Jordan DeGree wears several hats in his community and Iowa’s nonprofit landscape as the founder of a nonprofit, a coffee shop owner and now executive director of the Iowa Nonprofit Alliance.

His nonprofit work began nearly two decades ago in Dubuque when he founded Idea Bright to help people tap into creativity and innovation to improve their lives and communities.

Since then, the organization has grown to include several initiatives, including the Creative Adventure Lab, coworking spaces in eastern Iowa and the Rural Ideas Network, a national network that connects people working to strengthen and revitalize rural communities.

In November 2025, the Iowa Nonprofit Alliance partnered with Idea Bright to provide leadership and operational management for the statewide association, bringing DeGree into his current role as executive director.

The alliance, launched in December 2022, serves as the statewide association for nonprofit organizations in Iowa. It works to strengthen the sector by advocating for policies that support nonprofits and by helping nonprofit leaders build capacity and collaboration across the state.

DeGree said that work is especially important as nonprofits navigate policy shifts and funding uncertainty at both the state and federal levels.

“These are challenging times for nonprofits,” he said. “But the work of the Iowa Nonprofit Alliance exists to help nonprofits through those tough times because we know the work they do is critical to our state and to the people living in it.”

The Business Record recently spoke with DeGree about his path to nonprofit leadership, the policy issues affecting the sector and why he remains optimistic about the future of nonprofits in Iowa. 

The following Q&A has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Will you share a little bit about your professional background and what led you to nonprofit work?

I was born and raised in Dubuque. After graduating high school, I went to Iowa State for architecture, but I ended up changing my major quite a bit. I couldn’t really figure out what I wanted my path to be, so I ultimately chose a degree in English education because I really love storytelling. I love the power of narrative to shape people’s experiences, and I’ve always loved teaching as well. After graduating, I got a job teaching at a high school in downtown Chicago. But a few years into that, they decided they were going to close that school, and I had an opportunity to either transfer to a different school or do something else. I decided that I had been inspired by my time teaching and helping students connect with their passion and use that to spark their creativity and innovation, that I wanted to try something new in my own life as well. So I moved back to Dubuque and launched a nonprofit organization that uses creativity and innovation to help people improve their lives. That nonprofit has been going for 17 years. … That experience and that work led me to get involved with the Iowa Nonprofit Alliance, and when the organization was looking for a change in its staffing model, the Iowa Nonprofit Alliance decided to partner with the organization that I run to leverage our team’s capacity and our team’s experience in launching and running successful nonprofits to help the association take its next step. That’s how my team and I provide staffing for the Iowa Nonprofit Alliance.

For readers who may not be familiar, what role does the Iowa Nonprofit Alliance play in the state’s nonprofit sector?

When the Iowa Nonprofit Alliance first launched in December 2022, Iowa was one of seven states in the country that did not have a statewide nonprofit association. The Iowa Nonprofit Alliance is that entity for the state of Iowa. It is the statewide association for nonprofit organizations, and it serves to protect the nonprofit sector within the state and make sure that decision-makers and policymakers are moving good policy forward that helps nonprofit organizations really thrive and create the positive community impact that they’re trying to make. It also serves to help build capacity within nonprofit organizations across the sector. So the ultimate mission of the Iowa Nonprofit Alliance is to help nonprofit organizations achieve more because we know that there’s not a single community, a single county across the state, that Iowa residents don’t benefit from the nonprofits within their community. Our goal is to help make sure that those nonprofits are strong, that they’re operating in a policy environment that’s conducive to their success, and that they’re able to really amplify the impact that they’re able to generate for people and communities that they serve across the state of Iowa.

Will you share about why that advocacy and policy work is important for nonprofits and the communities they serve?

