Iowa · Nonprofit
IOWA CENTER FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS
IOWA CENTER FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS (Iowa) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,151,370 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FDN OF GREATER DES MOINES F/K/A GREATER DES MOINES COMMUNITY FDN ($386,961). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 23
- Grants received
- $2.2M
- Net assets
- $801k
What Iowa Center for Economic Success does
Mission
The iowa center's mission is to empower iowans with the potential to succeed as they pursue opportunities for financial success. The iowa center achieves its mission by delivering three lines of direct service that open up small business ownership as a pathway to financial freedom: business coaching, credit + lending, and tax services.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Credit + lending. The iowa center supports entrepreneurs with business coaching and technical assistance for borrowers pursuing traditional lending options, as well as access to alternative flexible lending options. Certified by the sba as a microlender, and home to the iowa center loan fund (iclf) community development financial institution (cdfi), the iowa center provides loans up to $50,000 with flexible underwriting guidelines and technical assistance at every step of the loan process. In fy2024, iclf originated 9 unique loans to clients totaling $287,713 and the sba microloan program originated 10 unique loans totaling $419,500.
$199,652 spentof which $62,404 as grants$50,869 earned by the program21% of program spendingBusiness coaching. The iowa center provides skill-based coaching resources in both the classroom and the 1:1 settings to build knowledge, skills and confidence in small business fundamentals. The iowa center is also home to the iowa center women's business center (wbc) which is part of the us small business administration's national network of entrepreneurship centers throughout the united states. In fy2024, the iowa center supported 456 clients in 90 classes and 459 one-on-one coaching sessions. Our clients launched 64 new small businesses and created 71 new jobs. The business coaching team is increasing its capacity with in-person and online classroom programs and 1:1 coaching. We are continuously updating our curriculum to ensure that our classes and coaching are meeting our clients needs in the marketplace.
$268,924 spent$2,202 earned by the program28% of program spendingTax services. As the leader of the statewide volunteer income tax assistance (vita) coalition, the iowa center provides thousands of low-to-moderate-income (lmi) iowans with access to income tax return preparation services. The vita grant and matching funds are awarded to coalition partners as sub-grants to make vita available in communities statewide. In ty23, the iowa center has 22 partners who operated 80 sites and filed 16,120 tax returns. Sites were centrally located within communities and surrounded by other human service organizations. Low-income taxpayers were our primary focus for ty23. Over 82% of the returns filed were for clients in the target population. Increasing services to the elderly was our secondary focus, and we prepared returns for 6,949 elderly taxpayers.
$386,889 spent41% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$88,699 spent$116 earned by the program9% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $944,164.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $495k to $1.9M (+281%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 49% · 2018 64% · 2019 60% · 2020 35% · 2021 57% · 2022 58% · 2023 70% · 2024 42% · 2025 52%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of IOWA CENTER FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (61% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 8 funders, grant income rose $21k → $258k.
4 of 23 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 40% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of IOWA CENTER FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
IOWA CENTER FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
58% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund IOWA CENTER FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 45% · 2019 96% · 2020 59% · 2021 74% · 2022 55% · 2023 57% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
13% of IOWA CENTER FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
IOWA CENTER FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS draws 70% of its grant income from funders outside Iowa, across 7 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $857k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
IOWA CENTER FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS's funding base is broadening — from 1 funders to 8 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,127 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding IOWA CENTER FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.8M on record.
- Small Business Administration$2.0M
- Department of the Treasury$1.6M
- Department of Agriculture$99k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like IOWA CENTER FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Iowa
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Iowa Center Loan Fund · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for IOWA CENTER FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds IOWA CENTER FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS?
- IOWA CENTER FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS (Iowa) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,151,370 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FDN OF GREATER DES MOINES F/K/A GREATER DES MOINES COMMUNITY FDN ($386,961). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does IOWA CENTER FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS have?
- IRS filings report 23 organizations giving $2,151,370 in grants to IOWA CENTER FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of IOWA CENTER FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS?
- COMMUNITY FDN OF GREATER DES MOINES F/K/A GREATER DES MOINES COMMUNITY FDN is the largest funder on record, with $386,961 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like IOWA CENTER FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Iowa. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 23 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing