Welcome to your daily briefing on nonprofit developments in Iowa. Today we're covering 5 key stories including updates on iowa nonprofit headlines, background & context. Let's dive in.
2 stories
Iowa American Water announced the launch of the American Water Charitable Foundation 2026 Water and Environment Grant Program.
Iowa nonprofit professionals focused on water quality, conservation, or environmental stewardship now have a new funding cycle to pursue for program support.
The Iowa Grants Guide is a searchable database maintained by the LAWINRC that catalogs more than 500 funders based in Iowa or with an Iowa connection, with filters for funder name and advanced search options.
Iowa nonprofit professionals can use this centralized resource to efficiently identify relevant grant opportunities and streamline their fundraising efforts.
Reach professionals in this market
3 stories
The streamlined Form 1023-EZ is available only to organizations meeting specific limits on projected revenue, assets, and activity types. Filing 1023-EZ when ineligible produces a determination that is technically valid but vulnerable to retroactive revocation if discovered. The full 1023 is harder to file but harder to challenge.
Loss of exemption is retroactive to the original determination, exposing the organization to back-tax liability. The eligibility checklist is the only protection.
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.
The IRS-recommended COI policy requires (1) annual disclosure by all directors and key employees, (2) a process for review of any disclosed conflict, (3) recusal procedures, and (4) documentation in board minutes. Policies that have only the disclosure form without the review and recusal process do not satisfy the recommendation.
A weak COI policy is a Schedule L disclosure waiting to happen, and Schedule L disclosures correlate with future IRS examination selection.
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