Iowa Council of Foundations

August 1, 2017

Denise Lamphier, Director of Communications and Development at Grinnell Regional Medical Center

 I am a matchmaker.

My goal as Grinnell Regional Medical Center’s director of development is to connect donors with the causes, projects, and needs that are important to them. Plenty of ways to support the medical center exist, from helping with capital projects like a new emergency department to funding free medical care at the Community Care Clinic for people who are uninsured or underinsured.

The hospital also collaborates with the Greater Poweshiek Community Foundation. In this love connection, this incredible foundation serves as our number one destination for endowment building.

GRMC currently has two designated endowments housed within the community foundation:

1. The Grinnell Regional Medical Center Endowment Fund assures the long-term success and prosperity of the medical center, providing support for capital improvements, construction projects, large equipment purchases, special programs, and other needs.

This fund was started in 2011 with a $10,000 gift from a donor and has grown to $112,500 thanks to other generous donations. Distributions from the fund this year are helping support a $2.2 million renovation to the medical center’s emergency department, which is expected to be complete in January 2018.

2. The Grinnell Regional Mental Health Endowment fund helps provide quality mental health services to area residents and helps cover the costs of unreimbursed mental healthcare.

This fund was started in 2013 with a $10,300 gift from a donor and has grown to $116,000. In 2016, distributions from the fund were leveraged with other donations to recruit a new outpatient mental health clinic to the Grinnell community. In 2017, the distributions will support patient needs at the mental health clinic.

The hospital’s relationship with GPCF has been so successful it would make cupid blush. The idea behind matchmaking is to pair people according to their values, goals, and outlook on life. GPCF helps enhance the fundraising playbook the hospital can offer our donors by rewarding those who give to the endowment funds with a 25 percent Endow Iowa state income tax credit. This incentive makes our endowment funds attractive for donors.

The best part of this marriage? The love that will be spread throughout the community through important services for years to come.

July 5, 2017

Kari McCann Boutell, President, Iowa Council of Foundations

 I hope everyone is enjoying their summer months! The Iowa Council of Foundations is kicking off FY18 and we are looking forward to an exciting learning agenda for community foundations over the next twelve months.

We are pleased to announce one of the keynote speakers for our September 14th Connect Conference in Newton, IA, is Phil Purcell, CFRE, MPA/JD. Phil is currently consulting in philanthropy and an adjunct faculty at Indiana University Maurer School of Law and Lilly School of Philanthropy. He has over twenty years of gift planning experience and teaches courses on Law and Philanthropy, Nonprofit Organization Law and Planned Giving.

Phil’s keynote will focus on strategies for endowment building in rural communities. He will also facilitate a breakout session titled, “Partnering for Philanthropy: Effective Ways to Market to Professional Advisors and Attract More Donors”. We are confident Phil will provide resources and tools to help you effectively connect with donors and professional advisors to focus your endowment building efforts in rural communities across our state.

The full agenda will be released soon and registration will open up within the next two weeks. Please mark your calendars, share the date with your affiliate advisory committees, board members and staff, and plan to join us!

June 5, 2017

Michelle Temeyer, Executive Director, Waterloo Community Foundation

Boot Camp – sounds scary, doesn’t it?  We all remember when summer meant going off to church camp or 4-H camp or the family fishing vacation at Camp Wherever!  The same initial feelings of leaving home, meeting new people, and missing the comforts of home all left – stage right, while attending the Community Foundations Boot Camp hosted by the Iowa Council of Foundations!

I should have known that the camp advisors had arranged for every comfort of home.  Upon arrival, we had a big delicious spread of food, the same “get your name tags and registration materials here” message and then – the room – where we spent the next two days learning together as a team.  This may seem like a dramatic way to describe a camp experience, but it was reminiscent of many days, and for me, years gone by…..

Beyond the atmosphere of safety and collaboration, the presenters were savvy, knowledgeable, candid in their assessment of foundation operations, and forthcoming about the work that lies ahead for all of us.  They reminded us of our awesome obligation to the communities that we serve and that there are never enough tools in the old toolbox to carry on our work.    Kelly Shrock, Terri Johnson and Tony Macklin (conference leaders at the Cedar Rapids location Boot Camp) each exemplified excellence – kudos to the fine team! Oh, I forgot to mention that we inherited a great notebook of samples, references, and more reading materials -which I’m taking time to peruse them occasionally.  No sense reinventing the wheel on some matters!

