Iowa West Foundation
Address4201 River’s Edge Parkway Suite 400
Council Bluffs, IA 51501
Details
Programs
- Arts, Culture and Humanities including Library, Museum and Historical Society Grants
- Education
- Environmental Quality, Protection, and Beautification
- Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition
- Health
- Mental Health, Crisis Intervention
- Employment, Economic Development, Job Related and Business Grants
- Housing, Shelter
- Recreation, Sports, Youth Sports
- Community Improvement, Capacity Building
Counties
- Adams
- Audubon
- Carroll
- Cass
- Crawford
- Fremont
- Harrison
- Mills
- Monona
- Montgomery
- Page
- Pottawattamie
- Shelby
- Taylor
- Cass
- Douglas
- Sarpy
- Washington
Maximum Grant Amountnot specified
Description
The Iowa West Foundation makes grants in the following areas:
Economic Development
A strong economy with access to good jobs is critical to the health of our community. The Foundation funds work that seeks to increase the standard of living and economic competitiveness of southwest Iowa and the Council Bluffs-Omaha metropolitan area. Work that falls under our Economic Development portfolio may include grants that:
- Develop a world-class workforce
- Promote job readiness and workforce training/preparedness
- Foster strategic job creation
- Encourage entrepreneurship
- Support the development of new businesses in the region
The Foundation funds economic development throughout the geographic area. However, if your grant request is focused on the Omaha metro area, they only consider grants that include Council Bluffs/southwest Iowa as part of the metro area. Projects that exclusively serve Nebraska residents are not eligible.
Education
The Foundation’s overall goals in education are intended to: (1) increase kindergarten readiness and decrease educational inequity due to socioeconomic factors; (2) ensure children are reading on grade level by the third grade; (3) increase high school completion rates; and (4) increase post-secondary opportunities. To achieve these goals, the Foundation supports:
- Preschool
- Early childhood development
- Children’s mental health
- Summer school
- Post-secondary readiness and access
Individual schools are not eligible to apply for grant support, however, the Foundation does partner with districts on transformational investments through our initiative process. They encourage superintendents to reach-out to discuss the opportunity partnership. Fducation grants are funded throughout the 14 Iowa counties of focus. For metro-Nebraskas counties, education projects that meaningfully include Iowa students may be eligible to apply.
Healthy Families
The Healthy Families portfolio is focused in Pottawattamie County. The Foundation places a priority on programs that strengthen families, foster essential life skills and address critical human/social service needs in our community while helping individuals reach their full potential. Examples of such programs include proposals that address:
- Family stability
- Hunger
- Emergency/transitional housing
- Adolescent health projects
- Child abuse
- Mental health
Place-Making
The Foundation invests in creating world-class places in the community and activating those spaces with excellent arts and cultural programs. Our investments in developing our community include:
- Arts and culture programs
- Beautification
- Community infrastructure
- Preserving important environmental spaces
- Housing
- Recreation
- Rural development
They fund placemaking throughout the geographic focus area. However, if your grant request is focused on the Omaha metro area, they only consider grants that include Council Bluffs/southwest Iowa as part of the metro area. Projects that exclusively serve Nebraska residents are not eligible.
Deadlines
Letters of inquiry may be submitted at any time. LOIs received after the deadline for a particular cycle will be considered in the following cycle.
Cycle 1: LOIs are due by January 1, with a completed application due by January 15
Cycle 2: LOIs are due by May 1, with a completed application due by May 15
Cycle 3: LOIs are due by September 1, with a completed application due by September 15
Grant information was last reviewed by our staff on 5/23/2023
Application Link
Go directly to guidelines and application