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2022 Annual Report
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For your smile. For your health. For your community.

2022 Delta Dental of Iowa Community Impact and Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation Annual Report

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Delta Dental of Iowa reached a milestone in 2022, marking 20 years of investing in our communities and giving back. As a not-for-profit insurance company, we’re dedicated to improving the health and well-being of the people we serve — a commitment that has always been at the center of who we are.

Beyond offering our insurance products and services, we seek out ways to make a difference. We believe everyone deserves to be healthy, but not everyone has access to the resources they need. That's why, through our company giving and the Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation, we partner with organizations that share our goal to create healthier communities. We want every Delta Dental member, provider, business partner and team member to know they’re part of a chain of good that not only supports healthy smiles and healthy vision, but also healthy lives.

The results in this report reflect what we achieved together through Delta Dental and our Foundation in 2022. I invite you to learn more about our history of giving and join me in looking forward toward new possibilities in the years to come.

Jeff Russell, President and CEO
Delta Dental of Iowa

At Delta Dental of Iowa, we are on a mission to improve the health and smiles of all Iowans. We deliver on this promise by providing dental and vision benefits to 1.6 million members and supporting Iowa nonprofits through the Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation and our corporate giving.

In 2022, Delta Dental and our Foundation provided more than $3.9 million to support oral and overall health projects.

$62MInvested In Community Impact Since 2002
$3.9M2022 Total Giving
279Organizations Funded in 2022

20 YEARS OF IMPACT

2002 – 2022

  • 2002 Dr. Willy Wever of Columbus Junction received the first Dental Education Loan Repayment program award.
  • 2007 The Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation was established.
  • 2007 The Foundation donated $1.5 million to the University of Iowa College of Dentistry for the expansion of its Geriatrics and Special Needs Clinic.
  • 2007 The Fulfilling Iowa’s Need for Dentists (FIND) project began.
  • 2012 The Foundation board announced a new, ambitious strategic plan focused on supporting and improving the oral health of Iowa’s children and seniors.
  • 2012 The Foundation created Dentist by 1™, a statewide public health awareness campaign.
  • 2012 The Foundation collaborated with the Iowa Department of Public Health to expand school-based sealant programs with the I-Smile™ @ School program.
  • 2014 The I-Smile™ Silver /Lifelong Smiles Coalition program was first funded by the Foundation.
  • 2017 The Rethink Your Drink program was established to place water bottle filling stations in Iowa schools and other outdoor locations.
    Photo credit: Capitol View Elementary © Des Moines Public Schools
  • 2018 The Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation Geriatrics and Special Needs Professorship was established.
  • 2020 The Foundation launched a new strategic plan, expanding our mission and vision to include both oral and overall health, all with an equity lens.
  • 2020 Delta Dental and our Foundation committed more than $20 million for COVID Relief.
  • 2022 The Foundation made a $1.35 million grant to increase dental services at Crescent Community Health Center in Dubuque.
  • 2022 The Foundation made its first large grant with a focus on overall health to help establish a behavioral health urgent care clinic at Center Associates in Marshalltown.

MISSION & VALUES

We are dedicated to improving the health and smiles of the people we serve.

  • Improve Lives
  • Exceptional Quality Service
  • One Team
  • Leadership at All Levels
  • Embrace Change
  • Bring Smiles
  • 1.6+ million members in Iowa and across the country
  • 4,500+ Iowa-based employers choose Delta Dental and DeltaVision for their employees
  • A member of the Delta Dental Plans Association serving more than 85 million members

Learn more on our website

About the Foundation

Delta Dental
of Iowa Foundation

Through the Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation and Community Impact funding, we invest in projects that support oral health, overall health, and improve our communities.

 

Mission: Strengthen and transform the health and smiles of all Iowans.

How we define our work through an equity lens:

Oral health - Activities that promote healthy smiles for all Iowans

Oral and overall health integration- Activities that strengthen connections between dental, physical and emotional health

Overall health - Wellness, vision & related activities that enable Iowans to live healthy and active lives

  • All IowansAll Iowans deserve to be healthy. We address barriers within health care systems and strive for statewide reach with an equity lens.
  • Systems ChangeWe focus on strengthening and transforming systems. We pursue our mission to shift conditions to improve health.
  • PartnershipsWe recognize that our grantees’ and partners’ success IS our success, and we are committed to engaging with partners in a spirit of transparency and goodwill.
  • LeadershipWe are a leader in the sector. We aim to be a catalyst for change, a builder and an innovator. We actively engage partners in the philanthropic, public, and private sectors to advance our mission.

