LECLAIRE – Quad City Bank & Trust, Iowa American Water, Solutions Management Group, Project NOW and Quad Cities Open Network were among the stars of the 2023 Connect for a Cause event that served as the launch of the QCBJ’s inaugural Giving Guide.
More than 125 attendees crowded into the Mississippi River Distilling Company’s Celebration Center on Tuesday night, May 16, for the public unveiling of the full-color, 184-page QCBJ Giving Guide and to laud the business and nonprofit winners of the first Connect for a Cause Awards. The magazines were mailed this week to subscribers and are available for purchase for $2.
Well more than 100 local nonprofits – big and small – are highlighted in a magazine that QCBJ Associate Publisher Beth Clark told the crowd “shines a spotlight on the critical work that the region’s nonprofits do every day.”
Profiles include such details as the nonprofit’s contact information, key services, ways to help, volunteer opportunities and major fundraising events.
In addition, Ms. Clark said Tuesday’s Connect for a Cause celebration was designed to accomplish four things:
- Give nonprofit leaders an opportunity to network.
- Provide nonprofits with well-earned recognition.
- Showcase this year’s five Connect for a Cause Award honorees.
- Award a nonprofit a donation of $5 from every ticket sold. (The winner of this year’s drawing was Davenport-based Project Renewal, which provides educational, recreational and social activities for children in a safe, loving environment.)
The new publication also is aimed at helping guide companies and community and business leaders as they make decisions regarding corporate and personal giving and in their social corporate responsibility efforts.
Corporate giving is a major focus at Deere & Co., the Platinum Sponsor for the QCBJ Giving Guide and Tuesday’s Connect for the Cause celebration. And without the help of the Moline-based global equipment maker, Ms. Clark said the guide and the event would not have been possible.
She also thanked the following Gold Sponsors: Huiskamp Collins Investment, LLC; Ascentra Credit Union; Quad Cities Community Foundation; and Royal Neighbors of America.
On Tuesday, Laura Eberlin, Deere’s global corporate social responsibility lead for community engagement and enrichment, urged the crowd to use the Giving Guide as a resource to inform and expand their own efforts to give effectively.
She highlighted Deere’s March 2021 commitment to invest $200 million over the next 10 years in community initiatives. By 2022, it had recorded a record $55.5 million in charitable giving to raise up its home communities and those in need.
A major focus for John Deere is ending hunger around the world. It’s also the focus for Ms. Eberlin who manages the John Deere Foundation’s global food bank strategy. That strategy delivers nearly $3 million in grants each year to ensure equitable access to food in John Deere home communities including its support of River Bend Food Bank.
She also challenged attendees to take their own pledge to look for ways to invest in the community in ways that will have the biggest impact.
The evening capped off with the QCBJ’s first-ever Connect for a Cause Awards.
The awards and the 2023 honorees were:
Corporate Citizen of the Year:
Quad City Bank & Trust received the top award for a for-profit entity’s impact on a single nonprofit or multiple ones through financial contributions and efforts to promote, encourage and organize fundraising efforts and company-sponsored programs. QCB&T was nominated by Handicapped Development Center (HDC) which said QCB&T has made a significant impact through its sponsorships, volunteer efforts, and events to enhance HDC’s culture.
“One needs only to scroll briefly through Quad City Bank and Trust’s social media to see how engaged this company is in the community,” HDC’s nomination said. “Pictures tell the story of sponsoring events, attending galas, doing drives, volunteering, and supporting causes of all kinds.”
Large Company (100+ employees) Partnership Award
Iowa American Water, Davenport, was honored for investing significant resources to ensure that their organization reaches those most vulnerable in the Quad Cities community with the resources they need to be healthy, happy and successful. That includes serving as one of the most critical partners in helping Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) of the Mississippi Valley execute its one-to-one mentoring program. Iowa American, the BBBS’ nomination said, is “a true corporate community leader and their employees are leaders as well. … Iowa American Water embraces engagement and understands their broader role as a company in serving our community.”
Small Company (1-99 employees) Partnership Award
The award went to Solutions Management Group, or SMG, a locally owned company with an office in Davenport, which also has been an integral partner of the BBBS for more than 15 years. That includes by helping the youth organization increase revenue, communicate more effectively with customers, track performance, and maximize human resources to ensure it is impacting and servicing customers and supporters to the highest possible level.
For example, BBBS’ nomination credited SMG directly with impacting its organization in several major areas. Those contributions included donating to the design and construction of BBBS’ integrated training center in Davenport and donating more than $30,000 in equipment and services to the BBBS over the past 10 years.
Nonprofit Collaboration (Tie)
The inaugural collaboration award was fittingly, a tie, between Project NOW and Quad Cities Open Network who each lead partnerships that successfully worked to keep Quad Citians in their homes after state and federal eviction moratoriums were lifted in the wake of COVID-19.
Illinois-based Project NOW Quad Cities partnered with the 14th Judicial Circuit in Rock Island County, the Rock Island County Bar Association, Prairie State Legal Services Inc., Salvation Army and John Deere to develop an Eviction Diversion Program (EDP).
The brainchild of recently retired 14th Circuit Court Judge Carol Pentuic, the group met monthly for more than a year to provide tenants and landlords with the opportunity to resolve eviction cases without the need for a trial before a judge. Once an agreement was reached, Project NOW and Salvation Army provided state and federal dollars for the back rent.
At the same time in Iowa, the Quad Cities Open Network (QCON) partnered with public service organizations including Iowa Legal Aid, Salvation Army and Community Action of Eastern Iowa to address the rising number households at risk of eviction due to negative economic impacts of COVID-19 and lifting Iowa’s temporary moratorium on evictions.
In Scott County – which had the highest eviction rate in Iowa – QCON developed the Scott County Eviction Diversion Program. The EDP created a process of offering landlords one month’s rent from QCON. As a result, $89,859 was dispersed to assist 105 households with rental payments to keep them housed. In total, 915 evictions were prevented with this collaboration.
