A Hub for Those Who Build Strong Communities
Our McCarthy Center for Nonprofit Learning
This story is part of our Transforming Together series, which highlights 20 key moments in our Foundation’s first 20 years. Read more stories in the series.
As a founding member of the Community Foundation’s Board of Directors, the late Leo McCarthy believed the Foundation’s most important work was to ensure the strength of local nonprofits through capacity-building and growing their endowments.
With this goal in mind, he and his wife, Joy, established the McCarthy Center for Nonprofit Learning in 2008. Hosted by the Community Foundation, the center is a meeting space — and much more — for local nonprofits. It offers grant-seeking tools, endowment building assistance and other resources to strengthen organizations and communities.
“Many nonprofits in our community do important work with limited resources, meaning that they often lack on-site meeting spaces,” says Peter Supple, director of nonprofit relations at the Community Foundation. “Providing access to the McCarthy Center and its technology is one of the many ways we help increase the capacity of nonprofits to serve the community.”
The Center serves as the site of many of the Community Foundation’s signature trainings and workshops, such as Board Boot Camp, which helps nonprofit board members learn best practices around their roles and responsibilities, and Nonprofit Strength Builder, an intensive seven-session series that covers the key components of nonprofit operations.
Donations from many generous community members have made the facility possible, including a major gift from John and Alice Butler as well grants from the Dubuque Racing Association (DRA).
This support has helped the Foundation ensure that the McCarthy Center remains a convenient, state-of-the-art meeting option for local organizations. In 2021, a $15,000 gift from the DRA helped offset the cost of upgrading the Center’s audio/visual capabilities, a major need as remote meetings become more common.
“We are grateful for all of the support that has helped make the McCarthy Center such a valuable resource for nonprofits in our community," Supple says. "It enables us to fulfill our role of strengthening nonprofits by providing access to capacity-building resources."