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2023 Annual Report
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For your smile. For your health. For your community.

2023 Delta Dental of Iowa Community Impact and Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation Annual Report

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Delta Dental of Iowa is more than an insurance company. We believe everyone deserves to be healthy, but not everyone has access to the resources they need. That’s why, we invest in and 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 in 2023. I invite you to learn more about how we are shaping health and wellness throughout Iowa. 

All the best,
April Schmaltz, President & 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, vision, legal, life and caregiving benefits to 1.6 million members and supporting Iowa nonprofits through the Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation and our corporate giving.

In 2023, Delta Dental and our Foundation committed more than $4.1 million to support oral and overall health projects.

$68MCOMMITTED In Community Impact Since 2002
$4.1M2023 Total Giving
261Organizations Funded in 2023

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 dental, vision, legal, life and Caregiven 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 89 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.

Equity Lens Graph

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.

2023 Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation and Community Impact Funding Distribution

Community Impact Funding Distribution Chart

2023 Highlights

  • $3.2 million committed by the Foundation to support our community, oral health and overall health initiatives
  • 1 FIND Loan Repayment recipient in 2023
  • 316,000 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 2023.

Toothbrush Giving

The Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation donated more than 316,000 toothbrushes and provided educational materials to Iowa schools, clinics, hospitals, I-Smile™ coordinators and Head Starts in all 99 counties.
 

3.6 million toothbrushes donated in all 99 counties since 2013
two children brushing their teeth
woman smiling while standing next to a new Rethink Your Drink fill station

The Rethink Your Drink program is designed to encourage Iowans to drink more water which improves our oral and overall health. In 2023, the Foundation invested more than $300,000 to support the Rethink Your Drink program by providing water bottle filling stations to 19 schools. In addition, 23 communities received an outdoor water station installed along trails, public parks and other public community spaces.

Image source: Diagonal Schools, Diagonal, Iowa

Encouraging healthy choices

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 2023:

Community Health Center of Fort Dodge:
$49,996 to support dental care access for underserved residents in Wright County

Dental Connections, Des Moines:
$450,000 to support the Smile Squad Mobile Dental Clinic through the purchase of a new mobile dental clinic

Iowa City Community School District Kids School-Based Clinics:
$40,000 to support Bright Smiles project

State of Iowa Department of Health and Human Services:
$200,000 for I-Smile™ @ School and $195,865for I-Smile™ Silver Pilot Project

Van Buren County Hospital, Keosauqua:
$25,000 for equipment in the Prioritizing Pediatric Dental Access for Children with Special Needs project

Vision To Learn - Iowa:
$1.1 million total combined funding commitment from the Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation and DeltaVision for the purchase and operation of a second mobile vision clinic to increase student access to vision care

Image source: Vision to Learn DeltaVision Mobile Clinic.

Mobile Vision Clinic van

Community of Health Grants

5 adults sharing a laugh at The River Arc

In 2023, the Foundation invested more than $674,000 in Community of Health Grants. Funds were provided to 25 organizations seeking to infuse a spark, encourage new learnings, strengthen nonprofit organization and coalition operations, or initiate a larger oral or overall health initiative. 

Oral Health 

  • Dental workforce recruitment and retention strategic planning
  • Youth oral healthcare career development exploration
  • Oral healthcare coordination and education for refugees and immigrants
  • Teledentistry, veterans' oral health research and additional statewide oral health initiatives

Overall Health

  • Projects to expand awareness and access to mental health training, education, resources and services for youth, refugees and immigrants, after-school providers and rural Iowans
  • Projects to support training and certification of Black and multi-cultural community health workers
  • Collaborative advocacy initiatives of health and wellness organizations and associations

View Spring 2023 Grants

View Fall 2023 Grants

Image source: The River ARC, Waterloo

Core Partnership Grants

Broadlawns and Dental Connections speakers at the Midwest Dental Public Health Conference

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: $107,218

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

Oral Health Core Partnership Grants: $95,160

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

Image source: Midwest Dental Public Health Conference – Broadlawns and Dental Connections speakers

DeltaVision Free Vision Clinic

As part of our commitment to supporting the health and wellness of Iowans, Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation and DeltaVision hosted a free, volunteer-led vision clinic at the Eastern Iowa Health Center in Cedar Rapids. The Foundation and DeltaVision worked in partnership with OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation, Prevent Blindness Iowa and Eastern Iowa Health Center to provide vision screenings, exams and free glasses to community members.

428 eye chart
community members received vision care
384
pairs of glasses glasses
 

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

 

Watch Now

Fullfilling Iowa's Need for Dentists

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 $200,000 each for the repayment of dental education debt.

Meeting the needs of underserviced patients since 2002

Iowa map

2023 FIND Recipient

Dr. Binkowski

Dr. Daniel Binkowski Story City, IA

 

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 Logo College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics Logo State of Iowa Department of Health and Human Services Logo Iowa Dental Association Logo Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines Logo

Charitable Giving &
Employee Engagement

Making a Difference

Delta Dental’s corporate giving program supports giving back and helping bring smiles to Iowans. In 2023, we provided more than $807,007 in direct contribution funding across the state to community organizations for health-related and charitable programs and events.

More than $807,007 in corporate giving

a group of people holding up books they're donating

Charitable Giving

Mediacom Stadium as seen from the 30-yard-line looking at the endzone

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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