Iowa West Foundation Adds to Omaha Gives! Incentives

Pottawattamie County-Based Nonprofits will be eligible for “Extra Bonus Dollars”

Council Bluffs, IA – The Iowa West Foundation is adding to the pot of incentives available to nonprofits participating in Omaha Gives!, scheduled for May 20th. For the first time in the 24-hour charitable giving event’s three-year history, the Foundation is contributing $20,000 in “extra bonus dollars.” The “extra bonus dollars” will be set aside strictly for nonprofits providing services in Pottawattamie County five days per week or more.

“We felt this would be a great opportunity to encourage our community nonprofits to maximize the Omaha Gives! program and leverage the funds they receive from donors on this day,” said Pete Tulipana, President and CEO of the Iowa West Foundation. “The idea is for Pottawattamie County nonprofits specifically to benefit from actively participating and generating additional support.”

To make it easy for donors, the Pottawattamie County Community Foundation has partnered with Omaha Gives! this year to create a “Pottawattamie Gives” portal on both Foundations’ websites. The portal takes visitors to the page that lists all 63 of the Pottawattamie County organizations eligible for the Iowa West Foundation bonus dollars.

The “extra bonus dollars” are in addition to the incentives that Omaha Gives! offers to all nonprofits that participate. Similar to those incentives, the Iowa West Foundation dollars will be distributed based on each organization’s overall percentage of funds raised for the event.

Last year more than 18,000 people raised $6.3 million for close to 600 area non-profits in one day. This year, donors can schedule their donations ahead of time, or participate on the day of.

About the Iowa West Foundation

The Iowa West Foundation is one of the largest private foundations in the Midwest. It has distributed more than $320 million in grants to non-profits and governmental agencies through southwest Iowa and eastern Nebraska since the inception of its grant program in 1996. Funding for the grants comes from investment earnings and the Iowa West Racing Association, which receives contractual fees from casino operators, Ameristar and Harrah’s. IWRA is the license sponsor for Ameristar and Harrah’s and the license holder for Horseshoe-Bluffs Run.

For more information on the Foundation, visit www.iowawestfoundation.org