Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines

Legal name: Community Fdn of Greater Des Moines F/k/a Greater Des Moines Community Fdn

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
426139033
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Des Moines, IA, US
Phone
(515) 883-2626
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community Foundations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$160,755,314
Expenses
$96,607,690
Assets
$918,701,941
Liabilities
$26,354,100

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

39 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KRISTINE KNOUS (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • KRISTINE KNOUS (PRESIDENT): $442,124 total reported compensation
  • KARLA JONES (CHIEF FINANCIAL & ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER): $259,584 total reported compensation
  • ANGELA DETHLEFS-TRETTIN (CHIEF COMMUNITY IMPACT OFFICER): $195,992 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines improves quality of life for all by promoting charitable giving, connecting donors with causes they care about and providing leadership on important community issues.

What it reported doing in 2024

The community foundation of greater des moines works with individual donors, families, businesses, nonprofit organizations and communities to establish charitable giving funds that benefit causes and communities forever. The community foundation improves quality of life for all by promoting charitable giving, connecting donors with causes they care about and providing leadership on important community issues. The community foundation of greater des moines is confirmed in compliance with national standards for u.s. Community foundations. The community foundation offers expert giving advice, charitable giving tools to meet individual giving goals, professional investment management of charitable giving funds and maximum tax advantages. The community foundation administers more than 2,600 charitable component funds. Through community foundation grantmaking programs and donor funds, over $84 million was granted to charitable causes in 2024.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 79% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 88% of its reported program spending out as grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 61
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 90
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 74.8%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 99.4%; rating input score 99
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5,740.15 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 66.3%; rating input score 66; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 39.9%; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 9.51; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.7%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.8% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 74.8% of revenue deployed · 99.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 31 of 31 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $96M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $442K · 39 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.2M reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 38 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1267 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1259 filed related-organization links
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.