LincolnWay Community Foundation: A New Beginning
During the late 1970s, a group of passionate and committed DeWitt residents joined forces to reopen a local opera house. Soon after, this group formed the DeWitt Area Foundation, which would later become the LincolnWay Community Foundation (LWCF).
“We felt then as we do now that we needed a nonprofit vehicle for our community—something that would always be there to protect the philanthropic interests of Clinton County,” says LWCF Executive Director Pat Henricksen.
This summer, LWCF became an affiliate of the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque (CFGD). Since 2004, CFGD has supported the growth of affiliate foundations in rural communities throughout Northeast Iowa, including Allamakee, Clayton, Delaware, Jones and Jackson counties as well as the Dyersville area. By working with CFGD, these communities have built philanthropic funds in support of schools, churches, health care centers and other needs totaling more than $19 million.
“The Dubuque Foundation can come in and supply us with valuable expertise,” says LWCF Board President John Peavey. “If you bring the right people together, you can make an organization ten times better.”
CFGD will provide investment, accounting, grantmaking, training and administrative support and philanthropic expertise, allowing LWCF’s local board to focus on setting priorities, attracting donors and supporting local nonprofit organizations. In addition, LWCF supports youth philanthropy through Giving Organization for Iowa Teens (G.O.4.I.T), a program that allows local teens to lead and support change through philanthropy.
“We at the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque are proud to welcome the LincolnWay Community Foundation to our family of affiliate foundations,” says CFGD President and CEO Nancy Van Milligen. “We feel strongly that this move will ensure continued success in serving LincolnWay residents and the causes they hold dear.”