Kari McCann, President of the Iowa Council of Foundations

On April 12 and 13, ICoF members and I participated in Foundations on the Hill. Foundations on the Hill (FOTH) is an annual two-day opportunity for grantmakers and regional associations to meet with their federal lawmakers face-to-face in Washington, D.C. to personally discuss their work with members of Congress. While not my first time on Capitol Hill, this was the first time I was there in dress clothes and without a camera and tour guide in my hand. Here is what I learned that I think will be helpful to you as a community foundation board member or staff:

• Get to the know the staff. Legislators are busy and sometimes the only way to reach them is through their dedicated staff. Developing relationships with the staff is just as important as building relationships with the legislators.
• Legislators are busy. Have I said this already? I was amazed at the number of meetings they take each day to hear from constituents. This, in addition to committee meetings, being on the floor, voting, and somehow managing to eat and sleep keeps them on the go, go, go. So, when you do get a chance to talk with them – be brief.
• Iowa’s legislators care about transparency. In almost all of our meetings legislators asked about transparency and accountability in philanthropy – specifically as it relates to donor-advised funds. Be sure to stress when contacting legislators that there are processes in place at community foundations to ensure payouts are being distributed to charities. We also shared with legislators that all Iowa Community Foundations adhere to National Standards. Specifically Congressman Young was interested in these standards to ensure oversight and proper administration. These standards are what sets out CFs apart in philanthropy!
• Be persistent. There is no way for legislators to remember everything. We have to keep our issues in front of legislators – consistently. Keep writing, keep calling. These issues are important to your community foundation work and the good work you do with donors in your communities across Iowa.

Everyone can advocate and I encourage you to get involved in policy work on behalf of your organizations, donors and communities. Need support or resources, just ask!

Jennifer Garst, Executive Director of the Story County Community Foundation

Story County Community Foundation (SCCF) received an $8,500 ICoF Capacity Building Grant in June 2015. This capacity grant, and others received previously, have been critical to our organization’s success to transition from a volunteer organization to being able to have paid professional staff. Our 2015 capacity grant was especially helpful as we worked with our host foundation to transition our professional staff from independent contractors to employees. This change helps SCCF build our reputation as a professional and well-run organization in our county.

Below are highlights from 2015:

• Gifts exceeded $2.1 million in 2015 more than doubling the organization’s goal for the year and marking an 86% increase from 2014
• Over 400 individual donors to SCCF funds
• 19 new funds
• SCCF’s 125 funds now total $8.9 million in assets

As we know, success does not come without a roadmap on how to get there. Annually SCCF creates detailed work plans that set goals as wells as specific strategies to reach those goals that are reasonable, measurable and for which all involved (staff and board) are held accountable. The simple recipe for our success is that we create a sound plan and commit to “working the plan” throughout the year.

The lesson I continue to learn every day is the power of people who “love their community.” SCCF is fortunate to have two-part time employees who are able to work with Story County donors that have a passion for an organization or cause. By working with people who “love their community” we can assist them in making a long-term commitment of support through an endowment for the causes they care about.

Kari McCann, President of the Iowa Council of Foundations

This week community foundation leaders across the state are preparing to meet with legislators at the 2016 Legislative Breakfast on March 10 at the Iowa State Capitol Building. This is an important day for all community foundations and donors in Iowa as leaders strive to sustain the County Endowment Fund Program and increase the state allocation for the Endow Iowa Tax Credit program. I want to encourage each of you to reach out to the legislators in your districts even if you are unable attend the breakfast Thursday.

As you know, the County Endowment Fund Program Annual Report was recently released. You can use this is a tool in communicating with elected officials. Each legislator and caucus staff member has received a copy and you may also link to it on our website in your communications. A few points regarding this program:

• This program provides needed assistance to nonprofits and residents in 84 Iowa counties.
• In this past decade, over $71 million in grants have been awarded to nonprofit organizations through this program.
• To date the program has helped secure $155 million in endowed assets.

