Advocate amplifies contributions of Iowa’s nonprofits

Growing up in Western Iowa, Paul Thelen said his life — like the lives of many Iowans, he said — was significantly impacted by what he called “purpose-driven organizations.”

Church. School. The hospital. 4-H Club. Little League. Community theater.

Later, while studying nonprofit organizations at the University of Iowa College of Law, he experienced an epiphany while updating the governance documents of a local organization for a class project.

“That experience led me to the realization that a future where I could work every day with Iowans who focus on making their communities better places to live and grow would make for a pretty great career,” Thelen said.

Now, Thelen is director of the Larned A. Waterman Iowa Nonprofit Resource Center, an adjunct faculty member at the UI College of Law and cofounder and current vice chair of the Iowa Nonprofit Alliance, Iowa’s first statewide nonprofit membership association.

  Buy Photo

As director of the Larned A. Waterman Iowa Nonprofit Resource Center, Thelen oversees the organization that provides direct services, education and other resources to support current and future nonprofit leaders in Iowa. According to its website, the center trains students in nonprofit law, offers workshops and training to nonprofit workers, provides information on nonprofit issues and creates publications and guidelines for Iowa nonprofit organizations.

According to his biography on the UI website, Thelen’s primary focus at the center is “building the leadership, governance, and management capacities of individuals, organizations, and networks across the state.”

The Iowa Nonprofit Alliance, which Thelen helped found in 2022, advocates for and supports the roughly 31,000 nonprofits in Iowa. According to its website, the alliance provides “high-quality and affordable resources” for nonprofit leaders and workers, educational opportunities, an organized network of nonprofit professionals and volunteers and a unified voice on issues impacting nonprofit organizations and the people those organizations serve.

While being interviewed for this article, Thelen noted that his thoughts are his own and do not necessarily represent either of the organizations for which he works.

“They say that if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life, right? That was something my father always said,” Thelen said. “My experience — and I think it echoes the experience of many charitable and philanthropic professionals — is that if you love what you do, you will work every day of your life. Always healthy? Perhaps not. But that is the dedication our fellow Iowans bring to these roles.”

Creating a statewide organization for nonprofits

In 2004, then-Gov. Tom Vilsack created a state task force to study “The Role of Charitable Nonprofit Organizations in Iowa.” One part of that task force’s analysis would be echoed in Thelen’s meetings with other Iowa nonprofit leaders throughout the state, he said: Even as their daily lives depend on voluntary nonprofit associations, Iowans are not fully aware of the total impact of the charitable nonprofit sector on communities and state.

After a series of meetings between leaders and with stakeholders, the formation of a working group, one crucial anonymous donation and a feasibility study, the Iowa Nonprofit Alliance was formed.

“The results of that (feasibility) study demonstrated a need for a statewide association in Iowa that would both amplify the amazing work already being supported in our state by community foundations, educational institutions and professionals serving the sector, as well as serve a unique role in advancing advocacy and collaboration through a membership-led model,” Thelen said.

“Why the Iowa Nonprofit Alliance? Because we think this membership association offers the best strategy and structure toward complementing and supplementing the efforts necessary to create a thriving nonprofit sector that is doing its best work to impact the lives of people and communities in Iowa.”

  Buy Photo

Challenges facing nonprofits

Thelen said one of the biggest challenges facing nonprofit organizations is tax policy at all levels of government. Thelen said those tax policies impact charitable organizations “in a multitude of ways.”

“As Iowans, we should want policymakers to understand these effects and, where necessary, champion changes that will support these vital entities,” Thelen said.

Thelen also cautioned against allowing 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations to become political. Thelen said he works with nonprofit leaders, staff and volunteers who work together “to serve the public good,” and that allowing charitable organizations to become partisan in law and purpose would harm the nonprofit industry’s ability to work together.

Late last year, the Iowa Nonprofit Alliance advocated against federal legislation that nonprofit leaders believed would have had a chilling effect on the industry. The bill would have given the U.S. Treasury Secretary the authority to flag nonprofit groups as terrorist-supporting organizations and remove their tax-exempt status.

While the bill was created to punish nonprofit organizations that support terrorism, leaders in the nonprofit sector feared it gave too much authority to the federal government and could have been used to punish political opponents.

The legislation passed the U.S. House but was not considered in the U.S. Senate.

“The issue with (the bill) was not its stated purpose of stopping the use of tax-exempt entities to fund terrorism, but the process and procedures it offered were insufficient to protect due process,” Thelen said. “I think this legislation presents a good example of how state associations can help inform policy.”

Why it matters

According to research that Thelen helped conduct, nearly 11 percent of Iowa’s workforce is in the nonprofit sector, producing $7.1 billion in annual wages and $26.7 billion in annual revenue.

However, Thelen said, “None of these numbers capture the incredible impact of these organizations in terms of their mission.”

“The very purpose of most of these organizations is charitable. They are how we choose to come together in our communities to make them healthier, cleaner, smarter, livelier, faith-filled, prosperous, and beyond,” he said. “The for-purpose community oftentimes serves a role for which there is no for-profit or government alternative. Or in some cases, they offer complementary or supplementary services. That is why working together across sectors is so vital to creating and sustaining thriving communities.”

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com