
Kari McCann Boutell, President
Iowa Council of Foundations
As participating counties anticipate the receipt of their County Endowment Fund Program dollars at the end of summer, it is important to note that these funds will be less than in previous years. With casinos being closed for several months due to the pandemic, state receipts from gaming tax revenue have declined, which will directly result in a decrease in CEFP dollars available for 2020-2021. As your boards and advisory committees consider how this may impact your grantmaking, there are resources to support your conversations. I encourage you to review the following Iowa Community Foundations Initiative resources and use them to make strategic decisions about how your organization can best support your communities now and in the coming weeks and months.
- The Guide to Effective Grantmaking outlines steps you can take to simplify and streamline your process this year. This is needed now, more than ever, as nonprofits on the front lines are overwhelmed with increased demand for services and having to adjust their service delivery models. Consider how you can simplify their process to support them and to make things easier on yourselves too.
- The Ten Ways to Strategically Invest Your CEFP Dollars Webinar Recording offers some strategies to make the most out of your grant dollars. This will be critically important this year, as you have fewer resources.
- The Disaster Philanthropy Toolkit provides specific information about how best to support communities and organizations that have been impacted by a disaster. As a result of the pandemic and economic downturn, we are all feeling these impacts in different ways. Consider how you can adjust your processes to meet the needs of your nonprofit partners and the communities facing unprecedented challenges.
We will continue to provide virtual opportunities for you to connect with your peers from across the state through Peer-Learning Calls, the Annual Connect Community Foundations Conference, and additional webinar conversations. You can learn more on our Events Page and in upcoming issues of the CF Snapshot. If there are specific tools or resources that you are seeking, please remember you can always submit a colleague inquiry. Please let us know how we can best support you as we move forward – together.