Better Together

At the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines, our mission is to improve quality of life for all by promoting charitable giving, connecting donors with causes they care about and providing leadership on important community issues.

We live in a generous community, but with so many wonderful local nonprofits, staying up-to-date on the most pressing needs in our community can be a challenge. We created GIVEdsm to make giving simple. GIVEdsm is an online resource that provides the opportunity to learn about the needs and opportunities of our community and offer support to those organizations that match your interest.

Be a part of our community’s solutions by supporting the pressing needs and promising opportunities of our community today. We are better together.

Search Current Opportunities

For Donors

GIVEdsm makes it easy to find and support causes you care about. There are three ways to give through GIVEdsm:

  • If you have a Donor Advised Fund with the Community Foundation, you can login here to recommend grants directly to nonprofits.
  • If you don’t have a charitable fund with the Community Foundation and want to save your information and giving history for future reference on GIVEdsm, you can create a GIVEdsm login here.
  • If you want to give now but don't want to save your information for future reference, you can checkout as a guest.

    • Create A Donor Login
     

For Nonprofits

 Thank you for choosing to amplify your impact through GIVEdsm! This is the go-to place for our community to learn about pressing needs and promising opportunities right here in Greater Des Moines. Getting started is easy:

  • If you're new to GIVEdsm, start by creating an account for your organization.
  • List your current needs.
  • Promote your projects! You can find Canva social media templates here.

If you need access to previous campaign data, please contact Sarah Cahill at cahill@desmoinesfoundation.org.

Create A Nonprofit Account

If you have questions or need help, please contact Sarah Cahill at cahill@desmoinesfoundation.org.

FAQs for Nonprofits

Getting Started

Why should my organization post on GIVEdsm?
We live in a generous community filled with people who want to give back, but sometimes it can be hard to know what the current needs are. For the past eight years, GIVEdsm has been embraced by both local nonprofits and our community members as the go-to place to learn about pressing needs and promising opportunities right here in Greater Des Moines.
What organizations qualify to add projects to GIVEdsm?
Organizations must be approved by the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines before they can add projects to GIVEdsm. To qualify, you must be a 501(c)(3) organization or a charitable arm of a unit of government based in Greater Des Moines.
Is there a cost to be featured on GIVEdsm?
No, GIVEdsm is free to qualified organizations. The Community Foundation does not charge administrative fees on transactions through GIVEdsm, however the donation platform you choose to use may charge fees.
What will not be approved for posting to GIVEdsm?
Funding requests for nonprofits and projects outside of Greater Des Moines, sponsorship requests and ticket/table purchases for events will not be approved to post on GIVEdsm. In addition, postings that are contrary to inclusivity, as well as funding needs from organizations ineligible to receive grants from donor advised funds, will not be included.
Once approved, how do I login to GIVEdsm?
Visit givedsm.org and select GIVEdsm Login in the upper right corner of the homepage. From there you can edit the details of your nonprofit, list new campaigns and add additional representatives to your organization.
How do we receive the gifts collected through GIVEdsm?
When a grant is recommended from a Community Foundation fund, we will issue a payment to your organization within a week. The Community Foundation will not be processing credit card donations directly. Credit card donations will be issued to you through your website or via Stripe. When creating a campaign, you will have the option to direct the donation button to an existing donation form on your website, or to set up or connect a Stripe account for your organization to direct funds to your bank account.

Using Your Nonprofit Account

User List/Representatives

What is the User List page?
The User List is where you can add additional representatives to your organization. They will then be allowed to add/edit campaigns, add users and update organization settings.
Who should be the GIVEdsm representative for our organization?
You can add multiple users from your organization to GIVEdsm, so please determine the individual(s) from your organization that should have access. You can add or remove users on the User List page.

Campaigns

What is the Campaign List page?
The Campaign List is where you can see the full list of your active and inactive campaigns. You may have more than one campaign listed at a time. You can make some edits to the campaign from this page. If you need to make edits to your campaign title, description or image, please contact Sarah Cahill at cahill@desmoinesfoundation.org
When selecting the type of project we are submitting, what is the difference between capital campaign, general support and timely need?
A capital campaign is a specific, large capital fundraising campaign on behalf of your organization. A timely need is a funding need that is more immediate in nature and must be met by a specific deadline. For example, needing to purchase school supplies before the start of a new semester or repair a broken air conditioner. General support is support for ongoing operations.
What types of images do you recommend?

Select a photo that best portrays your organization’s mission and the project being added to the site using the recommended guidelines below.

  • Use a full-color, high resolution photo, without filters if possible.
  • Crop it to the appropriate size. Recommended Size: 300px x 125px for organization logos and 650px x 300px for campaign images.
  • If you don’t have a photo of your mission/project in action, consider using your logo or a stock image.
I selected “Save” to add my new campaign, why is it not appearing on givedsm.org?
Community Foundation staff must approve all new projects to GIVEdsm. You will receive an email when the project is approved and live.

Organizations

What is the Organization Settings page?
Organization Settings is where you can update current details about your nonprofit. If you get a new logo or rebrand your organization, you do not need to create a new account, you can update it on this page.
What is the Profile page?

The Profile page contains information about you as a user. You can update your name, email or password on this page.


Note: The Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines believes that we are better together. To this end, we respect and value the diversity of our community and the importance of creating an inclusive environment. We honor the fundamental value and dignity of all individuals through the respect of diverse traditions, heritages and experiences rooted in respect. The Community Foundation reserves the right to deny submissions that are contrary to our better together philosophy.