Charla Schafer, Executive Director, Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine

At our Community Foundation, we have a team of four.  If we were generous enough to hand out staff tenure awards, the lone pinning would be for one year of service.  This leaves us with a bit of void in institutional experience. 

The Iowa Council of Foundations helped us put our “foot on the gas” for team learning.  We were fortunate to receive an ICoF capacity grant in the fall. This professional development funding allowed us to load up the whole crew and trek I-80 to the recent Community Foundations Bootcamp.

The two day training was on-point, covering the full gamut of Community Foundation work: their examples were highly relevant; it was presented in an easily absorbable format, by presenters that spend most of their days running Community Foundations; and  the materials provided quick reference and comfort after we returned to the office.   The information covered both the areas that we arrived hoping to learn more about, and even more critically, the areas that fall into “you don’t know what you don’t know” category.

At each break, members of our team were energetically comparing perspectives and reflecting on insights.  The learning offered breadth and depth.  It was a tremendous learning experience for all! 

We came back to the office and immediately started implementing and evaluating our practices for possible improvements.  In the first week, we began work around an expanded new fund template; incorporated life cycle slides and related organization stats into our upcoming Board meeting to enhance strategic direction; began conversation on scholarship timing to improve student financial aid outcomes; are in discussions to enhance pro-active granting at our advisory committee level; had discussion on identified endowment building opportunities and how they will fit within our marketing  campaign; and the list goes on.  We even left armed with improved terminology and talking points around difficult community issues.  The ultimate winner of our time was our community, as our actions and outcomes will be increasingly efficient and effective.

The only caution I would throw, is to wear pants with elastic. As with most conferences, the food for breakfast, breaks, and lunch was abundant and delicious! 

The ICoF continues to deliver… a true friend to Community Foundations and our community-building work.  If you get a chance to attend the Bootcamp – take it.  Pack bigger pants.  And bring the team. 

Kari McCann Boutell, President

Iowa Council of Foundations

On April 3, we convened the Community Foundations Affiliate Liaisons Network for our spring meeting. This group is comprised of host community foundation staff members who help support affiliates in their region. We discussed successful strategies, tactics and tools for marketing and communications pieces and thought we should share more broadly with the network. Below are the top tips to consider from each of the small group work sessions.

Community Outreach: This small group offered suggestions for ways to bolster a CF’s community outreach efforts and also offered some examples of what has worked at their CFs.

• Consider meeting with your local newspaper and establishing an editorial calendar where you can provide content on a regular basis.
• Consider establishing a fund around a specific community priority which can be responsive to community needs (i.e. childcare).
• Subscribe to newsletters of local community organizations and nonprofits so you know about work going on in your area.

Agency/Nonprofit Funds: This small group shared some ideas around best practices in working with agencies on establishing funds.

• Use clear and simple language when talking with nonprofits about endowment funds—they may not have any prior knowledge of these kinds of tools.
• When providing the agency with materials on how to establish a fund—provide basic information first, and then move to more complicated topics.
• Explain the “Why” to the nonprofit of how they will benefit from establishing an endowment fund and why it is a good long-term planning option.

Individual Donor Development: This small group provided a checklist of items to consider as you build this part of your marketing program.

• Keep your messages simple—make sure the information is accessible to someone who does not yet know about your work.
• Remember, donor development is a marathon, not a sprint. You don’t have to communicate everything in one marketing piece.
• Have host staff write articles for affiliate newsletters to provide expertise on topics – this also helps introduce staff members as resources to the affiliate and potential donors.

Planned Giving: This small group provided a report out on what they’ve found successful in their planned giving marketing.

• Utilize a Legacy Fund Agreement that a donor completes to record their planned giving intentions.
• Honor a special anniversary of your community foundation by asking former and current board members for planned gift commitments in celebration of the milestone.
• Utilize experts for planned giving work by partnering with your host and/or professional advisors.

As always, remember there are countless samples and templates available from your host community foundation and throughout the Iowa Community Foundations Initiative network. Be sure to visit the Knowledge Center on the ICoF website for examples and email us if you would like to see samples of how others are communicating about their work with donors and the broader community. Remember, the goal is that your community foundation is not the best kept secret in town!

Ellen J. Moore, ICoF Administrative and Communications Coordinator

In light of the recent flooding across the state, I wanted to remind you of an important disaster philanthropy resource. The Iowa Community Foundations Initiative Disaster Philanthropy Toolkit was developed in 2018. This is a tool for Community Foundations both prior to, during and following disasters. I’d like to share some of my key learnings which were gleaned throughout the development of the resource.

Disaster Determination. This may seem like an odd place to start, but determining what qualifies as a disaster for your community is an important first step. Our disaster definition is included in the toolkit, but discussion of specific definitions for your organization is most important. It provides common ground for staff to talk about disaster and reminds staff of human-made disaster such as economic failure, terrorism or violence, which may need to be addressed by your community foundation as well.

Preparation. Most of the heavy lifting for disaster relief and recovery efforts can be completed prior to the disaster’s occurrence. Materials such as media releases, funding requests to major donors, draft grant agreements, sample grant applications and internal communications can be developed now, with details added when needed for prompt distribution.

Relief and Recovery Differ. Relief is immediate; actions taken to provide assistance to those who are lacking basic human needs is necessary and important work. However, it is the focus for most regional and national disaster relief organizations (i.e. FEMA, Red Cross etc.). Funding for relief is generally instant and often adequate. On the other hand, recovery efforts are longer-term needs focused on healing and rebuilding. This work often goes unfunded or is underfunded. Media coverage of disaster fades quickly, but the effects of a disaster on a community do not. Focusing philanthropic effort on sustainable, long-term recovery efforts is a critically important role community foundations can fill for their communities.

Communication. Creating a plan for both internal and external communications prior to disaster is one of the most effective ways to streamline relief and recovery efforts. Determining key partners in the community and which staff members will assist the communications/marketing team is important to organize prior to disaster.

Please take time to review the toolkit and consider the role your community foundation can be playing now – in preparation, relief or recovery. The toolkit itself will continue to be updated and adjusted with new knowledge and research moving forward. The resource is available in its most updated form here.

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!