During the year, the organization made $1.9 million worth of grants to more than 70 organizations, agencies and causes in Fort Dodge and Webster County.

“That’s an all-time high for us,” said Randy Kuhlman, the organization’s chief executive officer.

The Fort Dodge Community Foundation side of the organization also set a record, with $21 million in assets under management. That money is in 135 funds managed by the foundation.

In the midst of all that record-setting growth, the group experienced a significant transition. Amy Bruno, who had been the program coordinator since 2013, retired and moved to Illinois to be closer to her children and grandchildren.

In August of 2021, Julie Piton, a Webster County native, joined the staff as the new program coordinator.

She is a graduate of Fort Dodge Senior High School and Drake University in Des Moines. After college, she worked on political campaigns.

Piton moved back to Fort Dodge from Green Bay, Wisconsin.

The Fort Dodge Community Foundation and United Way is unique in the nation because it is the only philanthropic organization that combines a foundation and a United Way.

United Way

“The pandemic has made it a lot more difficult on the United Way side to raise charitable dollars,” Kuhlman said.

He said that is because businesses have been reluctant to hold in-person gatherings at which United Way staff can make presentations. However, the organization has been able to continue raising funds.

“Fort Dodge remains a generous community,” Kuhlman said. “A lot of people care about Fort Dodge and they give back generously.”

Helping children who live at or near the poverty level is the mission of the local United Way. Among other things, it works to prevent homelessness, provide food assistance and help with travel to and from medical appointments. It also works with other entities like Upper Des Moines Opportunity Inc. to help those children and families.

According to Kuhlman, the 2020 U.S. census revealed that one out of every five youths in the community lives at or below the poverty level.

Kuhlman said the United Way has seen an increase in homelessness.

“This year we’ve worked with more homeless families than we ever have,” he said.

Those families generally aren’t sleeping under bridges. Instead, they are constantly moving from place to place because they have no permanent home. Some are sleeping in their vehicles.

“Affordable housing is just harder and harder to find for these low-income families,” Kuhlman said.

Community Foundation

One of the physically biggest and most visible projects the Community Foundation has been involved in towers over the roundabout intersection of 10th Avenue North and 32nd Street.

It is the massive sculpture of Floyd of Rosedale, the hog who lived on a nearby farm who became the basis for a traveling trophy, which the University of Iowa and University of Minnesota football teams battle for every year.

The foundation was involved in planning the sculpture and actually owned it until signing it over to the city government.

Community betterment projects like the Floyd of Rosedale sculpture are part of the foundation’s mission.

“We often are the fundraising arm that provides back-office support for a wide range of projects,” Kuhlman said.

The foundation continues to expand its Fort Dodge history website.

“Fort Dodge has such a robust history and yet it was difficult for people to learn about it,” Kuhlman said. “We just felt like it was a service to the community, an important service, that we could offer.”