How We Create Sustainable Change
Our work isn’t just about responding to needs—it’s about changing the systems that create needs in the first place.
That means understanding the barriers to economic prosperity faced by women and girls. It also means understanding that these barriers are often interconnected, compounding into cycles of instability that are difficult to break. Addressing root causes is how we untangle barriers, break cycles and create systemic change.
Research
We don’t guess at what women and girls need; we let the research inform us. Through statewide research efforts like our SHE MATTERS reports, we gather data, listen to communities and identify root causes to understand exactly how these barriers compound one another.
Research drives and sustains our work, ensuring our priorities, investments and partnerships remain relevant and sustainable.
Education
Research can only create change if it’s understood, shared and acted on. That’s why we translate the data into insights and speak publicly about it. We also distribute information for partnering organizations and community leaders to use. Education is the difference between shifting a system and settling for a temporary fix.
Advocacy
Systems-level change requires supportive policy. IWF and our partners advocate for research-driven legislative solutions that address interconnected barriers and expand opportunities for women and families across Iowa. Statewide policy change ensures the systems women rely on are strong and sustainable for long-term success.
Collaboration
We bring together nonprofits, businesses, funders, community leaders and policymakers to align efforts and build momentum around solutions that strengthen economic prosperity statewide. By collaborating across sectors and communities, we help ensure that change is coordinated, scalable and rooted in the realities women and girls face throughout Iowa.
Grantmaking
Through strategic investment, IWF supports organizations across Iowa that are meeting immediate needs while contributing to long-term systems change. By funding work on the ground, we help build a way out from beneath compounding barriers—creating opportunities for women and girls to reach economic prosperity.
Our Proven-Approach in Action
Historically, our SHE MATTERS reports identified six primary, interconnected barriers to economic prosperity for Iowa’s women and girls: childcare, employment, housing, education and training, transportation, and mentorship.
Because the lack of access to affordable, quality childcare was identified as the most critical obstacle, we started there.
Breaking Barriers in Childcare
A lack of access to quality, affordable childcare affects workforce participation, family stability and community growth.
In 2016, research from IWF’s SHE MATTERS report identified childcare as the most critical barrier to economic advancement, with 70% of Iowa women struggling economically and naming childcare as a key obstacle.
We wanted more than a temporary fix—we applied our five-pillar framework to the childcare crisis and built a sustainable model for change.
Research & Education: We used data to elevate and drive the conversation statewide, proving that childcare isn’t only an issue for families, but for businesses and the workforce.
Collaboration: We partnered with the Iowa Economic Development Authority, launching a suite of business services and engaging public and private stakeholders across the state to address the issue together.
Grantmaking: By awarding grant funding directly to childcare centers and communities working to create sustainable changes on the ground, we helped meet immediate needs for childcare slots, expanded services, improved operations and more.
Advocacy: We continue to strengthen Iowa’s childcare system through advocacy. IWF partnered with Save the Children Action Network™ to introduce House File 2107—an appropriations bill proposing $2.5 million from Iowa’s general fund to scale the program.
The Result: A scalable solutions model for addressing the childcare barrier.
This is what systems-level change looks like: not temporary relief, but coordinated solutions that strengthen the workforce, support families and build long-term stability.
Looking Ahead
By applying our proven approach across systems, IWF will continue to build scalable pathways to economic prosperity, creating sustainable change and improving the lives of Iowa’s women and girls.