The Community Foundation of the Great River Bend strives to provide philanthropic services to help meet diverse needs in communities throughout our 17-county service area. One way our Foundation has achieved this goal is through the creation of affiliate community foundations. 

An affiliate community foundation serves a county or a city, and operates under the fiscal management and guidance of a host community foundation, which has met National Standards for U.S. Community Foundations. The Community Foundation of the Great River Bend is a host to 14 affiliate foundations and provides:

• legal expertise,
• administrative staff support;
• education and marketing materials;
• networking, and
• training.

Affiliate community foundations are led by a local volunteer Board of Directors made up of community leaders and may or may not have a paid support staff. Each affiliate foundation focuses on serving its community and emphasizes local decision-making and grantmaking. The photo here shows three Board members of the Community Foundation of Des Moines County -- from left to right: Dennis Hinkle, Jerry Parks, and Keith Schulz.