Community Spirit
A UI center’s expertise helps Iowans build their
communities through nonprofit organizations.
Right now, somewhere in Iowa, somebody has a great idea for improving her community.
It might be an idea for a nonprofit social welfare organization that would provide essential human services such as food, shelter, health care, or education.
It could be a nonprofit youth program, designed to engage young people in fun, healthy activities that help them develop socially and personally. Perhaps it’s a nonprofit arts or cultural program, bringing the joys of the arts and humanities to the community’s residents.
Starting a nonprofit organization to advance a passion—and to address the needs of one’s community—is a goal for many civic-minded Iowans, and the results of their efforts are vital to the lives of people throughout the state. There are more than 28,000 nonprofits in Iowa, an average of almost 300 per county, and chances are good that an Iowan is touched by at least one nonprofit on a regular basis.
However, starting a nonprofit—or operating one effectively—is a lot more complicated than having civic spirit, compassion, and an innovative idea. There are lengthy tax forms to fill out, governance and staffing structures to set up, volunteers to coordinate, fund-raising basics to learn. It can be a daunting undertaking, to say the least.
Fortunately, the University of Iowa is here to help, through the Larned A. Waterman Iowa Nonprofit Resource Center, or INRC.
“Why should tax code be the thing that gets in the way of a great idea?” asks Richard Koontz, director of INRC and an adjunct professor in the UI College of Law. “We meet people all the time with great vision who have identified a significant need in their community, but then bang into a wall of legal stuff. We’re here to walk them through the process step by step.”
INRC—which was established by UI law professor and president emeritus Willard “Sandy” Boyd in 2000, and generously endowed by the family of the late Larned A. Waterman, 47JD—is a UI service that helps nonprofits throughout Iowa operate as effectively as possible in many ways, at minimal cost to participants. Examples of the center’s offerings include:
- A hands-on workshop called “Start an Iowa Charitable Nonprofit,” at locations around Iowa. Among other crucial how-to information for start-ups, participants are guided line by line through the 28-page tax form that enables an organization to be tax-exempt. “We get them over that hurdle so they can leave the workshop with the tax form done,” Koontz says.
- A workshop at locations around the state called “Iowa Principles and Practices for Charitable Nonprofit Excellence.” Growing out of a task force, convened in 2004 by former governor Tom Vilsack and chaired by Boyd, that developed a set of essential recommendations for Iowa nonprofits, this workshop—supported in part by Qwest Foundation—has become something of a necessity for nonprofits seeking private funding. Some key funders in the state require nonprofits to have taken the workshop, which outlines “best practices” in all aspects of effective nonprofit organization, before they’re considered for grants and gifts. INRC’s website features “The Iowa Register of Accountability,” which verifies almost 600 Iowa nonprofits that have completed the workshop.
- An ongoing stream of print and online resources for Iowa nonprofits. The INRC website offers a wealth of information, and the center’s quarterly newsletter, to which one may subscribe for free at the site, contains timely legal updates and tips. In addition, the Mansfield Resource Publication Series—supported by a $250,000 grant from the Mansfield Charitable Foundation of Belle Plaine, and researched and written with help from UI students—comprises monographs and reports offered at cost and provided to libraries throughout the state.
In addition to INRC’s work in educating UI students about effective nonprofit management, these are just a few examples of how INRC reaches out to the state to ensure the vitality of the nonprofit sector in Iowa.
One nonprofit organization that can speak to the value of INRC is Shelter House in Iowa City, Johnson County’s only homeless shelter. Shelter House began in 1983 as the Emergency Housing Project (EHP), established by a group of local religious organizations to address the growing need for homeless shelter space in the area. For years, EHP got by with a tiny budget, a small house, and a loosely organized board of directors comprising individuals appointed by their places of worship, but often with little expertise in homeless issues.
By the late 1990s, EHP had grown to become more of a quasi-public agency with a broader agenda (including transitional services for residents moving from homelessness to self-sufficiency) and a much bigger budget, thanks to federal grants—but the organizational structure hadn’t grown with it.
A colleague suggested to Christina Canganelli, the executive director of Shelter House (as it became known in 2002), that she contact Boyd and INRC for help in identifying Shelter House’s needs and how to address them. Boyd brought Canganelli, 87BA, 98MA, together with Koontz and Lawrence Prybil, 62BA, 64MA, 70PhD, a clinical professor in the College of Public Health, who worked with Shelter House on a volunteer basis to develop an effective board structure that has guided the organization since. Today, Shelter House is a thriving, successful nonprofit on the brink of building a new facility that will greatly expand its ability to serve the county.
“Everything goes back to working with Sandy, Richard, and Larry,” Canganelli says. “They genuinely wanted to help and to see the community move forward. It’s a wonderful service for the university to offer.”
For Boyd, it’s precisely the role that the UI should play in communities throughout Iowa. “Nonprofits are the essence of community life,” Boyd says, “sort of the ‘community glue.’ We’re committed to the university helping all Iowans build their communities through their nonprofit organizations.”
