IMPACT is defined as: having a significant, strong or profound influence or effect; the result
of actions taken to benefit others. With the support of our donors and collaboration with our partners, the Fort Dodge Community Foundation diligently strives to make a significant and positive impact on our community and the youth, citizens and families we serve.
Our Impact newsletter highlights projects, programs, and events supported by the Fort Dodge Community Foundation. These are initiatives that are making the greater Fort Dodge region a great place to live, work, and play.
We hope you will find these article interesting and informative. If you have any questions the Fort Dodge Community Foundation or would like more information, please contact me anytime at your convenience.
Randy Kuhlman, C.E.O.
Fort Dodge Community Foundation
Phone: 515-573-3171
Email: rk@fd-foundation.org
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The Fort Dodge Community Foundation has given the Community Early Childhood Center a $50,000 grant in support of its $1.2 million expansion project. The Community Early Childhood Center provides childcare services for children ages 6 weeks up to 12 years of age. It is a licensed facility allowed to care for 151 children. It is a 4-star rated center that operates all year long with both before and after school care, as well as, a full summer program for school aged children.
The Center enrolls children whose parents pay their own tuition, plus, those that receive childcare assistance from the state. Currently, about half of the families that have children at CECC are lower income families. The Center has a tradition of offering a warm and nurturing environment for all children under its care.
Located at 1315 S 24th Street in Fort Dodge, the Community Early Childhood Center will be adding a 4,908 square foot addition on to the north side of its current one level facility, maintaining handicapped accessibility throughout the building. The addition will add 4 much needed classrooms including two (2) infant rooms, one (1) room for toddlers and one (1) room for school aged children. This project will allow the Center to add an additional 56 children that it provides child care services for from 151 children to 207, a 37% increase. This project will add an additional 12-18 employees.
The Fort Dodge Community Foundation’s $50,000 grant served as matching funds for a $300,000 State of Iowa grant that was recently awarded for the project.
Child Care Is a Major Community Issue in Iowa and our community. In the past five years, Webster County has lost 34% of in-home child care providers. A recent study indicates that 2,900 child care spaces is currently needed in Webster County to meet the child care need. This lack of available child care makes it difficult for women to join the workforce and negatively impacts local business and industry that is in need of employees.
The Fort Dodge Community Foundation is supporting strategies to that focus on increasing economic security of families by decreasing the work force gap through access to quality, affordable child care.
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Floyd of Rosedale Project
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The Fort Dodge Community Foundation, in partnership with the Fort Dodge Public Arts Committee, has been engaged in the Floyd of Rosedale project; an exciting new public art project that will attract statewide attention.
The Floyd of Rosedale statue will be located in a new plaza area near the Rosedale Rapids Aquatics Park/Schmoker Family Park, formerly the Rosedale Farm. This location will offer people the opportunity to get close to the statue for pictures and to learn about the history of Floyd of Rosedale.
For the past year, the Floyd of Rosedale project planning committee has been working with an Iowa artist, Dale Merrill, who is designing the replica statue of Floyd of Rosedale. The statue dimensions are impressive: the height is 10 feet; the length is 15 feet; and the depth is 4 feet. The statue will be mounted on a 4 foot high pedestal.
The total project cost is $205,000. Today, $185,000 has been raised and our fundraising efforts continue to help us raise the final $20,000. We anticipate full installation of the Floyd of Rosedale sculpture sometime in May. It will be mounted by a crane just northeast of the roundabout at 10th Avenue North and North 32nd Street.
The Floyd of Rosedale trophy is considered the Number 1 football college rivalry trophy in the nation. Its unique story and robust history of the rivalry between the Hawkeyes and the Gophers is very special and because Fort Dodge is such an integral part of this history, it offers our community state-wide and even national exposure for being an integral part of this history.
More information about this project and the history of Floyd of Rosedale can be found on the Fort Dodge Community Foundation website at: www:fd-foundation.org.
Donations to this project can be made payable to the Fort Dodge Community Foundation – Floyd of Rosedale project and mailed to the Fort Dodge Community Foundation, 24 North 9th Street, Suite B, Fort Dodge, Iowa 50501.
