Registration Now Open for Second Annual “Pottawattamie Gives!”

Pottawattamie County-based Nonprofits eligible for “Challenge Funds” from IWF 

Council Bluffs, IA – A charitable giving day that raised more than half a million dollars for Pottawattamie County nonprofits in 2015 will return again in 2016. Registration is now open for “Pottawattamie Gives!” a 24-hour online fundraising event to be held on May 25th in conjunction with “Omaha Gives!” The deadline is Friday, Feb. 19th at midnight both for new organizations to register and for returning organizations to opt-in to this year’s event.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for nonprofits in our county to benefit from local donors, and as a result, receive vital funding to support their services,” said Jerry Mathiasen, President, and CEO of the Pottawattamie County Community Foundation. “We are pleased to be partnering with the Omaha Community Foundation and the Iowa West Foundation again to promote regional philanthropy.”

The Iowa West Foundation is once again adding to the pot of incentives already available to nonprofits participating in the event. The board of directors recently approved $20,000 in “challenge funds,” which are set aside strictly for nonprofits based in Pottawattamie County or nonprofits providing services in Pottawattamie County on a full-time basis (at least five days per week) that meet the Foundation’s focus area criteria.

“We want to encourage our community nonprofits to maximize Pottawattamie Gives! by leveraging 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.”

Similar to the incentives already associated with Omaha Gives!, the Iowa West Foundation challenge funds will be distributed based on each organization’s overall percentage of funds raised for the event. Last year 20,684 people raised $8.9 million for more than 700 Omaha area non-profits. In Pottawattamie County, 63 nonprofits raised $560,330, a 620 percent increase from 2014.

Registration is simple:

1. Visit the Omaha Gives! website.
2. Select “2015 Participant” and log in to opt-in OR Select “New Registrations” and create a profile to register.
3. New organizations will need to enter the nonprofit name, a point of contact, federal tax id number and details of the organization in addition to other fields on the form.

The Omaha Community Foundation will host several training sessions for both new and returning nonprofits to learn effective marketing and communications strategies leading up to the event. The dates for those trainings will be announced in February.

“This will be our fourth year of “Omaha Gives!” and it has grown each year,” explained Sara Boyd, OCF President & CEO. “We appreciate the partnership with PCCF and the Iowa West Foundation, and are hopeful that charities in its county can continue to grow from this event, too.”

A “Pottawattamie Gives” portal on the Omaha Community Foundation and Pottawattamie County Community Foundation websites will make it easy for donors to access local nonprofits on the day of the event, May 25th, 2016.

About the Pottawattamie County Community Foundation

The Pottawattamie County Community Foundation (PCCF) is a tax-exempt public charity, 501(c)(3), that serves thousands of people who share a common interest in improving the quality of life in Pottawattamie County, Iowa. Through PCCF individuals, families, businesses, and organizations can create permanent charitable funds that help their communities meet the challenges of changing times. The foundation invests and administers these charitable funds. Like all community foundations across the United State, PCCF is overseen by a volunteer board of leading citizens and run by professionals with expertise in identifying their community’s needs.

For more information on PCCF, visit www.ourpccf.org

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.