Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines

The Community foundation of Greater Des Moines works with individual donors, families, businesses, nonprofit organizations and communities to establish charitable giving funds that benefit causes and communities forever. The Community foundation improves quality of life for all by promoting charitable giving, connecting donors with causes they care about and providing leadership on important Community issues. The Community foundation of Greater Des Moines is confirmed in compliance with national standards for u.s. Community foundations. The Community foundation offers expert giving advice, charitable giving tools to meet individual giving goals, professional investment management of charitable giving funds and maximum tax advantages. The Community foundation administers more than 2,500 charitable component funds. Through Community foundation grantmaking programs and donor funds, over $58 million was granted to charitable causes in 2023.

The Community foundation is committed to improving quality of life in Greater Des Moines and recognizes the important role the nonprofit sector plays in building strong communities. The Community foundation's leadership grants support critical projects and programs that improve quality of life in Greater Des Moines. Its capacity building grants strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of nonprofit organizations and provide funding for technical assistance and consultation to help improve the capacity and management of nonprofit organizations. In addition, the Community foundation plays a critical role in assisting nonprofit organizations through accounting services which allows their focus to remain on mission fulfillment.

The Community foundation serves as the fiscal sponsor for important Community betterment initiatives. These initiatives fulfill short-term administrative needs for a specific program or project that is key to the future viability of the Community. By serving as fiscal sponsor, the Community foundation eliminates the need for these volunteer groups to establish an unnecessary nonprofit organization, yet allows for the project to be carried out in a prudent manner with strong fiscal oversight. The Community foundation provides administrative and financial services for these projects. Examples include the lauridsen skatepark, gray's lake, the midamerican energy company recplex and planning for the Greater Des Moines disaster recovery fund.