May 07, 2026
By: Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines
Where Curiosity Meets Community Need
For Nancy, giving starts with a simple instinct: curiosity.
She’s always been drawn to understanding what’s happening beneath the surface, like what challenges nonprofits are tackling, what solutions they’re building and where she might fit in.
After hearing about the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines through a nonprofit partner, Nancy found herself exploring GIVEdsm.org. What she discovered was more than a website; it was a window into the community.
“The site really feeds my curiosity,” Nancy shares. “Every time I visit GIVEdsm, there are new opportunities. And when I’m ready to do some self-guided research, I can dig in, find a cause or small organization that speaks to me and connect in a meaningful way.”
That sense of discovery is exactly what GIVEdsm is designed to do — make it easy for anyone to explore local causes, learn what’s needed and take action. And for nonprofits, it’s a way to meet people right where that curiosity begins.
![person using the GIVEdsm website]()
Explore GIVEdsm.org!
Creating a Connected Community Hub
At Urbandale Food Pantry, that connection helped bring a bold vision to life. Leaders there understand that food insecurity rarely exists on its own. It’s often connected to a wider set of challenges, such as housing, healthcare and transportation. Their team began reimagining what support could look like, studying community-informed models and asking a bigger question: what if help wasn’t fragmented, but connected?
The result was a vision for a new kind of space, a community hub where individuals and families could access multiple services in one place, with dignity and ease.
To make that vision a reality, they needed to reach beyond their immediate network and invite the broader community in.
Through GIVEdsm, they were able to do just that.
![two people at a food pantry]()
Urbandale Food Pantry
“We live in a generous community filled with people who want to give back and are searching for ways to make a difference,” says Patty Sneddon-Kisting, Executive Director of the Urbandale Food Pantry. “GIVEdsm allows nonprofits of all sizes to elevate what they’re doing — and the process is simple. It allowed us to share our opportunity and connect with donors we otherwise wouldn’t have met.”
Today, that vision is taking shape. In their new space, the Urbandale Food Pantry is bringing partners together, connecting visitors on-site with resources like WIC, Project Iowa and Meals on Wheels, and making it easier to navigate support and move forward.
It’s a powerful example of what can happen when curiosity turns into connection and connection turns into impact.
And it all starts with a simple step: exploring what’s possible, right here in our community.
Take a look at some other ways to give back in Greater Des Moines!
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Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines
The Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines improves quality of life for all by promoting charitable giving, connecting donors with causes they care about and providing leadership on important community issues. We're simply better together.