Casino nonprofit gives $1 million in grants

Freeborn County Historical Society gets slice

Staff

Published Friday, November 21, 2008

NORTHWOOD, Iowa — The Worth County Development Authority recently gave out about more than $1 million in grants during its fifth grant round.

In Freeborn County, the Shell Rock Township and the Freeborn County Historical Society were awarded grants. In Lake Mills, the public library also received a grant.

These three awards, along with other regional awards, amounted to almost $105,000.

For Worth County projects alone, the grants totaled almost $880,000.

Each year, the WCDA — the nonprofit connected with the Diamond Jo Casino and holds the casino’s gaming license — receives 5.76 percent of the casino’s annual gross revenue.

Off the top of that amount in donations, the WCDA gives 7 percent to Worth County, and the other 93 percent is divided in half between education and then regional or countywide grants.

Grants are given out twice a year.

Since its inception, the nonprofit has given out $7.4 million in grants, said Kim Miller, executive director of the WCDA.

Every grant round, the organization receives probably between 100 and 150 requests, Miller said. This year, it gave out 49 grants.

“It’s neat to see this happen every six months,” she said. “It’s so cool to look around and see how this county has been hugely positively effected by this.”

She said the grant program has turned out much better than she ever thought it would be. At the same time, however, it gets difficult because she wishes she could give the money to everyone who applies.

In Freeborn County, the WCDA awarded the Shell Rock Township a $3,600 grant for new doors for its township hall and the Freeborn County Historical Society an about $3,600 grant for tables and chairs.

“We were excited and thankful they granted us that award,” said the museum’s Executive Director Pat Mulso. She said she hoped the items could be ordered and received by the end of the year.

She will be purchasing five 8-foot folding tables, 52 folding chairs, two 10-foot folding tables that have seats attached and one vertical table caddy that will hold the tables when they are not in use, Mulso said. The tables and chairs will be used in the lower level at the museum for group meetings and events.

This was the fifth application the museum had sent in to the WCDA.

The Lake Mills Public Library received an almost $6,000 grant to use for two new air conditioners.

In Worth County, grants were awarded to several cities and organizations for maintenance projects, building renovations and other capital improvements.

The largest grant went to Tune in the amount of $100,000, to go toward the theater.

Other large grants included about $68,000 for phase two of a community center for the city of Kensett and aquatic center amenities for the city of Manly.

Miller said her favorite part of the most recent awards banquet was part of a new program she created. She had children from five school districts write about what they would do with $2,000 to give back to their communities.

She chose nine, and then contacted those entities, and made it so the students could give the money right to the entities they wrote about. She said she was inspired by the entries.

With an additional $18,000 going toward those nine entities, that brought the WCDA’s donations to more than $1 million.

For the first grant round each year, applications are available on Jan. 1 and are due by Feb. 15, with awards given out April 15.

For the second round each year, applications are available Aug. 1 and are due by Sept. 15, with awards given out Nov. 15.

Grant recipients have one year from their awarded date to complete the projects. If not completed, all funds are required to be returned to the WCDA.

Educational scholarships, which are given out just once a year, are due by April 15.

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