In 1999, ten leaders of the Morris community gathered to think about the challenges to the future of our community.  It is ironic that many of the concerns today are the same as those that faced these men and women.  The initial goal was to look at issues that local government or charities could not or would not address for one reason or another.

After a decade, what began as the Morris Community Foundation has matured into the Community Foundation of Grundy County.  From a volunteer organization with no staff, no assets, and very little idea what a community foundation could do, the Foundation has grown to employ a full time executive director, a part-time program director, and an accounting manager who, with a volunteer board of trustees, oversee over $8 million in assets devoted to the maintenance and improvement of the quality of life of Grundy County.  In addition, the Foundation is the only nonprofit in Grundy County which meets the “National Standards” of the Council of Foundations regarding governance and financial stewardship.

While the Foundation’s growth has been possible only because of community support, its impact has improved the lives of hundreds of children, helped countless disadvantaged who are in need of social services, and has brought focus to land use and planning across the county.

However, the biggest winners in Grundy County have been the other nonprofit organizations.  The Foundation’s role as a convener has brought together childcare providers through the Grundy Partnership for Children, convened agencies and private industry concerned with workforce issues through the Business Education Council, and networked elected officials & government planners through the quarterly Planners Breakfasts and annual Grundy County Growth Conference (GC2).  In addition to networking and partnering with nonprofits around programs and services, the Foundation stewards over $500,000  in endowments to benefit such organizations as the Morris Hospital, the Morris Area Public Library, the Morris Family YMCA, and various church, music, and youth organizations.

This decade of impact came about because of the vision of the first board of directors.  Under the leadership of Jim Baum as president and directors Jim Peterson, Dick Schweickert, Joe Schmitz, Carol Narvick, Rev. Chuck Richardson, Dr. Ann Marie Struck, Bill Norton, Finance Advisor Ron Wohlwend, and Legal Advisor Jack Hynds, the first board of directors began the tradition of looking at the community with fresh eyes to see how to meet unseen and unresolved problems.

Since the beginning, the Foundation’s by-laws have specified that directors shall be chosen from the most capable members of the community who have demonstrated their desire to give back to our community.  The diversity of the board, a mix of men and women from different churches, industry, social backgrounds, and geographic home in the county has become a hallmark of board of directors over the years.  In fact, most of the members had never worked together on other boards and were not friends socially until uniting at the Foundation.

In the early ‘90s, two important community projects were the redevelopment of the old Commonwealth Edison property along the I&M Canal and the abandoned Rock Island railroad station at the north end of Liberty Street.  These two properties anchor the ends of downtown Morris and were purchased by the Foundation.  The old ComEd building and construction were cleared to make way for a park which includes a replica of a canal packet boat called the “Heritage.”  After the redevelopment, the entire property was given to the City of Morris and is now Canal Port Park.

The second redevelopment project was the purchase of the site on Liberty Street which included a grain elevator, weigh station, and the old railroad depot.  The Foundation hired a railroad planning firm who recommended a historic remodeling of the station and the demolition of the other buildings.  The depot renovation was completed with a lease/purchase agreement as a new office for the Grundy County Chamber of Commerce.  The rest of the property was donated to the City of Morris who worked with the Rotary Club to develop it into Rotary Park.

The Foundation gave over $1,000,000 of property value back to the community through the rescue and redevelopment of these blighted properties which are now the bookend jewels of downtown Morris.

In 2000/2001 the Foundation explored the need for a Park District.  This is a wonderful example of a project that no one else would tackle.  After a series of community meetings and an opinion survey of needs and interest, the Foundation recommended that interested citizens petition for a special election to form a Park District.  The election was held and the proposal was defeated.  Although disappointed, the Foundation learned a great deal from the organization of public forums and this experience was the genesis for a series of public meetings called “Challenges of the Future.”

In 2003 the Foundation produced a 40-minute video called “Challenges of the Future” highlighting education, health care, planning, and environmental health.  This video was shown in a public event which was followed by a panel discussion with leaders of local government and industry.  Over the next three years, the Foundation organized public forums with 3-6 person expert panels on the topics of Subdivision Design, Environmental Health, Local Solutions for Public School Funding, and Water Supply and Stormwater Management.

In 2003, the Foundation was selected by the Grand Victoria Foundation in Chicago to partner in a program called “Communityworks.”  After a year of study, Grand Victoria concluded that community foundations have the potential to make a greater impact on the quality of life across Illinois than any other community organizations.  Eighteen community foundations were selected to participate and focus on three areas of concern across Illinois: (1) childcare and early childhood education, (2) workforce development, and (3) land use and protection.  Staff spent over a year assembling an Advisory Committee, studying the issues, hosting public meetings, and developing a plan of action called “Connecting the Visions: An Impact Plan for Communityworks.”  It was debuted at a public forum in September 2006 and remains a guiding plan for the Foundation.

The Morris Community Foundation board wrestled with participation because of the fear of being micro-managed by Grand Victoria and having too many hoops to jump through.   Some concerns were justified, but, frankly, in hindsight we appreciate that the requirements caused our foundation to become more professional through the adoption and implementation of “best practices” in governance and financial management.  The first requirements were to hire a full-time executive director and rent our first office.  In late 2008, part-time staff positions were added in program development and financial management and we moved our office to a first-floor location for better visibility.

However, it was the training and education that we received through Communityworks that produced the most important changes.   Our original philosophy was to see a need, raise the money, and spend it right away.  The concept of “endowment” was foreign to our way of thinking.  Slowly we began to realize that short-term fund raising was really a band-aid when a longer vision is necessary to meet the problems of the future.

As a result of this new way of thinking, the Foundation’s endowed assets have grown to over $4,000,000.    The philosophy has changed to looking at problems from a long-term perspective and strategic solutions rather than short-term, shallow fixes.  “The power of endowment” is now part of the reason why the Foundation is important to the community.  Our own internal endowments ensure the permanence of the Foundation itself, but we also steward various types of endowments that allow donors to target causes that are important to them and use the Foundation tools and services to support their individual interests and charitable passions forever.

For many years there has been a growing realization by the Foundation board of directors that a major responsibility of our organization is to promote and inspire philanthropy.  The Foundation is proud that Grundy County has always been generous to nonprofits and those in need, but that’s not necessarily being philanthropic.  The goal of the Foundation is two-fold: (1) provide the technical and mechanical education and structure to help individuals fulfill their charitable goals for the causes they are passionate about – this is giving THROUGH the Foundation, not TO it.  And (2) educate and inspire donors, nonprofits, and professional advisors about the reasons for philanthropic giving.  The Foundation organizes quarterly meetings of an “Intentional Giving” team to help achieve these two goals.  Public forums designed to help spread the word of philanthropy include the annual fall Philanthropy Conference and the “Faith-Based Giving” workshop series that the Foundation hosted for area churches over the winter of 2010-2011 and taught by the Lake Institute for Faith & Giving at Indiana University for these initiatives.  The Foundation is proud to repeat the words of the Lake Institute when they say that they know of no other community in the nation who has tried to collectively impact philanthropy like the Foundation has in Grundy County.

2019 is our 20th Anniversary!  Please click here to view a short video highlighting our first 20 years!