Hundreds of Nebraska Community Foundation Volunteers Gather in Norfolk

Nearly 500 passionate community builders gathered at Norfolk’s DeVent Center and Divots Conference Center on November 8 for Nebraska Community Foundation’s (www.nebcommfound.org) Annual Celebration. Part volunteer training, part hometown expo, part celebratory banquet, the gathering featured some of the most extraordinary stories from communities all across the Nebraska Community Foundation (NCF) network and centered on topics critical to the future of Greater Nebraska including early childhood development, youth engagement, workforce development, and more.

NCF’s Annual Celebration began with affiliated fund training which is offered to NCF’s network of 220 affiliated funds benefiting 257 communities in 82 (of Nebraska’s 93) counties. In total, 252 community volunteers attended training to learn about the challenges and successes of their peers in other communities and topics like high-impact grantmaking, arts and culture, expanded learning opportunities, homegrown challenge grants, marketing, and communications. Volunteer voices were at the center of all training sessions which favor peer-to-peer interactions over the traditional expert model.

In the evening, hundreds more joined trainees for a hometown expo displaying the accomplishments of dozens of communities in attendance, a banquet dinner, and inspirational program at the DeVent Center. In total, 477 attended. Speakers included Kent Warneke, vice president and editor of Norfolk Daily News, as well as community leaders from Boone County, Butler County, Atkinson, and Pender.

To read stories about the extraordinary things communities across the Nebraska Community network are achieving, visit www.nebcommfound.org. NCF can be directly reached at (402) 323-7330.