Iowa Council of Foundations

Kari McCann Boutell, President, Iowa Council of Foundations

I spent the early part of last week in Chicago at the Joint Policy Institute hosted by the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers and the National Council of Nonprofits. We spent our time together discussing state and federal policy strategies, approaches to working with policy makers and understanding how funders and nonprofits can work together to advance public policy as it relates to their missions.

I had conversations with many nonprofit association leaders who work closely with nonprofits throughout their states. Without question, the number one thing they urge funders to do to support advocacy and policy work is – you guessed it – fund it. There are a variety of ways funders can support advocacy:

• provide planning grant funding to develop policy agendas
• support nonprofit convenings that bring together nonprofits and form collaboratives
• invest in communications efforts for nonprofits

And supporting nonprofits in this way can lead to the results your foundation hopes to achieve:

• educating the public on the importance of your issue and/or the nonprofit sector
• sharing effective solutions to public problems
• developing tools and techniques to help scale effective programs

Most importantly, all of this must align with your foundation’s mission, but if it does, public policy and advocacy can advance your mission in ways not possible though programmatic grants. To learn more about how other funders are supporting advocacy efforts, click here.

Corrine Kroger, Iowa Regional Director, Vision to Learn

Often times rural communities have limited resources, programs and services that address social needs. They are typically more focused on direct service and do not have the capacity to take a step back and assess opportunities for systems change. However, Jackson County residents, business leaders and service providers were eager to roll their sleeves up and get to work on helping the young people in their community succeed.

In April 2014, the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque was awarded an Anonymous Donor grant to expand the work of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading to Jackson County and Dyersville. Jackson County, comprised of approximately 19,720 residents, has 15.6% of its population living in poverty and approximately 76% of the county’s third graders reading at grade level. There was a need for the community to gather around this type of work, and through a partnership with the Community Foundation of Jackson County, we were successful in launching the Campaign in January 2015.

Launching a Campaign in a county rather than a single community brought along some challenges. We realized early-on that it was important to maintain each community’s identity when looking at data, needs and identifying priorities. The county consists of four public school districts and two parochial schools and because of this, we spent a lot of time during the first year building relationships, raising awareness and identifying opportunities to collaborate.

As we all know systems change takes time, so keeping our communities engaged, stakeholders informed and residents excited about this work was critical at the beginning. Ensuring that we had the right data to inform our work was an important piece of our plan and developing a strategy.

Awareness building and consistent communications helped us to keep our momentum as we worked on projects. As we launched our Campaign we jumped right in with social media and developed a regular monthly newsletter that is now distributed to residents, business leaders, local government officials, donors and key stakeholders.

While we focused on the big picture and systems change, we also tackled those projects that are considered to be the “lowest hanging fruit.” During year one, committee members came together and worked on attendance awareness strategies, family literacy events, Little Free Libraries, and back to school events, among others. As we take off into year two we will take a deeper dive into strategy that addresses gaps in services and improved parent engagement.

Collaborating outside of the Network is also vital for rural communities for reasons previously mentioned.  The Dubuque Campaign worked closely with the Community Foundation of Jackson County and the Jackson County Campaign for Grade-Level Reading to bring Vision to Learn to Iowa – because meeting children’s basic needs help them arrive at school ready to learn.

In 2016, the Community Foundation partnered with Vision To Learn to pilot a mobile vision clinic aimed at improving kids’ vision to help them succeed in school. The pilot program included eight Title I schools – five in Dubuque and three in Jackson County. Students were identified as needing an exam based on fall school vision screenings.

How did we get here? Just like launching a Campaign, we began to ask questions about what communities were doing to ensure that students had the proper vision care they needed to succeed in school. We had conversations with school nurses to learn about the vision screening process and learned that in Iowa, schools are required to conduct vision screenings for incoming kindergarteners and third graders. For many rural districts, there is a lack of capacity to complete all of the vision screenings necessary.  There is not currently a mandate for vision exams if a child is identified as needing follow-up care from their school screening.

After conversations with the Optometric community, we learned that a child’s eyes change often during early developmental stages and throughout puberty. The fact that we were only screening students in kindergarten and third grade did not seem like enough to catch possible vision problems that may exist.  That aside, what happens to those students once they fail a vision screening?  Through our research we learned that approximately two thirds of the students who failed their vision screening and are referred for a vision exam, never actually followed up with a doctor.

In an effort to ensure that more students were getting to the doctor, we had discussions with local eyecare professionals and healthcare providers to determine if there were local solutions within our community.  At the same time we discovered a program model that was having great success on the west coast.

Vision To Learn, a nonprofit that overcomes barriers such as access and cost, was bringing a mobile clinic to low-income schools and providing eyes exams and glasses for free.  Research by the University of California Los Angeles Mattel Children’s Hospital shows that Vision To Learn has a direct impact on education outcomes for children supported by the program and improves the learning environment for the entire classroom and school. We know that if a child cannot see, they cannot read and if they cannot read they are less likely to graduate high school.

After several conversations and local fund raising we were able to launch our pilot program in January of 2016. The results:

• 178 students were examined by Vision To Learn optometrists
• 90 students received prescriptions for glasses and each received two free pairs – one to keep at school and one to keep at home
• 16 students were referred on for further vision care

Many of the students identified as needing glasses had extremely high prescriptions, which is often an indication of a long-undetected vision problem.  Additionally, we found that a significant number of students had been prescribed glasses at a young age and were still wearing the same prescription as many as four years later.

