Calling all presidents: Riverside Trustee Alex Gallegos is calling for a village-sponsored summit of nonprofit organizational leaders in town to discuss issues related to volunteer numbers, funding challenges and to brainstorm community-wide solutions.
Gallegos announced the initiative at the village board’s Oct. 15 meeting in response to a public comment by resident Maggie White on behalf of Riverside Arts Weekend. White called for community investment to see the annual event continue.
“I have seen the same issues that RAW is facing now with pretty much every other organization here in town: the resources they need for membership, volunteers, sponsorship dollars. That’s a very common reality,” Gallegos said at the meeting. “Speaking with [Village] Manager [Jessica] Frances and President [Doug] Pollock, we are going to call upon all the presidents of all the organizations to come together and discuss these issues.”
Gallegos told the Landmark he’s aiming to hold the discussion on Jan. 25, 2027, though the date isn’tyet set in stone. He said he’s had the idea “for quite a bit of time” as issues of low participation by volunteers and the struggle to raise funds have reared their heads across community organizations.
Groups that Gallegos hopes participate include the Riverside Junior Woman’s Charity, the Knights of Columbus, the Lions Club to which he belongs, Riverside Arts Weekend and “Pretty much anyone who was part of the community organization event on Sept. 6” at the Riverside Public Library, he said.
“We’re probably going to need a lot more collaboration, perhaps joint events, having multiple organizations join in together,” he said. “Our businesses keep getting hit over and over again for the same sponsorship questions. Our small businesses here in town are asked two or three times a week, at the very least, for donations, and that’s asking a lot.”
He said being repeatedly asked for donations has been a repeated complaint from business owners since he joined the Chamber of Commerce around 2004. He said he hopes the presidents club helps organization bounce back from a difficult time in a similar way as the Chamber did in late 2022, the same year it was in danger of folding.
“It’s come back stronger. The Chamber right now has new leadership and has found itself new officers, new goals and is moving forward,” Gallegos said. “When you look back at the 150-plus years [since Riverside’s establishment], our community has been made up of volunteers, and our community organizations have decades of history here.”
He said he hopes other organizations can avoid the fates of groups like the Jaycees and the Kiwanis Club, whose Riverside iterations have folded.
“They’ve gone by the wayside. They no longer exist here in town. We certainly don’t want to see that happening [to other groups] here in Riverside,” Gallegos said.
