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Charitable Choice Mandate. The Iowa Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (ICFBCI) is a private, faith-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit entity headquartered in West Des Moines. It has served distressed Iowa areas and assisted numerous nonprofit organizations since 1995. The Center was formed to, in part, reflect the concept of Charitable Choice, a provision of the federal welfare reform law. This provision encourages the involvement and funding of faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) in providing social services, educational and economic assistance to distressed individuals and locales.  Its Mission. The Center’s mission is to build the capacity of small Iowa nonprofit organizations to address the broad economic and social service issues present in their communities. As a resource and advocate for small Iowa nonprofit organizations—those responsible for a significant amount of service to Iowa’s under-resourced persons and families—the Center provides professional resources and procures funding to expand nonprofit capacity and community impact. Statewide Significance. ICFBCI’s work in distressed rural counties and urban inner city areas throughout the state has encouraged nonprofits to form community partnerships, establish sound program and organizational infrastructures build evidence-based practices, and design effective measures of evaluation. Capacity Building Focus. Center staff members provide small Iowa FBCOs and other organizations with capacity building training (large group instruction), technical assistance (one-on-one mentoring, coaching, modeling) including strategic planning, and the acquisition of external resources from both public and private funding sources. Resources Acquisition. Since 2005, the Iowa Center and its affiliate, Prevailing Strategic Resources, have developed grant projects to assist non-profit organizations and agencies acquire:
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