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The Year in Review: Building a Stronger Community
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In 2020, the Fort Dodge Community Foundation received $4,004,496 in donations and granted out $1,635,364 in grants to over 70 organizations and projects. These organizations and projects are all focused on improving the quality of life and building stronger and more vital communities in Webster County.
The Fort Dodge Community Foundation manages 144 funds that support a wide ranges of projects, programs and nonprofit organizations in Fort Dodge and Webster County including causes as diverse as education, health, homelessness, helping the poor, child mental health, emergency assistance including food, positive youth development, faith community, recreation, parks, trails, environment, historic venues, arts and culture.
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Community Projects/Betterment
Human Services
Emergency/Crisis Support
Education/Youth Enrichment
Public Safety
Arts
Health
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$901,627 - 49%
$337,241 - 19%
$207,512 - 11%
$207,029 - 11%
$ 76,783 - 4%
$ 64,639 - 4%
$ 41,891 - 2%
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Fort Dodge History Arrives in the Mail
The Fort Dodge Community Foundation Receives a Letter Written in 1857 Giving a First-Hand Account of the Spirit Lake Massacre Expedition
The community of Fort Dodge is blessed with a very robust history; replete with extraordinary people, interesting places and fascinating events.
One of the most compelling events in our history was the Spirit Lake Massacre expedition from Fort Dodge in 1857. The Spirit Lake Massacre is an iconic Iowa historical event that took place between March 8 and March 12, 1857. A group of agitated Sioux warriors bludgeoned and decapitated 38-40 pioneer settlers; men, women and children living in that region, and took four young women captive. Following this horrific massacre, a heroic expedition of men from Fort Dodge traveled to the Spirit Lake region to provide assistance and bury the dead.
News of the massacre around Spirit Lake was brought to Fort Dodge by three men who had visited the Spirit Lake region on March 15. Witnessing the mutilated bodies of the pioneer families, they hastened back to Fort Dodge to carry the news and secure aid. They reached Fort Dodge on Saturday night, March 21. The next day a public meeting was called in the "old brick" schoolhouse and the following day, three companies of volunteers were organized by Major William Williams to go to the relief of the settlements at the Lakes region.
At the time, Major William Williams was commissioned by the Governor of Iowa to protect settlers from Indian attacks and harassment. Major Williams immediately began enrolling men from Fort Dodge and the region. By the second morning, the 25th day of March, Williams had three companies organized consisting of one hundred and twenty men. The mission of this battalion of volunteers under the command of Major William Williams was to track the hostile Indians, remove them from the region and protect the settlers. They were also to bury the dead at the Lakes. On the morning of the 25th of March, the companies began moving up the west branch of the Des Moines River heading for the Iowa Great Lakes region.
This brings us back to the present. On January 17, 2021, I received a large Priority Mail envelope containing a historic letter preserved in a plastic binder. Patricia Wotring of Rowlesburg, West Virginia, forwarded the letter to the Fort Dodge Community Foundation. Patricia stated that she had the letter in her possession. It had been passed down from generation to generation in her family and she felt that it should be given to our community. Knowing nothing about Fort Dodge, Iowa, or the Spirit Lake Massacre, Patricia searched the Internet and found the History of Fort Dodge website. She then called to inform me about the letter and asked if we would like to have it in our possession and care. Without hesitation, I responded with an enthusiastic YES!
The beautifully handwritten letter was written by William F. Potter to his father. Potter was one of the men from Fort Dodge that was on the expedition to the Spirit Lake region. His letter offers a first-hand account of what he witnessed and the challenges that he and the other men experienced in traveling by foot to the Iowa Great Lakes area and then back to Fort Dodge, 164 years ago. The letter conveys the gruesome carnage that the men witnessed and the incredible challenges they faced in accomplishing their humanitarian mission.
The letter states how the men marched by foot up to the Spirit Lake region, a 220 mile round-trip journey through blustery cold winds, snow banks three to fifteen feet deep and swollen streams. The winter in 1857 was one of the harshest recorded. The challenges and hardships they faced were enormous, and at times, overwhelming. Every few miles, the men had to cross streams, marshes and bogs, sometimes through chest deep water. They navigated through large snow banks and shoveled out paths so they could pull their wagons and the oxen through the snow drifts using large ropes and the strength of their backs, arms and legs. Lacking food and other necessary provisions, the men faced enormous fatigue and hunger while coping with the freezing cold as they were wet all day long and then slept on the open prairies at night without tents or any coverings. During the seventeen day expedition, two men froze to death and others lost fingers and toes due to frostbite. It was said that never were harder services rendered by men than those under Major Williams’ command.