Our pilot has allowed us to identify the varying landscape that a rural community brings compared to a larger metropolitan area. We know that rural communities are most likely to benefit from this type of service due to barriers such as transportation, access to eye care specialists and poor economic conditions.  As we continue to partner with VTL for the 2016-2017 school year we will continue to identify barriers, build relationships with Medicaid Managed Care Organizations in the state of Iowa, and facilitate conversations with the key stakeholders about access to healthcare services.

We know and understand that one barrier that impacts whether a child receives vision care is lack of priority or awareness. During the pilot program, parents were asked to sign a consent form prior to their child participating in the mobile vision program. For those schools with limited staff time, many students were left out of the program due to a lack of parental consent forms being returned and the inability for school staff to follow-up with families.

During the 2016-2017 program, schools will collaborate with Grade-Level Reading partners on outreach techniques and parent engagement strategies that will not only raise the awareness around good vision health, but also to ensure that proper consents are received in order for students to participate in the mobile vision program.  Additionally, each of the School Districts will provide families with information about signs and symptoms of a potential vision problem and the importance of visiting an eye care specialist annually.

We are excited about the expansion for the upcoming school and look forward to partnering with communities throughout the State of Iowa.  Learn more about Vision To Learn here.  To learn more about the Iowa program please contact Corrine Kroger, Iowa Regional Director, at Corrine@visiontolearn.org.

Kari McCann, President of the Iowa Council of Foundations

I started my career in philanthropy when I was an eighth grade student. I joined a youth philanthropy group in my hometown of Creston that was funded by the Dekko Foundation, an ICoF member organization. Dekko invests in youth philanthropy because “Research shows that philanthropy and service to community are learned skills. We want to help teens learn about philanthropy by DOING!” (www.dekkofoundation.org). I am so grateful for the investments the Dekko Foundation made in our community, our group and my personal growth and development. I absolutely would not be where I am today without their support and guidance.

A number of funders in the ICoF community host and support local youth philanthropy groups. Each group has its own identity, process and goals, but overall the benefits of any youth philanthropy program are many. If you are considering investing in youth philanthropy, here is a glimpse at your potential ROI:

• Young people who are engaged, connected and doing good in their community
• Grants being distributed to causes that young people care about and feel are important priorities
• Young people who learn the importance of philanthropy, community service and civic engagement
• Developing new leaders and future board members for your foundation board or other nonprofit boards
• Inspiring young people to be philanthropic now and in the future (these are our next donors)

Really, I could go on and on, so I’ll stop here. I recently had the opportunity to present a webinar sponsored by Youth Philanthropy Connect, an initiative of the Freida C. Fox Family Foundation, and Exponent Philanthropy. I spoke about how storytelling can be a powerful tool for youth philanthropy. Joining me for the presentation were two young people who have participated in YAPPERS (Youth Area Philanthropists), a program of the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque. Take a minute to listen to some of the powerful statements they make in this video and on the recording of our webinar. They are perfect examples of the positive impact this work can have on a young person and on a community.

I encourage you to think about ways your community foundation can incorporate youth in your programming, either by investing in a youth philanthropy program or inviting a youth representative to join your board or grants committee. ICoF is here as a resource to you as part of our commitment to grooming the next generation of philanthropic givers and leaders. Please contact me if you would like more information about youth philanthropy or you would like to be connected to others who are leading this work in Iowa and beyond.

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

On Tuesday May 5, 2016, the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque hosted its third annual Great Give Day, a 24-hour, online giving day.

This region-wide event is open to nonprofit agency endowment partners and is promoted vigorously by our affiliate advisory boards. This year, our online platform provider, Kimbia, experienced technical difficulties on the event day that prevented many donors from giving online. This technology collapse affected more than 50 giving days across the country, impacting a total of over 200 communities.

Thanks to the tenacious efforts of our communications and nonprofit outreach staff, however, we were able to extend the giving day and open up new giving options. In the end, we outpaced the 2015 total of $324,000 and celebrated $368,000 in gifts.

Great Give Day has changed and shaped our practice in the following ways:

• This year, Great Give Day united 114 nonprofit endowment partners from across the region. From the Harpers Ferry Booster Club to Camp Courageous, this event encourages volunteers and donors to engage together and collectively cheer community philanthropy.
• Affiliate advisory boards have fun being creative with marketing. Iowa Council of Foundations Idea Implementation grants helped support live radio broadcasts, yard signs, volunteer phone-a-thons, and a Great Give Day party at the local brewpub.
• The early May online giving event is a nice companion to the heavy giving activity that foundations experience in November – December.
• Sponsor gifts create hourly incentive prizes to generate excitement throughout the day, boost giving, and promote friendly competition among the nonprofits.
• While the technical difficulties did not allow us to collect as much data as in past years, Great Give Day has historically resulted in more than 500 donors making first-time gifts to nonprofits—a benchmark that suggests that online giving creates new access for donors.
• Great Give Day has now become a tradition and is a part of many nonprofits’ annual development plans. Participation is offered only to nonprofit endowment partners and is considered an important benefit of creating a community foundation endowment.

Great Give Day truly leverages time, talent and treasure in our Greater Dubuque region and has become an exciting signature of our impact.

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!