The Iowa Council of Foundations, (ICoF), the state’s largest association of philanthropic and grantmaking organizations, has elected two new directors to its board for fiscal year 2024.
This year also marks the organization’s 25th year as a network.
Newly elected directors are: Ena Babic Barnes, executive director of the Iowa Credit Union Foundation; and Charla Schafer, president of the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine.
Returning board members elected to officer positions are: Chair Matt Mendenhall, president and CEO of the Regional Development Authority; Vice Chair Nicole Brua-Behrens, executive director of the Greater Poweshiek Community Foundation; Treasurer Beth Jones, director of community impact for the Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation; and Secretary Kaye Englin, president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa. Rob Barron, executive director of Iowa & Minnesota Campus Compact, serves as an at-large member of the Board.
“We have recently unveiled our new strategic framework, which explicitly names our network’s commitment to community- and people-focused philanthropy,” said ICoF President Kari McCann Boutell. “This board couldn’t be a better representation of that commitment to ensuring our vision for philanthropy to be a positive contributor to a thriving, equitable Iowa.”
The Iowa Council of Foundations represents member organizations from all facets of philanthropy: community foundations, corporate foundations and giving programs, private independent and family foundations, and operating foundations, as well as individuals associated with philanthropy.
Collectively, ICoF members annually grant more than $65 million in Iowa. Founded in 1998, the ICoF was established as a way to connect those involved in grantmaking to ultimately increase the reach of philanthropy in Iowa.
In addition to naming people and community as a central value to the network, the council has identified equity and justice, integrity and accountability, and learning and action as core values.