In addition to this program, the Endow Iowa Tax Credit program has been a vital component to the success of community foundations in Iowa. You can view the full proposal here and share this with your legislators. A few points regarding this program:

• During the 2015 legislative session SSB 1104 & HSB 241 that sought to increase the tax credits, were both unanimously voted out of their Ways and Means subcommittees, however due to the lack of funding allocations within the committee, these bills failed to move forward.
• By the end of October 2015, the allocated $6 million in credits were exhausted which left 1,493 applications totaling $1,350,334 in carry over tax credits, even more money to be unencumbered with the threat of leaving the state.
• During the 2016 Legislative Session, the Iowa Community Foundations are requesting legislation that would increase the annual limit of Endow Iowa tax credits available from $6 million to $8 million to best keep up with the demand of this worthwhile program.

Please take a few moments this week to contact your legislators by phone or email. The continued success of these state-funded programs depends on it. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kaye M. Englin, President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa

As the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa prepared to launch our 60^th year of service to our Region, we realized the great importance of strengthening our Mission and the need to develop a clear strategic path to set the direction for the next 3-5 years.  We were also anxious to add value and service to our Fund holders by providing additional resources to facilitate their advising through a donor portal option.

Our planning journey began in the summer of 2015 as staff independently read “The Five Most important questions you will ever ask about your organization” by Peter Drucker.  We then spent time in a retreat discussing the book, with conversations lead by Dr. Bill Withers. As a relatively new Foundation team, it really helped us as a group articulate our shared goals and vision for CFNEIA.  Step #2 was to analyze options for facilitating a strategic planning process.  We understood the importance of bringing in an outside consultant to lead our board, staff and volunteers through the planning process.  We then contracted with CF Leads, (a branch of the Council on Foundations) and arranged for a CEO visit.  Jennifer Leonard from the Rochester NY Community Foundation came to Iowa and spent a day with our board, committee volunteers, and staff talking about her Foundation’s journey and she helped us articulate what we see in the future for our Community Foundation.  To have a base line of understanding of how our stakeholders see CFNEIA, we did a typical SWAT analysis of seeking feedback from current board members, staff and volunteers.  We then had two consultants from CF Leads come for a day-long strategic planning session, where we developed key strategic goal focus areas, added clarity to our mission focus, and developed a plan to move forward in the refinement of the goals and tactics to achieve our mission.  We then spent several months as a staff, meeting in small groups to further define the 4 strategic goals and developing a work plan and timeline to accomplish them.

We are proud to share our 4 key goals:
#1 – Grow Region’s Strengths by Expanding Community leadership Role
#2 – Increase Community Impact by Growing and Preserving Endowed Assets
#3 – Increase Regional Impact by Strengthening Affiliate Capacity
#4 – Increase Community Understanding of the Foundation’s Mission

During this same timeframe, we had a team-approach to implement Donor First, the online donor portal that was selected.  We are in the testing phase of that system now with a small sampling of our stakeholders, and plan to do a full roll-out this spring.  Early this year, we launched our new brand, mission, vision and values as well as our strategic direction.  (Not to mention moved into our new office building!)  I would like to give Kudos to a fabulous team of dedicated staff that is driven to carry out our new mission “To inspire people and connect resources to enrich our communities.”  Celebrating 60 years of impacts, and “Here for good!” as our new tag line shares.

We are grateful to ICOF for helping CFNEIA fund a portion of our Strategic planning process and donor portal implementation.   We are excited about the strategies and increased resources we will be able to share with all of our regional partners in the coming years.  Here’s to a great year!

Kari McCann, President of the Iowa Council of Foundations

Happy New Year! Since settling into my new role, I’ve told a few people one (of my many) priorities for 2016 is to enhance ICoF communications to truly tell the story of the important work happening each day in communities across our great state. We recently heard from our Community Foundation staff and affiliate leaders that they want to learn more from their peers. Our goal of this new blog is to do just that. We want to hear stories from you about the following topics:

• IDEA Implementation Grant projects implemented by your organization;
• Capacity Building Grant projects implemented by your organization;
• successful programs/strategies at your organization;
• challenging issues/questions you are currently working through as an organization;
• impact stories from the field about the difference your donors are making;
• any other stories you feel are important to share to advance the community foundation movement in Iowa.

The opportunities are endless. If you have a story you want to share in an upcoming blog post, please contact Michele Walstrom, Community Foundation Services Coordinator. You may already have stories on your websites or in your communications channels that can be re-purposed for this blog and shared with the CF network. Let us help you share your impact through storytelling!