Kari McCann Boutell, President
Iowa Council of Foundations
This year we are celebrating 15 years of the Endow Iowa Tax Credit. As you know, Endow Iowa and the County Endowment Fund Program were designed to help encourage philanthropy across the state and capture a percentage of the Transfer of Wealth. In 2016, Iowa received updated Transfer of Wealth data to better understand opportunities in each county in the state. Be sure to review the Iowa TOW Executive Summary and the newly released National TOW Executive Summary. We have also built a Transfer of Wealth Toolkit which can be accessed on the Iowa Community Foundations Initiative password-protected section of the ICoF website here. (Email admin@iowacounciloffoundations.org if you cannot remember your login credentials). I also wanted to highlight a couple specific examples of how to use the data with your donors and community partners.
Idea #1 Create a Video: The Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque made a series of Transfer of Wealth Videos to highlight the specific TOW data for each county they serve. You can view the Clayton County Foundation for the Future video here. In addition, the Washington County Community Foundation in Indiana created this video as a teaching tool for their board and community.
Idea #2 Create a PowerPoint: This PowerPoint Template from the TOW Toolkit can help you create a customized presentation to use with donors, your board or advisory committee or at community presentations. The Wayne County Community Foundation used the template to create a presentation for their 20th Anniversary Celebration in February.
Idea #3 Create Consistent Messages: In Kansas, their community foundations have focused their messaging around TOW on capturing 5% of the transfer for the future of their communities. You can learn more about their Keep 5 Kansas Campaign here. You might consider a similar approach when talking with donors about their planned giving.
Please let me know if there is any way our office can be helpful in your implementation of these or other ideas.
