INFO BOX
HCCEF’s Seeds For Success
Guidelines
Ten $1,000 Seeds for Success grants are available for a one time gift of $10,000 or more per calendar year given to a new or established endowment with HCCEF.
* Nonprofit organizations can transfer assets or raise gifts through their donors to create a new endowment fund.
* For existing endowments, gifts must come from individual/corporate donors.
* Gifts of cash, real estate, farmland, property, grain, stock, etc. can be accepted.
* $1,000 will be awarded, as a grant, to a qualifying non-profit or donor’s choice for project or program use.
* Grants are awarded on a first-come, first served basis.
* Permanent endowments that support scholarships are not eligible for Seeds for Success grants.
By Justin Ites
ites@iafalls.com
According to Hardin County Community Endowment Foundation Director Tam Elerding, the group’s “Seeds for Success” program was designed to promote charitable giving, while encouraging non-profit organizations and individuals in Hardin County to include endowment building as part of long-funding strategies and sustainability.
In regards to that program, 10 $1,000 “Seeds for Success” grants are available for a one-time gift of $10,000 or more per calendar years to be submitted to a new or established endowment with the HCCEF.
One of this year’s recipients – the Hardin County Emergency Squad (E-Squad) – recently accepted a $1,000 gift from the HCCEF. Elerding gave the check to HC Emergency Squad Chief Jeff Fiscus.
After spending more than 40 years in its current location (Railroad Street), Fiscus said the department has outgrown the building due to its fleet, which includes six vehicles, a boat and a house trailer that is used by local fire departments in the county. Another issues with adding on at the current location is the fact the city of Iowa Falls uses that area to pile snow from city streets during the winter.
“We are working on raising money to move into a new building. The one we are in now is way too small. Some of the equipment has to sit outside, so we are looking at raising funds,” Fiscus said. “The command trailer sits out in the winter. Snow gets around it and that makes it harder to hook up in an emergency situation. Sitting out in the weather is never good. Our Hazmat trailer sits outside.”
Fiscus said while the HC E-Squad initially wanted to build on to the current structure, those plans have been put on the back burner. The group is more interested in building a new facility or moving into a spec building in the Industrial Park area. He said if the HC E-Squad moves forward with those plans and uses a turn-key building, the cost could come in at an estimated $230,000.
Elerding said an anonymous donor family made a generous donation to their own endowment, and requested the $1,000 gift from the HCCEF’s “Seeds for Success” program be given to the HC Emergency Squad.
“We have a very nice endowment that was started in 2005. That has been building. There’s several hundred thousand in there and we can take that 5 percent distribution from that. We call it our Seeds for Success. We have $10,000 set aside for anyone in Hardin County that contributes $10,000 or more to a permanent endowment. Our gift for doing that is giving it to the non-profit of their choice. The family contributed money to their own endowment and their wishes were the $1,000 we donate would go to E-Squad.”
The E-Squad has grown substantially since the late 1990s, when the group owned two trucks, a boat and carried six active members. Fiscus said that membership has grown to 19-20 today.