Sammons Financial Group today announced it will donate $100,000 to the Director’s Council to create a minority small business development fund and emergency loan pool. The Director’s Council is a Des Moines-based nonprofit organization that oversees programs, including the African American Leadership Academy, Black Urban Professionals, I Am Des Moines, Doing More in the Core, and One Economy, a plan to close gaps in racial inequities in the community. “Sammons Financial Group is deeply committed to the communities in which we live and work,” Esfand Dinshaw, chief executive officer of Sammons Financial Group, said in a news release. “Our community involvement committee, with input from all employees, directs our charitable giving and volunteer efforts to organizations that are truly making a difference. We believe the work being done by The Directors Council is transformational and will help reduce or eliminate the significant, and unacceptable, racial economic inequities in our community.” The Director’s Council chair and CEO of Oakridge Neighborhood, Teree Caldwell-Johnson, said the donation will help low-income individuals and families start new businesses and expand existing ones by helping them establish and build credit, “and in time, lead to wealth creation among our most vulnerable populations.”