Welcome to your daily briefing on nonprofit developments in Iowa. Today we're covering 6 key stories including updates on iowa nonprofit headlines, background & context. Let's dive in.
3 stories
Iowa American Water has launched the American Water Charitable Foundation 2026 Water and Environment Grant Program to support water and environmental initiatives.
Iowa nonprofit professionals focused on water access, conservation, or environmental projects may secure dedicated funding through this corporate grant opportunity.
The Iowa Grants Guide, maintained by the LAWINRC, is a searchable database of more than 500 funders based in Iowa or with an Iowa connection.
Nonprofit professionals in IA can use filtered searches by funder name and advanced options to identify relevant grant opportunities for their organizations.
The Iowa Department of Education maintains a listing of competitive grant and funding opportunities available to education partners, which are not open to individual students.
IA nonprofit professionals working with schools and educational institutions can identify potential funding streams to support collaborative programs and initiatives.
Reach professionals in this market
3 stories
Negligent-screening claims arise not from failing to have a screening policy, but from failing to follow the policy that exists. Some legal interpretations suggest that a documented policy with inconsistent enforcement can be difficult to defend, as the deviation may be used as evidence of negligence. Consult legal counsel to evaluate your specific liability risks.
Insurance carriers tighten coverage on organizations with screening-process gaps. The cost of consistent enforcement is small; the cost of a single uninvestigated incident can close the organization.
Unrelated business income tax applies when an activity is regularly carried on, is a trade or business, and is not substantially related to the exempt purpose. Common surprises: corporate-sponsored events with naming rights that look like advertising, affinity credit-card royalties that include co-marketing services, and gift-shop sales of items unrelated to the mission.
UBIT exposure can cost both tax and exempt status if the unrelated business becomes substantial. The line between sponsorship (excluded) and advertising (included) is narrow and case-specific.
Form 990 is required to be made public by the filing organization on request and is indexed by ProPublica and others within weeks of filing. Sections most boards underestimate: Schedule J (top-staff compensation), Schedule L (transactions with interested persons), and Schedule O (narrative explanations that "soften" other answers). Donors and reporters read these.
Items that read fine in management's narrative often read very differently in print. Pre-filing review by a non-finance board member catches optics issues that a CFO will not.
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