Iowa West Foundation Grants

Iowa West Foundation Grants is sponsored by Iowa West Foundation. Supports housing, education, and recreation initiatives in Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie County, and southwest Iowa.

Grants Process - Iowa West Foundation The Foundation has three grant cycles per year; however, we accept Letters of Inquiry (LOIs) year-round. The date you submit will determine in which grant cycle your application will be considered (see schedule below). The LOI is used to confirm your eligibility and whether your application would be compatible with our funding priorities.

If there are any areas of concern or need for clarification, a member of the grants team will call you to discuss. In fairness to others, we adhere strictly to an 11:59 p. m.

deadline on the filing dates. LOIs will be considered for the next application period. Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered.

When the deadline falls on a weekend/holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day. The grant application process is entirely online. The first formal step of the application process is to log-in to our grants management system and complete a letter of inquiry (LOI) form.

Past grant recipients and future grant applicants need to create an account in Giving Data. The LOI helps to establish the eligibility of your organization and the proposed use of funds. The due dates indicated in the Grant Cycles chart identify the final submission date to be confident that your LOI will go into the current grant cycle.

LOIs received after the deadline for a particular cycle will be considered in the following cycle. LOIs are reviewed by Iowa West Foundation staff. Applicants typically receive a response via e-mail within 5 business days.

If our staff note any areas of concern that may impact your consideration, we will call you to discuss. Grantees can submit their own budget format, but we do require a budget narrative if your organization is not using our template. Once your Letter of Inquiry is reviewed by our team, you will receive a link to complete the full grant application.

All the information completed through the LOI process transfers into the application. You will not need to resubmit it. Applications are due by 11:59 P.

M. on the filing date for the cycle. Changes to your budget or information you provided as part of the LOI may turn an eligible request into an ineligible one.

If you need to make significant changes, we encourage you to contact the grants team to discuss the impact of those changes on your eligibility. We want everyone to have the opportunity to make their case. Staff will reach out following the submission of your application to schedule a time to speak with you.

These conversations are often conducted in-person at your offices, though depending on distance or other factors, they may be conducted virtually or by telephone. We attempt to keep these meetings as casual as possible, and use it as an opportunity to clarify our understanding of your application. Approximately two months after an application is submitted, the Foundation will notify all grant applicants of funding decisions.

Not all applications are funded. If an organization is not funded, a brief explanation will be provided. If you receive a grant, we will organize an opportunity to discuss the award and any related expectations.

Payments: Iowa West Foundation looks at a grantee’s capacity as well as the needs and risks of a particular grant when issuing payments. The schedule for payments can be found by logging into GivingData after your grant is approved. As a general approach, Iowa West Foundation typically issues initial payments of 50 percent, 75 percent, or 100 percent of the grant amount.

If grantees are facing specific cash flow needs, they are encouraged to discuss this with a program officer . Extension Requests : We understand that circumstances outside of the control of our grantees may impact their work. As such, we will consider extension requests on a case-by-case basis.

Terms and Conditions of Awards: Upon approval of a grant, Iowa West Foundation issues a grant agreement. In addition to any specific requirements, the agreement includes the following terms and conditions . Completed Application Due Completed Application Due Completed Application Due Frequently Asked Questions How do I create a Giving Data account?

To create a new account, click Create an Account . Provide the email where you’d like to receive all future grant communications. You’ll receive an email from Iowa West Foundation Grants Team (mail@givingdata.

com). Open the email and select the blue Activate Your Account button. Complete Your Registration The activation link will take you to the Letter of Inquiry Page .

On the right side of the screen, find the Activate Your Account box to continue setting up your password. Passwords must meet the following requirements: At least 6 characters long A special character (e.g., ! @ # $ % ^ & * ) Once you’ve entered all required information, click Activate Account .

You’ll see a confirmation message in a green box: How do I start an application for a grant? Our application process begins with a Letter of Inquiry (LOI), submitted through our grants portal. Follow these steps to start your LOI: Click Start a LOI to access the LOI portal.

On the page, look for the LOIs heading. Under this heading, click the link with a blue circle and a plus sign labeled Start a new LOI . Select or Add Your Organization A pop-up window will prompt you to Select an Organization .

Click the blue circle with a plus sign labeled Add New Organization . Choose one of the following based on your organization type: Select Searching the IRS Database . Enter your organization’s legal name or EIN, then click Search .

If your organization appears, select it and click Start LOI . If it does not appear, select None of these are correct , enter your organization’s name, and click Start LOI . Select Entering an Organization Name .

Enter your organization’s name, then click Start LOI . After clicking Start LOI , you will return to the Letter of Inquiry Landing Page . Find the blue box labeled New and select Open LOI to begin filling out the form.

I have a question. How can I talk to a real person? You can reach out to our Grants Coordinator, Pam Bierce, for support: Email : pbierce@iowawestfoundation.

org Or, send questions through the LOI portal: Select the Comment Bubble on any page of the LOI form to leave a question. Our team will receive a notification and respond. You’ll see our reply as a number on the notification icon (a bell) at the top of your screen.

You can access the portal anytime at: https://iwf. givingdata. com/portal/login Tip : We recommend bookmarking this page for easy access in the future.

How can I reset my password? After logging in, you can reset your password at any time: Go to the drop-down menu under your name in the upper right corner. Select Manage My Profile .

Choose Change my GivingData Password to update your password. How will notifications come from GivingData so I don’t miss anything? All grant communications and notifications from GivingData will come from noreply@givingdata.

com . To avoid missing important updates, please add this email address to your address book to prevent messages from going to your spam or junk folder. I am having issues accessing the Grantee Portal or items appear to be missing.

To ensure the best experience with the GivingData portal, please follow these tips: Clear Your Browser’s Cache Clearing cache data can help pages load faster and improve performance. If the site isn’t displaying correctly, try clearing the cache for this site specifically. If issues persist, clear your entire cache.

You can also try accessing the portal in a private/incognito window or using a different browser. If this resolves the issue, your cache may have been causing the problem. If you’re having trouble accessing the portal, it may be due to one of the following reasons: Incomplete Account Registration This often happens if the initial registration steps weren’t completed.

Look for the original email from GivingData asking you to finalize your account registration and set a password. Follow those steps to finish setting up your account. If you can’t find this email, contact the Grants Management team, who can resend it upon request.

If your account permissions weren’t assigned correctly, you may experience access issues. In this case, please reach out to the Grants Team to have this resolved.