You are currently viewing Giving Back – Charities in Des Moines
Here are some of our favorite charities in the Des Moines area

Giving Back – Charities in Des Moines

It’s that time of year when we all start to count our blessings and try to give back to those with less.  On the Homes with Nora team, we love helping others find “home”: a safe place to live, a place for people to come together, a place to thrive.

This month, we wanted to give you a list of Des Moines / Central Iowa charities that also give back and could use a helping hand.  These suggestions are from our clients and friends, and allow for different donations of time and/or money.  May it be of service, and may you all have a wonderful holiday season filled with life, love, laughter, and gratitude.

  • Meals from the Heartland– Meals from the Heartland is a Christian organization that shows love for less fortunate brothers and sisters throughout Iowa and the world by packaging meals to be distributed to those in need. “We invite all to join us, regardless of beliefs, as we serve the starving.”
  • Orchard Place– Originally Orchard Place was the first orphanage in the Des Moines area, but now this organization helps many of the state’s most emotionally troubled and helpless children, striving to help them develop strong, promising futures.
  • Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity – Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build homes, communities, and hope.Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, GDM Habitat builds and rehabilitates simple, decent houses alongside our homebuyer families.
  • Dorothy’s House – This organization provides a safe place for the practice of life for those teen and youth girls whose lives have been interrupted by the sex trafficking industry.
  • AMP –  A youth-driven, statewide group that seeks to unleash the full potential for personal growth among foster/adoptive and kinship children in Iowa. AMP offers leadership opportunities, service learning projects, speaking opportunities, and educational/vocational assistance. AMP also provides the life skills youth need to become self-sufficient, independent adults.
  • CultureALL  – CultureALL is a provider of cultural programming in Central Iowa. CultureALL reaches out into the community to identify real people and resources, and connect them to the needs of schools, communities, and businesses.    CultureALL programs are about more than discovering other cultures’ arts, clothes and language. They are about shifting perspective, discovering new concepts, and experiencing differences.
  • Joppa – Joppa helps homeless people survive, find housing and rebuild their lives. Their mission is to create communities of unconditional love, support and hope for the homeless as we work together to prevent and ultimately end homelessness. Rather than relying on government funding or creating redundant services, Joppa collaborates with other agencies, helps people access resources, and develops unique programs that fill gaps and meet unmet needs in outreach, housing and education.
  • Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence – The Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence seeks to engage all people in a movement to change the social and political systems that perpetuate violence against women. The coalition does this through education, advocacy and quality victim services.
  • BezaThreads – This chariety is a growing community that values the life, freedom and worth of all people. This organization partners with Hope for Children in Ethiopia, selling handmade products made by artisans in Ethiopia, and using the proceeds to rescue and protect enslaved children.
  • Safe at Home – This program provides a legal substitute address, mail forwarding and confidential absentee voting for victims of violence, to help them return to society without fear of being found by their abuser. Every Iowan deserves to feel safe at home.
  • Dallas County Foundation– This is a non-profit that uses money from the state and privately acquired donations to grant money to non-profits in Dallas County. In the past they have granted money for art installations, pet hospitals, food banks, and Habitat for Humanity. “It’s great seeing these dollars put to work immediately and benefit those who we see every day.” Katie Spellman, Board Member
  • Des Moines Playhouse – The Playhouse’s mission is to partner with volunteers to create and deliver extraordinary theatre and education programs for communities in Central Iowa .
  • EveryStep Grief and Loss – EveryStep Grief and Loss provides support to grieving children and their families through a variety of services. Extensive support is provided to children, teens, and adults who are grieving the death of a family member through accident, illness, suicide, or homicide. This support is provided through weekend camps, support groups, home visits, fun days, school presentations, Halloween and Christmas parties, birthday cards and remembrances on the anniversary of the death.
  • Variety Children’s Club of Iowa – Variety- the Children’s Charity is a multi-faceted organization with one simple mission: To help improve the lives of underprivileged, at-risk, critically ill and special needs children throughout Iowa.
  • ARL – The Animal Rescue League of Iowa (ARL) is Iowa’s largest nonprofit animal shelter, caring for many thousands of pets each year. The ARL serves people and pets from across the state of Iowa through its programs, which include pet adoption, humane education, pet behavior training, spay/neuter, animal cruelty intervention and much more.