Ah….elbow room. As you may have heard, the Community Foundation of Grundy County of Grundy County moved into new office space a couple of weeks ago. Our old office in the Baum Building was perfect for a small organization with one staff, but now that there are three of us, we needed space for more desks, files, and projects.
Our new office is located at 102 Liberty Street in downtown Morris where the Grundy Historical Society Museum used to be. They are now remodeling a space in the Canalport Community Center (the old Coleman Hardware building) at the far west end of Illinois Avenue. They expect to be ready and open to the public in May.
So now that the big move is over, what else can you expect from the Community Foundation of Grundy County in 2009? I’m thrilled to report that both of our new staffers have jumped in with both feet and are busily working on projects and tasks.
Judy Hauch is our Accounting Manager and we’re very grateful to have her! She’s in the process of updating our accounting system as well as reviewing our 2008 accounting in preparation for our annual IRS 990 filing. Luckily she likes to work with numbers!!
Sherey Zerbian is our Program Director and she is intently working on 941-HELP and the Birth to Five Network. As you may remember, 941-HELP is a multi-method approach for getting government and non-profit agency information in to the hands of our county’s residents so they can access the services they need when they need them. The Birth to Five Network is a broad coalition of professionals and parents working toward the large goal of preparing children for life-long learning.
So…now that I have this crack staff team in place, what will I do all day you ask??? I have a full plate for 2009. My main role will be focused on donor services. This includes marketing our variety of fund styles and assisting donors as they work toward their philanthropic goals.
Donors don’t give TO a community foundation, they give THROUGH a community foundation. We give them access to the tools (such as donor-driven funds and community research) that help them direct their charitable giving in a purposeful and strategic way.
Our ribbon cutting for the new office will be Wednesday, February 18th, at 11:00 a.m. with an open house over lunch, so we hope you can stop by to see our new digs. It’s very exciting for us and we hope you can come share in our excitement and energy!