You’d be hard pressed, I think, to find a business sector in Iowa that didn’t have an association that was looking out for that sector in terms of policy and legislation that either helps or hurts that sector. The nonprofit sector in Iowa was one of the few, I think, that you can find that didn’t have that. Obviously, every organization has a lot of work to do achieving their own individual and unique mission, and they don’t always have the time or resources necessary to be addressing larger policy decisions that can make their work easier or harder. The statewide association steps in to monitor and educate our members and the general public about how various policies could impact the nonprofits serving this state, and their ability to deliver programs and services to people in communities across the state, whether that’s health and human services, education, arts and culture, sports and recreation. I think you’d be hard pressed to find an Iowan who didn’t benefit in some way from the work of nonprofit organizations in their community.

Are there any policy issues or trends you think nonprofit leaders should be paying close attention to right now?

There are a lot, both at the state and federal level. At the federal level, recently, some of the policies that could potentially affect nonprofits include federal funding freezes to the entire sector. That one is currently paused due to litigation by ourselves and our partner organization, the National Council of Nonprofits. Within the funding freeze discussion, there’s a few different litigation and policies that are on pause that would reduce or retract funding, in some cases, even funding that has already been awarded through a process of rescission, where funding could be taken back even after it has already been awarded to various organizations and have actually paid it out. There are challenges right now where organizations could be forced to give that money back, which would obviously impact their ability to continue providing services.

SNAP funding is another example of policy that has a pretty significant impact on people and communities across the state through the ability of nonprofits to provide healthy and nutritious meals to low- to moderate-income individuals, and even though most nonprofits don’t directly distribute SNAP funding, if SNAP funding goes away, those nonprofits that are involved in food security issues, they’re going to be hard pressed to meet the need that would exist if people aren’t receiving SNAP funding anymore. At a state policy level, there’s been a recent bill that was introduced that would cap indirect costs of grant administration to 5%, which would be a big cut in what is currently allowed at both the state and federal level. So any state grants that would be given out to nonprofits to do the work that they’re tasked with doing, those nonprofits could only expend up to 5% of that grant amount on actually delivering the services. I think if you ask any for-profit business if they could deliver products and services with only a 5% administration or service delivery cost, you’d be laughed out of the room. The idea that a not-for-profit corporation can do that is challenging.

What does a typical day look like for you as the executive director of the Iowa Nonprofit Alliance and running your own nonprofit?

I’m fortunate to have a really dynamic, capable team of individuals who I work with. My typical day involves taking in any news, any recent changes in federal or state policy that might impact the sector. If there is something, reaching out to partner organizations to figure out what the impact might be, and then sharing that with state and federal partners, policymakers, decision-makers, so that they have insight into how what they’re considering from a higher level would actually impact the folks on the ground who are doing this work and trying to deliver value to the communities that they serve. Then usually I have conversations with new or potential members, helping them understand how the association can help make their work better, how they can tap into various member benefits, how they can contribute back to the network with their expertise and their knowledge. On any given day, there’s usually a committee meeting or a board meeting that we facilitate in order to help move projects forward. And then we’re usually planning some sort of event or content that gets distributed throughout the network as well to help nonprofit leaders or staff members do what they’re trying to do in a more efficient, more effective way.

What advice would you give to someone considering a career in nonprofit work?

The first advice, I would say, is absolutely do it. This work is rewarding in a lot of different ways. It’s rewarding because you’re working for a community-owned corporation. The work that you do on a daily basis is creating real impact and positive outcomes for your neighbors, for those living in your community, for those living in your state, and you’re not toiling away simply to create better profits for a shareholder. First and foremost, I would say that the type of work you’re doing, the goal of the work that you’re doing is much different and serves, I think, a greater purpose.

The second thing I would say is that the colleagues that you’re going to find in this sector are purpose driven. They’re ambitious, they’re in a lot of ways tireless, they are continually engaging as problem solvers to create value for the people they serve and the communities that they serve, and it’s just a really dynamic, forward-thinking group of people that you get to work with when you work in what we call the for-purpose, not-for-profit sector. 

