tYPES OF
FUNDS + Services

A personal approach to giving.

A Donor Advised Fund allows you to make a gift and remain actively involved in suggesting uses for your gift. You can work with us to suggest ongoing uses for the fund; targeting the issues you care about most. Grant awards are issued to charities in the name of the fund (or anonymously, if you prefer). It's a simple, powerful and highly personal approach to giving. 

A Corporate Donor Advised Fund is a giving vehicle that allows a corporation to make a charitable gift to its own charitable fund, receive potential tax deductions at the time of donation, and grant out the donations to charities at the time of the corporation's choosing. Donor Advised Funds provide for charitable giving similar to a Foundation, but are lower cost, easier to set up, more flexible, and the Community Foundation simplifies the record-keeping and administration.

Helping local organizations sustain and grow.

Establishing a Designated Fund allows you to support the work of a specific nonprofit organization - a senior center, museum, church or virtually any nonprofit charitable organization. Because it's given through us, the power of an endowment provides your selected organization funding, planned gifts and investment management services. 

Helping to preserve and grow the quality of life in our region by supporting higher education for area students.

The Community Foundation for Western Iowa offers scholarship funds to help donors amplify their impact to future generations of learners and leaders. Individuals, families, companies, and organizations can establish endowed or expendable scholarship funds, and scholarship funds can be set up as designated funds. The Community Foundation works closely with the Southwest Iowa Educational Foundation (SWIEF) to help our youth with their postsecondary education needs. If you are interested in establishing a scholarship fund through the Community Foundation, please contact the office at 712-256-7007. Visit the SWIEF website for additional information. 

The Community Foundation for Western Iowa currently administers 18 scholarships in partnership with SWIEF.

Endowing your Nonprofit Organization

Nonprofit organizations can partner with us by establishing an Agency Fund. This is a simple and efficient way to build an endowment and help create sustainability for nonprofit organizations, while providing dollars to meet agency needs. We can assist with investment management and administrative details. 

Creating an investment vehicle for your local community.

Through an Affiliate Community Fund, your community is able to develop a vehicle to receive donations and bequests to benefit your community in perpetuity. Partnering with us allows the affiliate community to focus on raising the funds and deciding charitable use for the fund's income. The Community Foundation for Western Iowa can handle the investment, administration, and daily tasks to maintain the foundation. 

Connecting personal values to high impact opportunities.

By establishing a Field of Interest Fund, you can target your gift to address needs in a specific area of community life. The arts, at-risk youth, education and the environment are just a few examples. You identify your personal interest area when making your gift and our board will award grants to community organizations and programs that are making a difference in the area you select. Your gift stays flexible enough to meet community needs in your interest area, even as they change over time. 

Meet ever-changing community needs.

When you establish an Unrestricted Fund, your gift can address a broad range of local needs - including future needs, often not anticipated at the time your gift is made. The flexibility of your unrestricted gift enables us to respond to the community's most pressing needs, today and tomorrow. 

Fiscal sponsorship is a great way for community groups and civic organizations to focus on creating lasting change in our community in partnerships with the Community Foundation for Western Iowa. We offer our legal and tax-exempt status, as well as marketing and administrative expertise to groups working on projects and engaging in activities related to the Community Foundation's mission. 

The Community Foundation as Your Foundation.

Often times, families or civic groups wish to create a charitable entity that enables them to meet their philanthropic goals, while also providing certain incentives and protections for their financial resources. The Community Foundation for Western Iowa fills those needs, and offers the governance necessary to meet reporting requirements.  As a 501(c)(3), with strong policies, governing oversight, and annual auditing processes in place, we help you meet your philanthropic objectives with ease and peace of mind. 

Organizations looking to create a separate operating or private foundation must meet IRS requirements, such as reporting on net investment income and meet the requirements of income, asset, and endowment tests.