Clayton County Foundation for the Future works with donors, nonprofits, and community partners to connect important community needs with resources to improve quality of life for the 17,000 residents of our region.
Our Stories
Stay up to date with the latest news and relevant information from the Clayton County Foundation for the Future.
With support from the Foundation, residents of McGregor came together to create an endowment for their community after a devastating tornado.
“The Alexander McGregor Endowment is a commitment to long-term planning, collective vision and sustainability. It calls us to reimagine the future and reconsider the possibilities for McGregor,” said committee member Cathy Denning. Learn more.
We study community needs and make connections with resources to:
Inspire people to give back to their community, helping them become more invested in its success today and tomorrow.
Strengthen Nonprofits through grant funding, training, capacity-building and more so they can make essential resources accessible to our entire community. We host more than 30 nonprofit endowment funds that provide a sustainable source of income to support organizations’ missions forever.
Collaborate with local leaders to identify needs and solutions to community-wide issues, align on a shared vision for the region and determine what we can all do to have a lasting impact on its future.
Build endowments to create permanent, locally controlled assets that support the work of local organizations and build their capacity to improve our region.
Our endowment funds are invested permanently, and the earnings from that investment provide annual funding to address our community’s greatest needs for generations to come. Learn more.
Together, we can realize a shared vision of a strong, thriving Clayton County for all.
When you make an endowed gift to the Foundation or any of its funds, it will cost you far less thanks to Iowa's generous Endow Iowa 25% state tax credit.
There are many ways to invest in your community — from monetary gifts to stock, grain, land or individual retirement account contributions. Gifts of all kinds and sizes move our region forward.
We have partnered with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to launch a new initiative to improve early literacy, providing monthly books for all children in Clayton County from birth to age five.
Reading at grade level is a key predictor of school success and high school graduation, and this program will help get children off to a bright start. Age-appropriate, high-quality books are specially selected and delivered each month to children registered for the program. All books are personalized with the child’s name and mailed directly to the child’s home, at no cost to families. Two Spanish/English bilingual titles are selected per age group each year, and books are also available for blind or visually impaired children.
Clayton County Child Care Market Analysis & Strategic Plan
The availability of quality child care is a key component to recruiting and retaining a reliable workforce and contributes to a high quality of life in a community.
With that knowledge and local stories of child care challenges, we undertook a county child care study and a market analysis to get a greater understanding of the state of child care in Clayton County so we as a community have the information to take proactive steps toward addressing child care challenges. We contracted with First Children’s Finance, a national leader in supporting childcare providers, communities and governments to sustain childcare businesses, to survey our community and convene stakeholders from around the county, creating a market analysis and a strategic child care plan for the county to address challenges that employers, families, and providers are experiencing.
This project is sponsored in part by the Iowa Economic Development Authority. We also thank our funding partners: Alpine Communications and Aureon, the Clayton County Board of Supervisors, Clayton County Development Group, Guttenberg Municipal Hospital and Clinics, and the Roger and Connie Halvorson CCFF Fund for Entrepreneurship.
Brain Health in Clayton County
We envision a Clayton County where quality brain health services and resources are well-known and accessible to all community members, giving them the opportunity for a high quality of life. In partnership with Seva Health Center for Wellbeing, we formed the Clayton County Brain Health Coalition in early 2023. By collecting data and convening local partners like patients, providers and stakeholders, the coalition explores barriers to brain health services and opportunities and partnerships for solutions.The group’s three committees are focused on:
Access to resources: Help identify gaps in existing resource lists and support updates to the Clayton County Resource Guide's brain health resource section to serve as a comprehensive brain health resource that can be distributed to community members and partners.
Education: Host or encourage partners to host three evidence-based education sessions on a variety of health topics to improve quality of life and support brain health.
Awareness: Create a campaign to raise awareness of brain health resources and promote thoughtful and open discussion around brain health throughout the county.
When the Driftless Area Wetlands Centre received a grant from the Clayton County Foundation for the Future, Alicia Mullarkey started to see its hands-on, inquiry-driven youth program materialize.“It’s been a huge success, and we’re really grateful for the support,” she says. “Having this kind of funding is really critical for us to get up and running.” Read more.
Professional Advisors
Passing down prosperity
We work with professional advisors, individuals and families to improve quality of life and secure our region’s strong future.
$2.5 Billion
Expected to transfer from one generation to the next through Clayton County probate estates through 2049.
$125 Million
Secured forever if just 5% of the expected transfer is invested in an endowment.
$5.3 Million
Could be available annually for community projects and priorities, forever, figuring a 4.25% grant payout payout.
When people get involved in their communities, their communities change for the better. That’s why we need you to be part of the Clayton County Foundation for the Future.
Board of Directors
Our board works to help us achieve our mission of improving quality of life in Clayton County.
