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About

Our Mission

The mission of Otto Schoitz Foundation is to improve the health and wellbeing of the Cedar Valley community and its individual members by funding grants.

Our Guiding Principles

  • Comprehensive: For sustained improvement, a broad approach is taken:
    • Addressing the multi-dimensional levels of individuals, i.e., the physical, emotional and mental levels.
    • Investing in the Cedar Valley community to enhance its vibrancy for all to live, learn, work, play, and age.
    • Initiating change for community betterment, actively and collaboratively.
  • Partnership: The Foundation partners with others to address community issues.
  • Impartiality and Objectivity: To advance its mission, the Foundation objectively distributes funds to aligned organizations that do not discriminate on any basis prohibited by applicable law.
  • Perpetuity: The Foundation safeguards its endowment for the betterment of generations to come. 
  • Continuous Improvement: The Foundation adapts, evolves and changes with the times, thereby maximizing its benefit to the Cedar Valley community.

hands holding snow heart

Our Funding Approach

 The Foundation is a steward of resources to help the Cedar Valley community and its people grow and develop.

 The Foundation seeks to continually increase the Cedar Valley’s vitality, providing greater opportunities for residents to pursue life goals and experience a positive quality of life.

 The Foundation ‘meets the needs of the time’ as opportunities unfold in the grant application process or are identified by our leadership, living and working within the Cedar Valley community.

Our Funding Preference

Our funding preference favors proposals generating significant benefit and/or addressing serious need in the Cedar Valley community and that:

  • Improve residents' quality of life.
  • Better the Cedar Valley community.
  • Meet the needs of the vulnerable.
  • Create equitable opportunities, particularly as it relates to racial/ethnic equity.
  • Address root or primary causes. 
  • Show evidence of success and impact.
  • Impact Waterloo, because of the greater need.
  • Share funding with others.

Our Roots

Image of Otto A. SchoitzOtto A. Schoitz | The Foundation is proud to be named after local philanthropist and industrialist Otto A. Schoitz, a Danish immigrant born in 1883. In his lifetime, Schoitz was identified as Waterloo’s top benefactor, giving more to the city than any other citizen. Otto Schoitz’s benevolence included a pacesetting donation in honor of his late wife as part of a community-wide effort to raise money to build a new hospital, the Charlotte Lee Schoitz Memorial Hospital. Upon his death, Otto Schoitz left specific instructions to publish his last will and testament in the local newspaper hoping to teach others what a benevolent mindset could accomplish.

Wheaton Franciscan Sisters | In 1986, Schoitz Memorial Hospital became part of the Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare System, a Catholic healthcare organization started by the Franciscan Sisters over 150 years ago. The Franciscan Sisters first came to the United States in 1872 and began a rich history of responding to the needs of a constantly changing society, with a preference for serving the poor. Throughout the years, while they created caring communities, the Wheaton Franciscan Sisters held a philosophy of human and community development, which emphasized respect for each person. In 2016, the Wheaton Sisters transferred their Iowa ownership interest.  

The Otto Schoitz Foundation | The Wheaton transfer opened the door to establish a new and independent foundation, Otto Schoitz Foundation, with an initial endowment in excess of $50 million. Otto Schoitz Foundation continues the tradition of serving to the benefit of its community following the legacies of philanthropist Mr. Otto Schoitz and the Wheaton Franciscan Sisters. Also seeking to respond to the needs of a constantly changing society, the Foundation partners with not-for-profit organizations aligned with its mission to improve the health and wellbeing of all individuals in the Cedar Valley.

Our Board of Directors

Otto Schoitz Foundation's Board of Directors is responsible for ensuring all actions undertaken by the Foundation are in furtherance of its mission.

Officers

Image of Blake Hollis
Blake Hollis
Chair

Image of Rhonda McRina
Rhonda McRina
Vice-Chair

Image of Chris Kemp
Chris Kemp
Treasurer

Image of Andy Miehe
Andy Miehe
Secretary

Additional Directors

Image of Renee Christoffer
Renee Christoffer

Image of Bob Greenwood
Robert Greenwood

Image of Corye Johnson
Corye Johnson

Image of Eric Locke
Eric Locke

Image of Mike Mallaro
Mike Mallaro

Image of Meagan Miller
Meagan Miller

Image of Karin Rowe
Karin Rowe

Image of Shelli Panicucci
Shelli Panicucci, CEO