What Happens When a Funder Listens to Nonprofit Advice on Good Grantmaking?

The Iowa West Racing Association (IWRA) was created when Iowa passed laws requiring gaming licenses to be either held or sponsored by nonprofit organizations. The Iowa West Foundation is funded by the IWRA, which receives contracted fees paid by local casino operators Ameristar and Harrah’s. The Foundation began its grant program in 1996 and is headquartered in Council Bluffs, Iowa, near Omaha, Nebraska. To date, it has disbursed about $400 million in grants, which works out to roughly $20 million a year. Grants made by the foundation are dedicated to the local community of southwest Iowa and eastern Nebraska, with the result that the foundation is a place-based funder, which, at least in its grant disbursement acts similarly in many respects to a community foundation.But there are many different ways that one can serve as a place-based funder. Traditionally, the Iowa West Foundation disbursed its funding in discrete organizational grants. But practice has shifted at the Iowa West Foundation in recent years. Prodded in part by a national call by nine nonprofit leaders to philanthropy to adopt  grantmaking practices that are more actively supportive and respectful, Iowa West Foundation CEO Pete Tulipana outlined some of the ways the foundation has sought to become more responsive to community needs. In his op-ed, Tulipana outlines some of the key steps that his foundation has taken since 2015.