It’s not very often that a piece of our history is preserved and presented to us 164 years later. The Fort Dodge Community Foundation is making an Archival reproduction of this letter that will be framed for display so people can see and read a first-hand account of the courage and heroism of these men from Fort Dodge and the region. The Foundation is also consigning the original letter to the Webster County Historical Society for preservation.
A typed written version of this letter can be found on the Fort Dodge Community Foundation website (www.fd-foundation.org) and by clicking here.
For a more in depth narrative of Henry Lott, to www.fortdodgehistory.com and click on “Iconic People” and scroll down to Henry Lott.
For a detailed account of the famous Spirit Lake Massacre go to the Fort Dodge Community Foundation historic website: www.fortdodgehistory.com and click “Historical Eras” and then “Our Beginnings.”
For a detailed account of the famous Spirit Lake Expedition go to the Fort Dodge Community Foundation historic website: www.fortdodgehistory.com and click “Historical Eras” and then “Our Beginnings.”
A detailed, first-hand reporting of this amazing expedition is also documented in Major William Williams’ book that can be found in the Archives section on the Fort Dodge History website.
Randy Kuhlman, C.E.O.
Fort Dodge Community Foundation
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Donor Advised Funds:
A Great Way to Give Back
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Donor advised funds are one of the most efficient charitable giving tools available. No other charitable giving options provide the flexibility and convenience along with the full tax advantages associated with charitable giving that donor-advised funds offer.
A donor advised fund can be a great legacy gift to honor your family or a loved one who deeply cared about his/her community or specific charities in their community. Individuals and businesses can establish donor advised charitable funds to support their favorite charities and community causes, and have the flexibility to determine who receives their charitable gifts every year.
Donors can enjoy administrative convenience, cost savings and tax advantages by conducting their grant-making through a donor advised fund. And, if the donor advised fund is established as an endowed fund, donors will receive an additional tax benefit – the Endow Iowa 25% tax credit.
Many citizens care deeply about their community and their favorite charitable organizations. A donor advised fund is a simple, flexible and impactful way for donors to support public and charitable causes and organizations. Donor advised funds make a positive impact in communities because they support causes as diverse as education, health, human services, youth development, faith community, recreation, parks, trails, historic venues, arts and culture.
Community foundations pioneered the development of donor advised funds, and they are now the most popular and fastest growing charitable giving vehicle in the United States. A donor advised fund, had the potential to offer donors a triple tax saving. The Fort Dodge Community Foundation can provide donors with this opportunity.
Triple your tax benefits
In certain cases, an endowed fund donor advised fund with the Fort Dodge Community Foundation can offer donors a triple tax benefit. For example, long-term capital assets may be ideal for charitable gifts because assets such as stock, real estate, and farmland may receive a double federal tax benefit. First, donors can receive an immediate federal income tax charitable deduction equal to the fair market of the gift. Second, assuming the asset is owned for more than one year, the donor can avoid long-term capital gain taxes when the asset is donated.
The third tax benefit is the Endow Iowa Tax Credit. Donors can receive a 25% Endow Iowa state tax credit for gifts made during their lifetime, lowering the after tax cost of charitable gifts even further. This tax credit is only on donations to qualified community foundations, (the Fort Dodge Community Foundation is qualified). The example here demonstrates how this works.
The donor owns stock with a fair market value of $100,000. The stock was originally purchased at $20,000 (basis). The donor’s income tax rate is 32%, with a capital gains tax rate of 15%.
Tax benefits of donating long-term capital gain asset with Endow Iowa Tax Credit:
Value of the gift: $100,000
Federal tax deduction: 32,000
Capital gains tax savings 12,000
Endow Iowa Tax Credit 25,000
Total tax savings $ 69,000
Out-of-pocket cost of gift $ 31,000
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Fort Dodge Community Foundation and United Way
24 N. 9th Street, Suite B
Fort Dodge, IA 50501
www.fd-foundation.org 515.573.3179
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