Quincy Area Funders Collaboration Announce Nonprofit Excellence Initiative for Stronger Nonprofits

The Quincy Area Funders Collaborative is a partnership of John Wood Community College Foundation, The Moorman Foundation, the Community Foundation Serving West Central Illinois & Northeast Missouri, Tracy Family Foundation, and United Way of Adams County. This partnership launched the Nonprofit Excellence Initiative to make a collective and strategic impact on nonprofits in Adams County, Illinois.

The Nonprofit Excellence Initiative will take place in two phases, with Phase 1 beginning in October 2020. The focus of Phase 1 is organizational assessment, leadership training, and executive coaching. Phase 2 will utilize knowledge gained in Phase 1 to implement organizational strategic planning.

To be eligible, the nonprofit organization must have 501C3 status, a minimum of 2.5 full time employees, a minimum operating budget of $100,000, basic structure and processes in place (such as monthly financials, annual budget, etc.), and board commitment to this project. 

Each participating nonprofit who completes the activities outlined in the Initiative will receive $10,000 for unrestricted operational support. 

Description of Activities

Below is a brief summary of the Nonprofit Excellence Initiative’s activities:

• iCAT: The iCAT is an online organizational assessment tool designed to assist in identifying both personal and organizational strengths and growth opportunities. It assesses six key organizational capacities: Leading, Learning, Resource Generating, Planning, Managing, and Overseeing. 

• Organizational Progress Roadmap (OPR): This rubric is a compliment to the iCAT in that it provides clear direction in how an organization can move from “developing” to “excelling.” Along the journey to high performance, leaders come to master the critical disciplines they need to ensure that they’re achieving net impact. 

• Executive Coaching: The Executive Director of each participating nonprofit organization will select an Executive Coach from a list of approved coaches. Each participant will meet periodically with their Executive Coach to receive guidance over the course of the Initiative.

• Leadership Training Opportunities: Together with their coach, each Executive Director and Board Chair will analyze the results of the iCAT and OPR to determine an appropriate leadership training opportunity to help the organization meet its goals.

• Strategic Planning: Once Leadership Training is underway/complete, the Executive Coach will work with the Executive Director and Board Chair to develop a new 3-5 year strategic plan.

• Listening Sessions: Participants will be asked to meet together with an external facilitator to gather feedback on the initiative. 

• Grant Awards: Each participating nonprofit will receive $5,000 at the completion of Phase 1 and an additional $5,000 at the completion of Phase II. There will be no restrictions on the use of these dollars. 

Nonprofits that are interested in applying are asked to submit an application with supporting documentation, to the Community Foundation by August 1, 2020. The application is available at www.mycommunityfoundation.org/nonprofit-excellence. Please contact Heath Richmond, 217-222-1237 or hrichmond@mycommunityfoundation.org with questions about the application. 

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The Quincy Area Funders Collaborative is a partnership of the of John Wood Community College Foundation, The Moorman Foundation, the Community Foundation Serving West Central Illinois & Northeast Missouri, Tracy Family Foundation, and United Way of Adams County. The Collaborative Funders believe that by working together, they can collectively have a greater impact on the nonprofits in Adams County, than any one of them can have individually.