Foundation board helps determine grants

By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com

More than $109,000 in grants was awarded by the Floyd County Community Foundation recently.

“It started in the early 2000s,” said Judy Hauser, former Floyd County Community Foundation board member. The group is affiliated with the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa.

Deciding who gets grants and how much is the job of the board, and term limits make sure there are always new people involved.

Hauser, Patty Staudt, Angie Ruzicka, Jenny Loeckle and Al Koenigsfeld are the departing board members in 2018. 

Floyd County Community Foundation board members serve three-year terms, with a limit of two terms. Hauser and Staudt joined the board six-years ago.

“The reason I said ‘yes’ was because I just really believe in Charles City,” Hauser said.

Staudt said she didn’t know a lot about the organization at the time she joined, outside of information she read in the newspaper.

Communities all over Floyd County receive funds from the Foundation. As of 2016 more than $1 million had been distributed to cities in the county.

“If a small town asks for a grant they’ll get one at least,” Hauser said. “We really had to talk a couple of them into applying.”

The board doesn’t arbitrarily decide how much groups get.

“I think I probably spent a good 35 to 40 hours reviewing each application,” Hauser said.

The board reviews a group’s mission statement, what grants it has received in the past, how it plans to use the grant being applying for, and board involvement.

All of those factors, among others, play into a group’s rating, and that rating plays into whether a group receives a grant and how much of a grant it will receive.

“This year we had $109,363 to give,” Hauser said.

Staudt said she enjoys how the money can make a difference — “seeing the good it has done for these organizations that have never had the chance to the do the things that they could do if it wasn’t for the grants.”

Hauser said, “Last year there were 32, this year there were 30 organizations.” Some years as many as 40 organizations have sought funds.

The Floyd County Community Foundation also works with endowments and helps residents set up endowment funds. It currently manages $4 million in endowment assets.

“My husband and I grew up in Charles City and we love Charles City,” Hauser said. “There’s a lot of good going on here.”

Despite leaving the board, Hauser, Staudt and the others remain involved in the Floyd County community.

Here are the organizations receiving grants, the purpose of the grant and the grant amount:

• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Iowa, Floyd County One-to-One Mentoring, $2,500.

• Charles City Arts Council, Art Center security system, $4,000.

• Charles City Civic Foundation, Community Revitalization, Central Park light pole painting, $1,300.

• Charles City Civic Foundation, Rotary Club Tree Project, $2,500.

• Charles City Family YMCA, public address system and inflatables for youth programming, $4,300.

• Chickasaw County Agricultural Extension District, EAGLE Library/preschool programs for Floyd County for FY2018, $800.

• City of Charles City, Charles City Foster Grandparent Program, $4,900.

• City of Charles City, Library, Mooney Rare Book Collection, $1,000.

• City of Charles City, Park Board, whitewater equipment for lessons, $1,000.

• City of Charles City, Police Department, Rapid Response Fire Control System, $3,400.

• City of Marble Rock, 2018 Marble Rock park projects, $4,125.

• City of Rockford, Grow Rockford Together Street Light Project, Phase 3, Part 3, $3,000.

• City of Rudd, Rudd Library, 2017-2018 community programs, $1,000.

• Comprehensive Systems Inc., modernizing the elevator @ CSI- Crestview, $2,000.

• Encouragement Corp., free Christian concert, $5,000.

• Floyd County Fair Society, Aussie Kingdom, $10,000.

• Floyd County Humane Society, Charles City Dog Park sustainable vegetation management and improvements, $2,750.

• Floyd County ISU Extension and Outreach, Learn, Grow, Eat and Go! Summer Program, $450.

• Floyd County Youth Activities, Floyd ball field improvement, $7,000.

• Fossil & Prairie Center Foundation, Fossil & Prairie Center exhibit upgrade project, $2,000.

• Grow Rockford Together Association, Rockford B/ASKids (Before/After School Kids)/SOAR (School’s Out at Rockford), $3,000.

• Jordan River Inc., Messiah’s Food Pantry, $15,000.

• Lutheran Services in Iowa, Families Together in Floyd County, $1,500.

• Marble Rock Veterans Monument Association, Marble Rock veterans monument addition, $2,000.

• NIVC Services Inc., customized employment support, $2,000.

• Nora Springs Historical Society, refurbishing of the Historical Society Adams Home Facility, $1,700.

• Northeast Iowa Food Bank, backpack program, $2,000.

• Senior Citizens of Charles City Area, LED light replacements, $2,138.

• TLC: The Learning Center, sustainability support, $12,000.

• Trinity United Methodist Church/ Our Brother’s Keeper, Our Brother’s Keeper, $5,000.

Total grants, $109,363.