County Endowment Program Report Released
The Iowa Council of Foundations (ICoF) and the Iowa Gaming Association (IGA) recently released their joint annual report. It is entitled “Building Iowa’s Communities Through Philanthropy: A Snapshot of the 2013-2014 County Endowment Fund Program and Grants Made by Casino Nonprofit Organizations.”
Now in its ninth year, the County Endowment Fund Program was created by an initiative of the Iowa legislature to utilize a percentage of Iowa’s commercial casinos’ gaming tax revenues. It creates a strong community foundation infrastructure in the 85 counties that do not hold a state-issued gaming license. Since the 2005 inception, nearly $63 million has been awarded to over 18,000 projects and programs around the state.
This annual report provides an overview of the County Endowment Program and features a county-by-county listing of each grant that was awarded in 2013-2014, plus general characteristics for each of the community foundations involved. The report also features a review of the grant making by each of the nonprofit license sponsors located in the 14 counties with a casino.
The publication is be available for download on the ICoF’s website for Community Foundations (www.IowaCommunityFoundations.org) and the Iowa Gaming Association’s site (www.iowagaming.org).
Key Highlights from the 2013-2014 report include:
County Endowment Fund Program
- 2,215: Number of grants distributed by participating community foundations
- $8,712,567: Total amount in grant funds awarded from the program across the 85 counties
Nonprofit License Sponsors
- Over $46 million in grants awarded in 2014 to more than 1200 organizations.
The Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation administers the Linn County Fund and provides support for the Wapello County Fund. For more information about the Linn County Fund, visit https://www.gcrcf.org/grants/funding-opportunities/linn-county-fund/. For more information about the Wapello County Fund, visit https://www.gcrcf.org/affiliates/wapello-county-foundation/.