Boone County, Iowa —The Boone County Endowment Fund has received a $108,610 state award for countywide grantmaking and endowment building. The payment is a result of legislation (House File 2302) passed in 2004 by the Iowa General Assembly. $75,755 will be available for grantmaking in 2021 and $27,153 has been placed in the permanent endowment.

The legislation which was part of several incentives to promote the formation and development of county foundations in Iowa, provided that eight tenths of one percent of the gross receipts of gambling be distributed to non-gaming counties who established countywide community foundations. There are 83 non-gambling counties in Iowa.

Again this year, the Boone County Endowment Fund will be receiving funds from Grow Greene County. Grow Greene County has a partnership with the Wild Rose Casino in Jefferson and will providing funds to surrounding counties for grantmaking.

In addition, through generous donors to the BCEF Fill the Gap Campaign, an additional $22,000 has been raised to date towards granting projects in Boone County for this grant cycle. The Fill the Gap campaign is an effort to replace state gambling dollars that were not received due to COVID 19. This will be added to the $75,755 available.

The Boone County Endowment Fund has been working diligently to organize and prepare for the state funds and for other local gifts that will help advance charitable and philanthropic activity in the county. The Boone County Endowment fund is pleased to announce that the application and information is now available at http://www.extension.iastate.edu/boone/news/community-foundation-grant

The deadline for the application is February 5, 2021.

Individuals and nonprofit charitable organizations interested in making gifts and receiving grants from the foundation should contact: Boone County Endowment Fund, at 432-3882 or at rwrage@iastate.edu