your generosity this year. The year started out with the announcement of an exciting Transformation Grant that brought new young women to the Women’s Leadership Council (we’ll announce our next Transformation Grant in January!).

In the months that followed, students in our Teens for Tomorrow Program recommended and awarded $20,000 in grants to causes they believed are important to our future, and Nonprofit Capacity Building Grants infused more than $200,000 to nonprofits to strengthen their work. The Amy Helpenstell Foundation Fund, Grant W. and Virginia M. Brissman Foundation, and others carried on the legacies of Quad Citizens who made a commitment to the communities—and people—they cared deeply about.

People also played an important role in furthering our region through their extraordinary generosity, from donors like the late Robert and Edith Unterkircher to this year’s Philanthropists of the Year Bob and Blenda Ontiveros.

With each grant we award, with each donor we meet, I continue to be inspired by the ideas people bring to the table, their motivations for giving back to others, and their hopes and dreams for the Quad Cities.

As we celebrate the New Year, I can say with certainty that 2018 looks bright for the Quad Cities. When we draw all the voices to the table, as our community continues to do through initiatives like the Q2030 Regional Vision, we can develop and implement solutions that strengthen all of us. The building of the new I-74 bridge is proof that our community is poised for change, and our citizens are the change makers. We are creating an environment where people can “make it here,” and enjoy an abundance of amenities.

We are a community and a foundation with arms open—to new ideas, new opportunities, and the rise of new leaders, whose voices will benefit us all. Cheers to 2018, what is sure to be another great chapter in our history.