T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM - Executive Director Julie Hitchins opens the annual Community Foundation of Marshall County Awards Grants ceremony held at Marshalltown Community College on Tuesday. It marked the 20th anniversary of the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines, of which CFMC is an affiliate.

On Tuesday, the annual Community Foundation of Marshall County (CFMC) Awards Grants ceremony was held at Marshalltown Community College. CFMC Executive Director Julie Hitchins began the event by providing data on various aspects of the organization. She told the gathered crowd that through the years, 531 grants have been awarded.

This year marks the smallest number of recipients – six. The highest number of recipients in a single year was 42. Hitchins asked what happened.

“Two words – student philanthropy,” she said. “They’re doing the smaller grants. The board has kind of made a big shift and we were supposed to the day the derecho hit in 2020. We met after that and said ‘Let’s break all the rules.’ Back in the day, the most you could get from a county endowment grant was $5,000. Since 2020, our largest grant has been $30,000 and we’ve done some $25,000.”

Hitchins said they also made a shift in focus areas. This year, the board asked for organizations to submit letters of intent, and received 31 asking for more than $700,000. However, they only had $95,000 to grant, she said.

Hitchins said CFMC will not only do six grants from now on. Looking at a graph indicating recipients, she pointed out a higher number and said they addressed food insecurity in Marshall County that year.

“We look at the needs of Marshall County every year – the students do, the board does,” Hitchins said. “We don’t know what next year is going to hold, but they may be big grants, they may be small grants. It just depends on what you, as Marshall County, need.”

Receiving CFMC grants of at least $10,000 in 2025 are:

City of Marshalltown for the Linn Creek District project;

Friends of Riverside Cemetery, Lake Woodmere water pump system;

Child Adolescent and Parent Support (CAPS), Crisis Intervention Program;

Marshalltown Auditorium Foundation, Smoke Hatch Project;

Marshalltown Little League, baseball field improvements and;

Center Associates, Urgent Care.

She proceeded to give an update on CFMC funds. The foundation ended 2024 with 100 funds totaling $9.3 million, which drew a round of applause. This year, $1.3 million of donor dollars went into the funds.

“Let me tell you what’s going on nationally,” Hitchins said. “When the consumer price index is up, meaning the cost of goods is high, charitable giving tanks. Charitable giving tanked last year, but not in Marshall County. We beat the trend, and I’m very proud of that, our donors and our organizations. Other foundations are not experiencing the same thing.”

One thing she was really proud to report is 95 percent of the monies disbursed from the funds remained in Marshall County.

“We infused the local economy with $787,000 last year,” Hitchins said. “That’s supporting our nonprofit community, and 99 percent stayed in Iowa.”

She said CFMC is also going to endow the executive director position. To do that, $1 million needs to be raised. Fortunately, $650,000 has already been received. The lead donor is the Martha Ellen Tye Foundation.

“It’s a lot of money, but that will ensure we always have a full-time director,” Hitchins said. “My position has been grant funded these last couple years and those grant donors are running out, unfortunately, like all grants do. . . . We’re just going to withdraw 5 percent so the original investment stays in place.”

The three Marshall County student philanthropy groups – Students Teaching and Empowering Philanthropy (STEP) of Marshalltown High School; Leaders Uplifting Our Community with Charity (LUCC), West Marshall and; Students Empowering and Leading (SEAL), East Marshall – also presented their grants.

STEP was able to give $15,000 spread amongst six organizations:

Child, Adolescent and Parent Support for reducing transportation barriers;

East Marshall Community School District (EMCSD), backpack program;

Heart of Iowa Big Brothers Big Sisters, Biking for the Future;

Marshalltown Community School District, student eyecare;

Marshalltown Youth Foundation, scholarships and instrument repair and;

Mid Iowa Community Action (MICA), MICA Cares and gas cards.

LUCC gave $10,000 to seven organizations:

Outreach, Inc. for shelf-stable packaged meals;

EMCSD, backpack program;

CAPS, Crisis Intervention program;

Center Associates, Urgent Care and group sessions;

CommonBond/Tallcorn, personal hygiene and cleaning supplies for residents;

Marshalltown Emergency Food Box, gift cards for little free pantries and;

MICA, I-Smile program.

SEAL provided $10,000 to eight organizations:

Pioneer Heritage Library for the Library Little Free Pantry;

Outreach, Inc., shelf-stable packaged meals;

EMCSD, backpack program;

Heart of Iowa Big Brothers Big Sisters, help for families;

CAPS, Crisis Intervention program;

Center Associates, Urgent Care;

Marshalltown Emergency Food Box, gift cards for little free pantries and;

MICA, newborn necessities.

Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.