Beyond the “book learning”, Boot Camp offered us an opportunity to learn from colleagues around the state – what works and what doesn’t work; unique challenges they face and how they “make hay” out of those opportunities.  We learned that community foundations have great latitude to adjust and formulate a solution that meets the needs of our particular communities. We also learned the awesome opportunity we have to shape a better Iowa.

Just like the hand molds that we made at camp, we can now “go home” and put that indelible mark on our communities.  Boot Camp was an opportunity to grow and learn – now it is time to reflect on the experience, plan a course of action and move forward with new energy!

Kari McCann Boutell, President, Iowa Council of Foundations

The Iowa Council of Foundations Board of Directors recently awarded nine community foundation capacity building grants. The purpose of this grant program is to support opportunities for qualified community foundations and their affiliates to engage in activities that enhances their ability for sustainable endowment growth/building. Capacity building includes a wide variety of activities. I wanted to highlight a few of this year’s grants to get you thinking about opportunities for your foundation in the future:

• The Greater Poweshiek Community Foundation received funding to support the development of new marketing materials. They will focus their efforts this year on their Business Partners in Philanthropy program, which is designed to engage business partners in funding GPCF operations and investing in the organization’s mission. We liked this proposal because it seeks to increase their donor base by targeting a specific group of donors  – businesses.
• The Okoboji Community Foundation received funding to support marketing and planning efforts for their Emerging Leaders Program. The Emerging Leaders seeks to engage people age 25-40 in the community foundation and broader nonprofit community in the Okoboji area. They anticipate this group will bring innovative ideas and energy to connect other potential volunteers/board members/donors in their age range to new and existing philanthropic initiatives. We liked this proposal because it grows the human capital and capacity of the community foundation by bringing more people into their mission and engaging this unique population in philanthropic priorities in their region.
• The Story County Community Foundation received funding to support their efforts in hiring their first, full-time executive director this year. The Story County Community Foundation has effectively used capacity building grant funding in the past to grow their staff capacity through professional development, community outreach opportunities, and now they are ready to take the next step. We liked this proposal because it seeks to grow their staff capacity while simultaneously strengthening their development efforts and endowment building.

As a reminder, we will host a fall Capacity Building Grant Program cycle in October this year, which will give you another opportunity to apply for this type of funding. This grant program requires a 50% match for every dollar you receive in grant funding. I encourage you to begin thinking of ways these dollars can help grow your community foundation’s capacity and accelerate your endowment growth. If you have any questions or would like some coaching on your proposal, please contact us.

MJ Smith, Director of Affiliate Foundations, Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque

Recently we were approached by an attorney who served clients with a bold philanthropic vision. The More Moments More Memories fund was the idea of Christi Shaw and Shelley Shaw, sisters who grew up in Clayton County. Their mission, to support individuals’ travel to cancer clinical trials, is inspired by both their late mother, Karen, and their other sister, Sherry, who has experienced the significant hardships of cancer. Christi and Shelley deeply understand, personally and professionally, the ongoing needs of cancer patients and the sad reality that those with financial means are better able to access quality solutions.

Karen Shaw, died of breast cancer in 1996. At the time, the sisters, growing up in Clayton County, Iowa, were told there was nothing more anyone could do to save their mother’s life. She suffered through chemotherapy, radiation, and bravely fought to stay alive. What the sisters did not know was that there were clinical trials available at the time in other parts of the country. If they had known, and their mother had been given the option to take advantage of those trials, she might have lived to see her youngest daughter graduate from college on Mothers’ Day and attend the funerals of her parents, who instead had to endure the loss of their child.

Sadly, cancer touched these three sisters’ lives again when Sherry was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Currently, as a high-risk patient, she is running out of options and must travel many states away to gain access to new solutions to save her life.

Fortunately, her sisters were able to put their careers on hold to support Sherry through a clinical trial and other innovative treatments.

Christi was President of Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation in the U.S. and Shelley was Senior Director – Global Marketing at Baxalta. As pharmaceutical industry executives, they had both the institutional knowledge and experience to become effective patient caregivers and advocates for their sister. As they navigated through the healthcare system, it became clear to them that most families in similar situations do not have their unique experience or ability.

The Shaw sisters are passionate about their belief that lack of financial resources or lack of awareness about potential solutions should never stand in the way of creating More Moments and More Memories for families.

We were inspired by these sisters and their dedication to helping others in similar situations.  Donors and their passions come in many forms, and as community foundation advisors, we are lucky to get to help guide them on their path to making a difference through philanthropy.