Recently retired AmerUs Group Co. Chairman and CEO Roger Brooks and Doextra Corp. founder and President Sunnie Richer’s $1 million endowment fund helped push United Way of Central Iowa’s 2005 campaign to a record $20.17 million and earned them the Des Moines Business Record’s Philanthropy Leaders of the Year award.

The gift will create an annual $50,000 donation in perpetuity to the charity, which the Des Moines power couple have supported for many years. They reluctantly made their donation public at the urging of United Way President Shannon Cofield, who reasoned that their leadership would spur others to give. “Roger didn’t want to go public,” Richer said. “They basically had to twist his arm.”

“They were hoping some others would get on the bandwagon,” Brooks said.

The strategy may have worked. The 2005 campaign total represented an increase of 8.8 percent, or $1.67 million, over the record-setting 2004 campaign, making Greater Des Moines the city with the largest per-capita giving of any United Way community in the nation.

Cofield said Brooks and Richer, along with Barry and Michele Griswell who gave a multiyear $500,000 commitment, “have given deeply, from the heart, to make signature gifts to benefit people of their community.”

Richer said it’s important for the heads of organizations participating in the United Way campaign to take a leadership role. “It sets a certain pace within a company,” she said. “If the president or CEO is generous, it gives credence to the charity and encourages others to give.”

AmerUs, “a fabulous supporter” of United Way according to Brooks, was among seven “pacesetter companies” that ran early campaigns with the goal of increasing total employee contributions by at least 15 percent over the previous year. Together, the companies in that exclusive category increased giving by 22 percent. AmerUs matches its employees’ contributions.

The United Way campaign “is the one time where we allow solicitation” among AmerUs employees, Brooks said.

Brooks and Richer said they’ve been impressed with how United Way serves as a catalyst to increase community awareness of social needs and chose it for their philanthropic contributions because it is a proven steward of community assets.

“You have to be comfortable that the future use of the income – it should be about $50,000 a year – is going to be properly allocated and used wisely,” Brooks said. “We’re very comfortable with the long-term allocation process and comfortable that this gift, which hopefully runs into perpetuity, will be used where it’s needed most in the community.”

“We know the organization, trust it and think they do good work,” said Richer,

who has been involved with the charity since moving to Des Moines in 1983, has chaired ots board of directors twice, has volunteered for the agencies it serves and has been active at the policymaking level. “The thing I really like about United Way is it covers multiple charities and multiple human service needs.

“It’s poised to play a leadership role in the community in early childhood issues because it can bring together the school system, political leaders and human service providers. Not too many organizations can do that.”

Richer has been involved in United Way’s Women’s Leadership Connection since its inception three years ago. Women in that group – 42 in 2005 – give $2,500 to a program that focuses on early childhood education. Last year, donations to that fund allowed United Way agencies to open five accredited early childhood centers that serve low-income families and offer services that include coaching for parents and a strong education component. One goal of the Women’s Leadership Connection is to expand the number of accredited child-care centers and link them to public schools in the metro area.

“That’s a very tangible example of trying to move the needle on poverty,” Richer said. “It’s more educational than baby-sitting. It’s very heavy lifting, very expensive and helping one kid at a time.”

Brooks and Richer also give generously to such cultural organizations as the Des Moines Metro Opera and Des Moines Art Center, though they declined to disclose specifics about their philanthropy.

“This community has been very generous to us,” Richer said. “We’ve been very fortunate, and there’s an element of giving back to those who need it at this point.”

“We owe something back for what we’ve gotten,” Brooks said. “Basically, most of our money has been made in Des Moines, Iowa, and we feel we owe something beyond taxes.”

Richer said community needs are “pretty significant right now.”

“Even though the economy is pretty good, the needs aren’t diminishing and the governmental resources are more constrained,” she said. “It’s real healthy when the private sector kicks in, both by example and by money.”