Angela Determan, Cerro Gordo County Community Foundation Advisory Committee Member
While working to become a Blue Zones Community, the governing committee of the Cerro Gordo County Community Foundation identified that we had many great organizations in Mason City, but we didn’t always collaborate as well as we could to achieve greater outcomes. Over the course of the last five years, we have grown in our partnerships including identifying the need for a volunteer center in our area. In April of 2015 the Mason City Volunteer Center (MCVC) was born and collaboration would be integral to its success.
The Mason City Volunteer Center supports the work of non-profit members with volunteer placements and promoting volunteer opportunities by emphasizing skill- and purpose-based matches and assisting cultivation of volunteers for non-profits and in our community. A primary function is to not only assist with volunteer cultivation and placement, but to provide education for non-profits to strengthen their organization allowing them more time fulfilling their mission.
The Cerro Gordo County Community Foundation receives nearly 70 grant requests annually. It was important to our governing committee that non-profits are doing everything to ensure their organizations are operationally and fiscally sound. It made sense that both the Mason City Volunteer Center and Cerro Gordo County Community Foundation desired the same success for non-profits in our area. The MCVC reached out to the Community Foundation to discuss opportunities to partner through the sponsorship of a radio program promoting volunteer opportunities and with high quality training and education events.
As we promoted The Iowa Nonprofit Awards nomination information to our members through our monthly newsletter, we realized that we really had something to showcase ourselves in an awards application. The MCVC nominated the Cerro Gordo County Community Foundation and appreciate their vision and spirit of collaboration. We couldn’t be more proud to be a role model for others to recognize the benefits of collaboration.