Business Notes for Jan. 12, 2025

The Gazette’s Business Notes is a compendium of the week’s promotions, new hires, certifications, added business lines and business events, among other items, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and the rest of the Corridor. Information and photos can be submitted at https://www.thegazette.com/business-notes/submit/

New Marion tax service: Enterprise Tax Service, a new business operated by Kevin Kuch, has opened at 642 10th St., Suite 203, in Marion. Kuch has more than 18 years of experience as a senior tax preparer at a major national tax firm. The office is open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays, with expanded hours during peak tax season. More information is at (319) 500-3454 or by visiting facebook.com/EnterpriseTaxServiceMarion.

GreatAmerica employee donations: GreatAmerica Financial Services Corp. last week announced 14 nonprofits will receive grants of $4,000 to $25,000 in the fall distribution of $250,000 from the Employee Advised Fund.

The 14 organizations receiving grants are the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Corridor, Bridgehaven Pregnancy Center, Chelsey's Dream Foundation, Clothe-A-Child, Community Health Free Clinic, Eastern Iowa Health Center, Horizons-A Family Service Alliance, Linn County Trails Association, Matthew 25, Miracles in Motion Therapeutic Equestrian Center, No Foot Too Small, North Liberty Community Pantry, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, and Waypoint.

The awards were the second of two giving cycles in 2024. Additionally, GreatAmerica awarded more than $600,000 from its Donor Advised Fund last year, for a total of $1.1 million benefiting Cedar Rapids and surrounding communities in 2024.

GreatAmerica employees make charitable giving decisions through the Employee Advised Fund. They vote on nonprofit applications, directly impacting worthy organizations in the community.

This is the fourth round of giving for the GreatAmerica Employee Advised Fund, which started in 2022. The next grant cycle will open for applications in the spring. Nonprofits must have a GreatAmerica employee sponsor to apply. The awards focus on four areas: health and human services; arts and culture; environment; and public projects.

Dupaco awards grants to nonprofits: Dubuque-based Dupaco Community Credit Union has awarded $53,000 to nonprofits in its service area.

Eastern Iowa recipients are the Catherine McAuley Center, Cedar Valley Habitat for Humanity and Waypoint Services for Women, Children and Families, all of Cedar Rapids; the Iowa Nonprofit Alliance in Cedar Falls; and the Centrally Rooted Mission, Dubuque & Jackson County Habitat for Humanity, Dubuque Rescue Mission and the Stonehill Franciscan Services/Stonehill Communities, all of Dubuque.

The next round for the Gift of Innovation grant cycle will open in the fall.

Rural health care grants: UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Foundation is accepting applications for its Rural Healthcare Grant Program, which provides matching grant funds toward health care services for rural residents in Benton, Buchanan, Cedar, Delaware, Iowa, northern Johnson, Jones and Linn counties. The maximum grant is $6,000.

The grants can help fund emergency care equipment, training for emergency personnel, basic life-support equipment and mileage reimbursement for transportation programs.

Eligible entities include ambulance services, paramedics, fire and rescue departments, transportation programs and first responders.

The deadline for the grants, offered since 1980, is May 27. To apply, call St. Luke’s Foundation at (319) 369-7572.

Small business of the week: U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, last week recognized the Original Saw Co. of Hancock County as her small business of the week.

In 1990, Robert and Laurie Eden founded the company after buying Jones Machinery and Lancaster Machinery, moving the Jones business from Des Moines to Britt in north-central Iowa and obtaining the rights to continue manufacturing Lancaster’s radial arm saws.

In 1993, Robert’s son, Allen Eden, graduated from the University of Northern Iowa and joined the company full-time, running it with his dad until taking it over in 2002. Today, the company has 21 employees and is the sole American manufacturer of radial arm saws. It also offers tools such as saw measuring systems, extension tables and miter saw stands. 

Ernst, the new chairman of the Senate’s Small Business Committee, is naming one exceptional small business of the week in each of Iowa’s counties during this congressional session, continuing the recognition she started last year.