The Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines says more than $62.1 million in charitable grants were distributed to 3,260 nonprofits in 2023 from giving funds held at the organization, according to its annual report released Thursday.

The foundation also launched a new five-year strategic framework during its annual Celebration Luncheon, with more than 800 people in attendance in the grand ballroom at Community Choice Convention Center downtown.

Community Foundation President Kristi Knous said the framework outlined in the report identifies guideposts that will inform the organization’s work into the future.

“The Community Foundation board of directors spent the last year dreaming of our goals for the organization,” Knous said in a news release after the event. “We took the responsibility of developing a new framework for the organization to heart, listening to hundreds of voices in the process. We were aspirational in our thinking, and we are so very excited to see how the next five years develops and transforms our community for the better.”

The guideposts include:

• A commitment to embrace and embody diversity, equity and inclusion and to build communities where all people have the opportunity to flourish.  
• A commitment to connect, inspire and ignite generosity to help meet and solve the community’s greatest needs.
• A desire to leverage the organization’s influence to drive real community change.  
• A commitment to believe and invest in the nonprofit sector and to amplify its impact.
• A desire to be an approachable partner in building connections and relationships for transformational change.

Foundation representatives said Thursday that the new strategic framework will serve as the organization’s roadmap through 2028 with four focus pillars:

• Greater giving – offer donor engagement that is personalized to inspire and maximize charitable giving, connect donors with causes they care about, and cultivate connections and strong relationships with professional advisers to grow giving.
• Better together – leverage the organization’s influence to drive community change, activating stakeholders to collectively solve critical community issues and strengthen the nonprofit sector to serve the community most effectively, in addition to encouraging investments in Better Together Funds to catalyze and impact systems change.
• Statewide impact – grow and foster charitable giving in Iowa by engaging and supporting local stakeholders throughout the affiliate network to grow giving, provide community leadership and make strategic grant investments to strengthen communities throughout the state.
• Strong foundation – ensure the Community Foundation remains a strong and stable force, through innovation, strong stewardship and investing in people, systems and potential.

According to the report, the foundation managed 2,543 charitable giving funds in 2023 and granted $787,450 from its Better Together Fund.

The report says that money financially supported projects including the Ballet Des Moines Campus for Arts and Education project at 655 Walnut St. downtown; bolstering Central Iowa’s food insecurity network; land acquisition for Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity to help increase the supply of housing near employment centers and homeownership opportunities; Primary Health Care University Medical Clinic expansion; establishing Oakridge Studio Teen Tech Center at Mainframe Studios, also funded by Best Buy; and the YSS Ember Recovery Campus.

“It’s our vision that investments from our Better Together fund will catalyze and challenge greater Des Moines to impact systems change. We want to get to the root causes of the issues facing our community,” Knous said during the event. “And we’ll put even more money to work through Impact DSM, our impact investing program.”