About Us

Fort Dodge Community Foundation

Investing in our community, today, tomorrow … forever

About Us

The Fort Dodge Community Foundation:  Is an independent 501(c) (3) public charity that enables people with philanthropic interests to develop lasting legacies through funds that support causes, programs and organizations in their community that they care about, easily, and effectively. Serving Fort Dodge and Webster County, the Fort Dodge Community Foundation makes grants from these funds to a wide-range of charitable causes and non-profit organizations to address a wide-range of current and future community needs.

Our Mission:  To serve as a catalyst for charitable giving – developing charitable resources to support important community programs, services and projects that will benefit the public good and improve the quality of life of
all citizens, families and youth in Fort Dodge, Webster County and northwest-central Iowa.

Our Vision:  To serve as a strong and vital community foundation, providing positive, effective, innovative leadership to foster community betterment and to serve as an agent for advancing positive community growth and development. Using our charitable resources, we will invest in the well-being of citizens, families and youth, and help Fort Dodge, Webster County become a vital and prosperous community – a place where people will want to live, work, and raise their families.

A Unique Organization:
The Fort Dodge Community Foundation is a unique philanthropic organization. In July 2007, United Way of Greater Fort Dodge and the Community Foundation of Fort Dodge and North Central Iowa merged into one philanthropic organization. Both organizations shared a common mission – to advance the common good and improve the quality of life of people in our community and region through charitable giving. Merging the two organizations provided the opportunity to leverage resources and reduce duplication in philanthropy. This collaborative model is the first of its kind in the nation and offers our community and region a “one-stop-shop,” for community-based charitable giving. The new organization, the Fort Dodge Community Foundation and United Way is certified by the National Council on Foundations and United Way Worldwide.

Meets National Standards: 

Confirmed in Compliance with National Standards for U.S. Community Foundations

The Fort Dodge Community Foundation and United Way meets the National Standards established by the Council on Foundations for U.S. Community Foundations, which are philanthropy’s most rigorous standards. Community foundations that meet these standards have demonstrated that they abide by the highest legal, ethical and effective operating practices, financial oversight, transparency and accountability.

Our Philanthropic Objective:  Every day we strive to develop the trust and respect of our citizens so we can effectively serve as the entity in Fort Dodge/Webster County for community-based philanthropic giving - encouraging citizens to invest in their community through the establishment of endowment, legacy funds, designated and/or donor advised funds for the purpose of investing in the future vitality, growth and development of our community and region.

Our funding priorities include:

  • Economic prosperity
  • Emergency needs
  • Human services
  • Education and life-long learning
  • Positive youth development
  • Recreation and leisure
  • Parks and trails
  • Historical and cultural advancement
  • Fine arts (music-visual arts-theater)
  • Health, healthy lifestyles and personal well-being
  • Environment and beautification
  • Historical preservation
  • Public safety


Our Core Values:

  • Philanthropic Giving:  We promote the importance of giving back to the community one’s time, talent and treasures.
  • Leadership: We embrace and encourage visionary, innovative and progressive leadership that supports visionary thinking, innovative planning, and collaborative action.
  • Trust and Integrity:  We embrace honesty, integrity and trust as values that guide us and help us build a highly reputable community foundation that manages all assets and funds entrusted to us in a trustworthy and professional manner.
  • Accountability:  We believe that we must be completely accountable to our donors and to our community in all of our activities and responsibilities related to promoting, receiving and managing philanthropic gifts, grant-making and leadership.
  • Collaboration: We acknowledge the importance of having a shared vision and promoting collaborative planning, and by working together, we encourage synergistic community action for the future growth, development and vitality of our community.
  • Innovation:  We embrace the need for creative, innovative thinking, planning and action and we understand that change is an inevitable factor in the evolution of a community, and we welcome the opportunities and challenges that come with change.
  • Volunteerism: We encourage and empower people to participate, volunteer, and take action to make a positive difference in their community.
  • Optimism:  We nurture hope and optimism for and within our community, realizing that our community culture and attitude must be positive and optimistic for us to achieve our vision for our community. We know that as a community, we have the capacity, the resources and the talent to achieve positive change and community growth and development, and if we effectively apply these resources, we can achieve our long-range vision for our community.
     



Our Assets:  Currently the Fort Dodge Community Foundation manages over 150 endowed and non-endowed funds and over $25 million in assets. In 2024, the Fort Dodge Community Foundation and United Way granted over $2.1 million to over 80 organizations, agencies and charitable projects and programs in our community and region.

Our History:  The Community Foundation of Webster County and North Central Iowa was legally incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation in September 1995. In February of 2001, the first board meeting was held, chaired by founder Jim Humes.  In 2002, the Community Foundation hired its first paid executive director, who served in a part-time capacity. In July of 2005, the board of directors, out of concern for long-term sustainability, began discussions with the local United Way board on the potential for sharing administrative services. At that time, the boards of the Foundation and the United Way thought it was in the best interests of both organizations to partner in order to achieve efficiencies of operation and reduce duplication of services and expenses.

A committee of both boards was formed and began working to determine the best organizational structure for a new community-based philanthropic organization. Following two years of dialogue and negotiation, the two philanthropic organizations merged into a new organization named the Fort Dodge Community Foundation and United Way. The first board meeting of the new organization took place in July of 2007.

In May of 2009, the Council on Foundations recognized the Community Foundations.Fort Dodge Community Foundation and United Way as meeting its rigorous National Standards. Officially, the Fort Dodge Community Foundation and United Way could state that it was: Confirmed in Compliance with National Standards for U.S. Community Foundations.