“There’s an old saying in fund raising,” says Connie Isaacson, vice president of external affairs for Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa. “When the tide rises, all boats rise.”

Greater Des Moines’ non-profit organizations have proved this saying to be true. In the past five years, at least eight organizations have run capital campaigns with a collective goal of raising more than $200 million from individuals, companies and foundations.

“I think it’s been a very exciting time for growth and revitalization in Des Moines,” said Scott Johnson, regional president of Wells Fargo Bank for Iowa and Illinois.

Despite the number of capital campaigns, every organization has come close to or surpassed its goals without taking money away from annual campaigns. United Way of Central Iowa, for example, has received increased contributions for 19 straight years, has the fifth highest per capita annual giving of any U.S. United Way campaign and is the fastest-growing campaign in the nation. It hopes to raise $22 million this year.

This success suggests that as more organizations have asked for dollars, people and companies have been willing to give more, instead of creating competition among the groups for dollars.

“There’s always competition between every capital campaign because it’s a very small community and we’re approaching many of the same people,” said Shirley Patterson, executive director of the Des Moines Public Library Foundation. “On the other hand, Des Moines is an extremely generous community and very supportive of the projects it believes in. These have all been good projects and have had strong support.”

“I think that individuals, corporations and foundations are committed to certain projects,” said Chris Kramer, vice president of development for the Science Center of Iowa. “Anyone committed to a project is going to invest in the project if that’s where their passion is. We’ve been fortunate to gain broad support.”

Not only does the community seem to value the projects based on dollar support, but also many campaign directors believe they have been successful because their organizations have not asked for major donations in many years. The Civic Center of Greater Des Moines last held a capital campaign when it built the facility more than 25 years ago, Planned Parenthood’s last campaign was 20 years ago, and Blank Park Zoo has not done a major update to its facility since it was built 40 years ago.

Many of these organizations saw a need to renovate their facilities around the same time.

Businesses step up

Greater Des Moines businesses especially have been willing to donate more money to meet these greater demands.

“For us to be financially successful as a company,” said Johnson, ” we need to ensure that our communities are financially successful.”

Principal Financial Group Inc. has more than doubled its donations. In 2001, the company gave just over $6.6 million in foundation and corporate payments, and in 2005, it gave $13.4 million. Wells Fargo & Co.’s total statewide contributions to non-profit organizations in Iowa last year were $4 million. In addition, the company agreed to pay $11.5 million over 20 years for naming rights as part of Wells Fargo Arena’s capital campaign.

Wells Fargo and Principal, however, believe that although they’ve received more requests for donations than in the past, it will even out in the future as these campaigns wrap up.

“We just made room in the budget to do what’s right,” said Libby Jacobs, director of community relations for Principal. “It’s just too critical of a time in Des Moines for all these projects.”

Capital campaigns ebb and flow, said Johnson, which is good for businesses that want to support several campaigns. The donations, he said, even out over time or are staggered enough that the company can heavily support one campaign one year and another the following year.

Wells Fargo decides which campaigns to support and how much to contribute on a case-by-case basis, said Johnson. Company leaders who live in the community review requests and “try to support campaigns that really focus on quality of life in the Des Moines metro market and across the state,” he said.

The Principal Financial Group Foundation, started in 1987, gives grants to 12 communities in the United States that have a strong employee presence, as well as three foreign countries (Brazil, India and Mexico). Organizations running bricks-and-mortar campaigns within these communities may apply for grants that fit within one of four categories: health and human services, education, arts and culture, and recreation and tourism. Eleven employees read the grant requests and decide which organizations to support and at what level.

Jacobs said although Principal has given more in the Des Moines area recently, she doesn’t think it will hurt Greater Des Moines organizations that apply for grants in the future. But the foundation may decide to give more money in other communities.

“You’re not always building a science center or library, such big projects,” she said. “As [the campaigns] finish out, finally things will be scaled back much smaller. I think you make it work [at the time]. But it does get very expensive and you have to work out a way to balance the budget.”

Multi-year pledges are the hardest to make, she said, because it can sometimes cut into how much money is available for future campaigns. The most Principal will support is a two- to three-year pledge.

Campaign issues

Many campaign directors and companies don’t believe generous donations will end anytime soon and in particular won’t be affected by an election year.

By law, said Jacobs, the foundation cannot give money to a political cause. “Most companies keep grant making separate,” she said.

Planned Parenthood actually benefited from the hot political status of abortion and birth control. Although no corporate organizations would support the campaign, said Isaacson, a wide variety of individuals and private foundations gave money to support its cause.

Many organizations are looking to the next generation of philanthropists for future dollars. Isaacson said a lot of the same people are continually asked to contribute, making it questionable who will take their place.

To attract the younger generation, United Way has tried to align young professionals’ interests with where their donation dollars will go.

Some organizations also have struggled to keep public interest over longer campaigns, especially once the most visible improvements are made. Patterson said that because the downtown library is now finished, most people think the campaign is over, making it more difficult to raise the final dollars.

Yet, longer campaigns have helped secure more funding for these projects.

“Sometimes if a donor’s dollars are tied up with a larger project,” Kramer said, “they may free up later in the campaign.”

“People seldom pick up and give $100,000. It’s not that simple,” Patterson said. “It’s an ongoing relationship process, education process, about the project. It’s matching the public’s interest and what they would like to see happen.”

As several campaigns wrap up over the next few years, the next step will be to complete the capital improvements.

“The next 10 years, we can sit back and build all the things,” said Jacobs. “We can take a breather.”