2022 Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation and Community Impact Funding Distribution

2022 Highlights

  • $3.9 million provided to support our community, oral health and overall health initiatives
  • 1 FIND Loan Repayment recipient in 2022
  • 340,600 toothbrushes donated in all 99 Iowa counties

Learn more on our website

Oral and Overall Health Funding

Sharing smiles, improving lives

Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation proudly supports projects through direct investments to increase healthy activities to improve the oral, mental and physical health of Iowans. Here are a few highlights of programs that were funded in 2022.

Toothbrush Giving

The Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation donated more than 340,600 toothbrushes and provided educational materials to Iowa schools, clinics, hospitals, I-Smile™ coordinators and Head Starts in all 99 counties.
 

Rethink Your Drink promotes drinking more water throughout the day to support oral and overall health. In 2022, the Foundation invested more than $185,500 to support the Rethink Your Drink program by providing water bottle filling stations to 19 schools (8,600 students and staff). In addition, 11 communities received an outdoor water station installed along trails and in public parks.

Image source: Capitol View Elementary School © 2018 Des Moines Public Schools
 

System & Capacity Building Grants

To further the mission of our partners, the Foundation approved grants to support system and capacity building to impact the oral and overall health of underserviced populations. More than $1.9 million was committed to the following nonprofit organizations in 2022:

Center Associates, Marshalltown:
$150,000 to support a behavioral health urgent care clinic for mental health crises

State of Iowa Department of Health and Human Services:
$200,000 for I-Smile™ @ School and $180,085 for I-Smile™ Silver Pilot Project

Crescent Community Health Center, Dubuque:
$1.35 million committed to expand integrated oral health care for eastern Iowa patients enrolled in Medicaid

Infinity Health, Leon:
$49,999 for Clarke County Oral Health Expansion
 

Image source: Telegraph Herald, Dubuque
 

Community of Health Grants

In 2022, $678,904 was committed to Community of Health Grants. Funding provided funds to 26 organizations seeking to infuse a spark, encourage new learnings, strengthen nonprofit organization and coalition operations, or initiate a larger oral or overall health initiative.

Some of these include projects to:

  • Development and delivery of mental health trainings, education, resources, and culturally specific media messaging and awareness campaigns
  • Improve care coordination and education for increased access to oral and overall health of refugees, expecting moms, LGBTQIA+, older adults and additional underserviced populations
  • Increase understanding and research of oral and overall health disparities facing veterans and the Latinx population in Iowa
  • Strengthen and expand oral and overall health coalitions and grassroot community health and advocacy efforts

View Spring 2022 Grants

View Fall 2022 Grants

Image source: Catherine McAuley Center, Cedar Rapids

Core Partnership Grants

Core Partnership grants support ongoing, operational, or educational efforts and activities of organizations whose programs are in alignment with and critical to advancing the vision of the Foundation in strengthening the optimal oral, vision and overall health of Iowans. These grants are proactive and by invitation.

Overall Health Core Partnership Grants: $137,947

Investments in vision health-related nonprofits and a statewide campaign to reduce stigma around mental health.

Oral Health Core Partnership Grants: $104,038

Investments in community water fluoridation projects and continuing education opportunities for the oral health profession.

Image source: Vision to Learn at Oak Park Elementary © 2022 Des Moines Public Schools

DeltaVision Free Vision Clinic

As part of our commitment to supporting the health and wellness of Iowans, Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation hosted a free, volunteer-led vision clinic at Oakridge Neighborhood, a nonprofit housing and human services agency located in Des Moines’ urban core. The Foundation and DeltaVision worked in partnership with OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation, Prevent Blindness Iowa and Oakridge Neighborhood to provide vision screenings, exams and free glasses to community members.
 

400
community members received vision care
323
pairs of glasses
 

Learn more about the vision clinic from providers, volunteers and patients.

 

Watch Now

The Fulfilling Iowa’s Need for Dentists (FIND) Project is committed to connecting dentists and underserved communities with the resources needed to combat Iowa’s dental workforce shortage and ensure dental care is close to home for every Iowan.

Recipients received up to $100,000 each for the repayment of dental education debt.

2022 FIND Recipient

Dr. Kevan Kadavy Clinton County

 

FIND project partners include Delta Dental of Iowa and its Foundation as well as numerous organizations like these. For more information, visit www.iowafindproject.com.

Iowa Area Development Group Aureon College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics State of Iowa Department of Health and Human Services Iowa Dental Association Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines

Charitable Giving &
Employee Engagement

Making a Difference

Delta Dental’s corporate giving program supports giving back and helping bring smiles to Iowans. In 2022, we provided more than $464,000 in direct contribution funding across the state to community organizations for health-related and charitable programs and events.

More than $464,000 in corporate giving

Charitable Giving

Direct Contributions

Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation

How to Apply for Funding

The Foundation invests in projects that support its Community Impact Program goals and programs that support oral health, oral health and overall health integration, and overall health, including vision and behavioral health. Funding will also focus on three critical areas: education and advocacy, access and prevention, and policy and research.

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