Kari McCann Boutell, President

Iowa Council of Foundations

The County Endowment Fund Program will celebrate it’s 15th Anniversary this year. This one-of-a-kind program has created a vibrant philanthropic network throughout our state. Some key successes of the program include:

• The 84 counties that do not hold a state-issued gaming license participate in the CEFP.
• Since inception, 26,734 grants have been made to invest $97.7M in nonprofits and charitable causes across Iowa.
• Combined, assets at participating CEFP counties now exceed $222.7M.

You can learn more about the program overall in this newly-relased one-pager as well as the 2017-2018 Building Iowa’s Communities Through Philanthropy Annual Report. This report was recently distributed to the Iowa Legislature and Governor’s office. Your community foundation should have received copies directly as well, for distribution locally.

We ask for your partnership in helping communicate the impact of this program with stakeholders, legislators and community leaders in your area. Please utilize the sample press release which can be customized to highlight your affiliate/county’s grantmaking and develpoment activities. We also encourage you to utilize this one-page template to highlight a local CEFP grant story. This could be printed and inserted inside the front cover of the CEFP annual report you receive to distribute locally.

We look forward to continued celebration of this successful program throughout 2019!

Kari McCann Boutell, President

Iowa Council of Foundations

The Endow Iowa program celebrated its 15th Anniversary with a proclamation signing in Governor Reynolds’ office on December 20, 2018. The program began in 2003 with $2 million in tax credits available. Demand for the tax credits has continued to grow and since 2013, $6 million has been available annually through this program. The Endow Iowa Tax Credit is awarded on a first-come, first-served basis to donors who make a gift to a permanent endowment fund, established for the benefit of Iowa charitable causes, at a qualified community foundation in Iowa. The program is utilized by a wide range of donors, including individuals, businesses and financial institutions, with a majority of donations at the $1,000 level or less.

Benefits of this program are many and include keeping charitable dollars in Iowa to assist nonprofits, charitable causes and communities across the state. Since the inception of the Endow Iowa Tax Credit program, Iowa community foundations have leveraged more than $264 million in permanent endowment fund gifts. The contributions were made through 35,732 donations. These dollars will continue to grow in endowment funds in perpetuity, improving lives for Iowans both now and for years to come. Last year alone, Endow Iowa funds at Iowa community foundations granted $17.7 million to nonprofits and charitable causes in the state.

The program is administered by the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) in collaboration with the Iowa Council of Foundations (ICoF). Thank you to the community foundation leaders who were able to join us for the proclamation signing at the Capitol and to each of you for being a part of the success of this program over the last 15 years. Pressing on in the new year!

Pictured (L to R): Nicole Brua-Behrens, Greater Poweshiek Community Foundation; Charla Schafer, Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine; Kristi Knous, Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines; Rebecca Krohn, Siouxland Community Foundation; Diane Ross, South Central Iowa Community Foundation; Governor Kim Reynolds; Shelly Maharry, Community Foundation of Johnson County; Kari McCann Boutell, Iowa Council of Foundations; Stephanie Snyder Hausman, Community Foundation of Carroll County; and Donna Dostal, Pottawattamie County Community Foundation

Kari McCann Boutell, President

Iowa Council of Foundations

As we transition into the final two months of the year, many of you are working on your year-end giving communications. Many community foundations have fine-tuned their processes over the years, but some of you may be considering this outreach for the first time – or have not found the right strategy to connect with your donors, just yet! Below are some considerations as you put your plans and communications tools together for year-end.

#1 Share stories of your success from the year.

Annual reports are the most common place for organization’s to reflect on the previous year and share highlights from their work. However, don’t forget to share your success in your year-end communications. Demonstrating your impact through donor stories, grant highlights or an overview of your community leadership work might help spark ideas for donors on ways they want to contirbute to or through your community foundation.

#2 Connect donors to funds that already exist.

Your family of funds include agency funds, designated funds and field of interst funds that donors can contribute to. Many community foundations also launch leadership or initiative funds to leverage funds for their key priorities. Instead of making a general ask at the end of the year, use your family of funds to demonstrate the variety of ways donors can contribute to existing funds to support existing work. This may be eaiser for some donors to connect with as compared to developing a new idea on their own.

#3 Think bigger than year-end mailers.

Traditionally, year-end appeals have been sent via snail mail. In recent years, organizations have embraced a variety of communications channels to help tell their story and make “the ask”. Videos, social media, e-communications and blogs can be used to connect with donors without an envelope. These approaches can help your organization stand out from others. You may also consider sending your appeals at another time of year. For example, an appeal at the beginning of the year to encourage endowment gifts that are Endow Iowa eligible might be a way to differentiate yourself from other giving avenues.

Wishing you great success with your year end outreach and strategies!

Sunni Swarbrick, Executive Director

Story County Community Foundation

The 2018 Connect Community Foundations Conference offered a full day of relationship building, connecting over conversations, learning, sharing resources and expanding my curiosity to how we can continue to elevate the work that we are doing to make our impact in Story County.

As I am coming upon an exciting first year at the Story County Community Foundation, the conference provided the opportunity for me to reflect on the success of our progress and growth in Story County, and provided a reminder of the incredible community of leaders, experts and resources that we have across our state. I left the conference feeling equipped, inspired and energized:

• Equipped with tools, resources and new ideas to carry out into our work as we take the next steps forward with our strategic planning.
• Inspired with creative marketing ideas to implement in our print + electronic platforms, and new ideas on how we share our donor stories and connect our communities throughout Story County.
• Energized to implement strategic changes that will offer a transition to focus on action versus process among our staff, committees, leadership team and collaborative community partnerships.

I enjoyed the day of learning, meeting and connecting with so many of you. What left me feeling most fulfilled was at the start of the day, when I sat down with my coffee and took a moment to take in the room — filled with exciting energy, engaging conversations and the collective community that we all share. The collective community of leaders and experts across our state that are committed to the work that we are doing to improve the quality of life in our communities today and into the future.