The Iowa West Foundation seeks to foster belonging, financial stability, and opportunity by supporting housing for all, education with purpose, and recreation for wellbeing in Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie County, and the southwest Iowa region.
Donor Name: Iowa West Foundation
State: Iowa
County: Selected Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: (mm/dd/yyyy) 08/03/2026
Size of the Grant: Not Available
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
The Iowa West Foundation strives for communities where families love to live, and businesses thrive. To accomplish this vision, the foundation uses a variety of tools, including an open grants program. The grants program supports priorities identified by the southwest Iowa residents. Through thousands of ideas shared in community Imagine Hour listening sessions, four core ideas defined a community vision of success. Together they form a picture of a vibrant, successful community. They are:
- Belonging – Everyone in the community experiences a deep sense of being included and appreciated.
- Financial stability – The community is rooted in meeting all residents’ basic needs and beyond.
- Opportunity – High quality opportunities are available to pursue personal achievement.
- Well-being – Individuals have the opportunity to thrive, not just survive.
Grant Types
Applicants may apply for four distinct types of grants. They consider all resources available to you in determining how much funding to provide – they want to help you bridge the gap between your resources and your goals.
- Program Grants
- Program Grants are a form of restricted support. They help a grantee implement a defined project or activity and are tied to specific, project-based outcomes.
- Operating Grants
- Operating Grants are a form of unrestricted support. They fund a grantee’s overall activities, including administrative functions.
- Capital Grants
- Capital Grants are restricted grants that support the infrastructure needs of an organization. Typically, this is through the acquisition, construction, or installation of facilities or equipment.
- Launch Grants
- Launch Grants are a type of grant that responds to a frequently heard need from the partner organizations. They are designed to support the creation of needed programs or organizations that are not provided by the existing system.
Eligibility Criteria
- Organizations – Iowa West Foundation grants to public charities and governmental entities.
- Schools & School District Eligibility: Individual schools are not eligible to apply for grant support, however they do partner with districts on transformational investments through the grants and initiatives. Transformational projects typically help a district to launch a new program / facility that will achieve a significant advance in specific learning outcomes.
- Good Standing: Eligibility for new grant consideration or renewal of funding relies on a past recipient being in good standing with the Iowa West Foundation. Good standing means that all current grants are in compliance (meeting all award conditions) and that reporting is complete and current. If the Foundation has provided notice of specific concerns, a partner is not considered to be in good standing unless those concerns have been satisfactorily addressed.
- Geography – As a place-based foundation, they are organized to serve the interests of residents of southwest Iowa. They do so by providing grant funding to a limited geographic area (please see map).
- Iowa funding: The Iowa footprint includes 14 counties. The primary funding area is in Pottawattamie County. They also serve communities located in Adams, Audubon, Carroll, Cass, Crawford, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Monona, Montgomery, Page, Shelby, and Taylor counties.
- Metro Omaha funding: They also fund organizations in the Greater Omaha Metropolitan Area that benefit Iowa residents. This can be through the provision of direct services into Iowa or through the operation of regional amenities. They define regional amenities as facilities that can demonstrate an audience that includes Iowa residents, and which do not have equivalents in the Iowa giving area.
- Matching Funds – They seek to create the maximum benefit for the communities with the use of the funds. As a result, they encourage the partners to leverage the grants through matching. Iowa West Foundation will not fund more than 50% of the eligible costs of completing the proposed work. Grant applications to the Iowa West Foundation with higher matches are viewed more favorably by the Grants Review Committee.
- In-kind matching: many of the nonprofit partners make use of in-kind contributions to implement their projects and programs. They see strong value in partnerships that support these non-cash contributions. They will consider in-kind contributions for up to 15% of the total eligible budget as a match to the funds. In-kind contributions may exceed this amount but will not be considered for match purposes.
For more information, visit Iowa West Foundation.