And third, I would say that as a state we are, I believe, starting to recognize that if we want to keep the talented, driven people that we have in this sector, we need to be increasing the compensation and the benefits that they receive so that we are competitive with the for-profit sector because the work that these people are delivering is absolutely high-caliber, world-class work, and we need to start compensating folks more appropriately for that work. For someone entering this sector, things are improving in terms of the understanding that we have to nurture and keep the talent that we have within the sector.

Where do you see the greatest opportunities for nonprofits in the state amid some of the challenges that you’ve noted?

The nonprofit sector in Iowa is a strong sector, and it’s pervasive across the state, so I think that one of the biggest opportunities is for nonprofit organizations to have a better understanding of what they are a part of, and how they can, in some ways, make that reality better. I think prior to having a state association, everyone was working in their own bubbles and their own silos and their own regions, and there wasn’t a sense of unified voice or shared direction, shared purpose, like there is now. I think one of the biggest opportunities is using the strength of the sector in this state in order to make sure that this state continues to be a great place for nonprofits to operate, and for every Iowan to receive the benefits that nonprofits create. One in 11 Iowans is employed by a nonprofit organization. [DeGree noted that number does not include people who volunteer for nonprofits]. Nonprofit organizations pay $7.1 billion in wages to Iowans every single year, and we’re, I believe, the third largest workforce in the state. It’s a sector that has a huge scope and scale, and I think that the biggest opportunity is just unifying the sector voice in order to make sure that the policies and the environments in which nonprofits are trying to work continue to be conducive to creating as much positive impact as possible.

Is there a moment or a success story from your time either at the Iowa Nonprofit Alliance or from running your own nonprofit that really stands out to you?

There are so many moments. It’s going to be hard to narrow them down, but I think that for me, what really drives me and what creates value for me is when I see someone transition from being in a place of ‘I’m not sure I can do this’ to then challenging themselves to take that problem on and try and solve it and come out of it on the other side with a solution in hand, and the confidence and the empowerment that people get from that process. I’ve seen that in my work with really young children at the Creative Play Center, Creative Adventure Lab. I’ve seen really young children do that. I teach pottery and stained glass classes. I’ve seen adults take those classes and be really hesitant and not know if they’re going to be able to do it, and then five or six weeks later, they’re so proud of themselves for having taken the chance because they’ve grown. I see that working with nonprofits who have been around and have multimillion dollar budgets, but they’re finding new ways to do what they’re trying to do better and more efficiently and more effectively, and stretch the resources that are available as far as they can go. They know that the further they stretch those resources, that’s another person or another family or another piece of the community that they can help have a better life.

What keeps you motivated on the toughest days?

I’m naturally an optimist, and the days that are tough are usually the days that the challenges seem the biggest. And what I really lean into is this idea that as humans, I think we’re born to be problem solvers. And so even on the days when the challenges are the biggest, if you look at it from a different perspective, those are also the best opportunities we have to be problem solvers and to be innovative and to be forward thinking and create solutions that maybe didn’t exist yesterday, but that are going to help us solve the challenge of today and be better positioned to solve the challenges of tomorrow as well.

Outside of work, how do you like to recharge?

Like so many people in the nonprofit sector, because these issues that we’re working on impact people in a very tangible, real way, I’m always thinking about how I can do what I’m tasked with doing better so that I can create more positive outcomes for more people. The work itself is rewarding, and I think that there probably isn’t a whole lot of time any given day where I’m not, at least in the back of my mind, trying to figure out ways to help more people and to do it in more interesting or more effective ways.

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At a glance

Hometown: Dubuque

Family: Wife, Sara, and three kids, Walker, Winter and Wolf

Education: Bachelor of science in English education from Iowa State University and a master’s degree in educational leadership from the American College of Education

Hobbies: Brewing coffee, hiking, biking, reading and writing

Contact: jordan@iowanonprofitalliance.org