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Okoboji Foundation Announces 2025 Grant Awards

June 05, 2025 Steve Schwaller

(Arnolds Park)– The Okoboji Foundation has announced it’s 2025 grant recipients. Foundation Director Mindy Gress tells KUOO news they awarded a little more than $474,000 to seven non-profit organizations in the Iowa Great Lakes. She says that’s the most they’ve given out in a single year to date…

“$378,000 of that was awarded through our leadership grants. Those dollars come from our endowment funds that are continuing to build and we take a percentage of those each year to give back to the community through our grant process. And then the remainder of that that we had available to spend was what was raised from our Youth in Philanthropy program. As you’ll recall from past discussions they raised a little more than $112,000 this year. Some of that went into their endowed fund but the majority of it was available for them to give out in grants. So between what we have available from our endowment funds and what the Youth in Philanthropy raised, a little more than $474,000 went out to the community.”

Gress says they received more than $1.5 million in grant requests this cycle…

“Our grant committee read all of those. There were 18 different applications and that makes it really hard. You know that demonstrates the need and the good works that are happening out in the community and we’re so excited about them that we were able to give but there’s that gap there, and that’s where the foundation continues to build our own endowment fund so that in coming years we can continue to lessen that gap.”

Gress says the Okoboji Foundation is already gearing up for its next grant cycle…

“Of course throughout the year we’re fundraising for, we have just our general endowment funds but we also have field of interest funds. So if somebody’s looking to support the foundation but they don’t necessarily just want to give in general, we do have three field of interest funds: arts and culture, lake quality and environment, and outdoor experiences and recreation. And so sometimes we’ll have donors give to one of those funds so that they can specifically support projects within that field of interest. And so we’re always working with donors seeing how we can fit in their giving plans to then benefit the community on the other side.”

Gress thanks those all the donors who make the Okoboji Foundation possible as well as the non-profit groups throughout the Iowa Great Lakes for their work.

This year’s U of O Foundation grant recipients are as follows:

The 2025 Okoboji Foundation Leadership Grant Awards:

The 2025 Okoboji Foundation Leadership Grant Awards:

  • $88,000 – Dickinson County Conservation Board & Nature Center: Nature Play Area
  • $75,000 – City of Lake Park: City Park Renovation Project
  • $75,000 – Dickinson County Trails Board: Clay County Connection Phase I & II
  • $50,000 – OPA (fiscal sponsor): Save Turtle Lake
  • $50,000 – Humane Society of Northwest Iowa: Reimagining HSNWIA for the Next Generation
  • $25,000 – City of Milford: Florence Park Improvement Project
  • $24,689 – City of Orleans: Beach Avenue Access Improvement (includes $9,689 from YIP)
  • $10,000 – Boys Town Camp Okoboji: Campground Regrading (funded from Disaster Recovery Fund)

The 2025 Youth in Philanthropy Grants, directed by student leaders:

  • $18,500 – Pearson Lakes Art Center: Performing Arts Theatre Upgrades
  • $20,000 – Dickinson County Historical Society & Museum: Accessibility Project
  • $20,000 – VFW Spirit Lake: Auxiliary Kitchen Remodel
  • $9,689 – City of Orleans: Beach Avenue Access Improvement
  • $9,000 – Lakes Area Senior Citizens: Dining Room Upgrade
  • $7,273 – Twin Forks Trap & Skeet Club: Clubhouse Furnishing
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