Des Moines Founders Garden Club

The Des Moines Art Center received a $30,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant in 1994, thanks to a major gift donated by the DMFGC. Club involvement with the Art Center spans decades and continues today.

For many years, DMFGC members planted flowers in the city center as well as other locations around the community.

Many of the gardens at Camp Sunnyside were developed by DMFGC. The camp serves the recreational needs of campers with disabilities.

DMFGC raised funds for the creation of this northeast Iowa national treasure, dedicated in 1961 and contributed to the Iowa National Heritage Foundation of the purchase of an adjacent 1,045-acre woodland in 2000.

Des Moines Founders Garden Club and its members played an integral role in the beatification of Fleur Drive, the gateway between the Des Moines International Airport and downtown Des Moines. In 2003, DMFGG donated $11,000 to the project using funds raised from its annual Garden Walk. The $2 million project took approximately four years to complete.

The club assisted the city of Des Moines and other organizations in providing landscaping that included 3,000 trees and shrubs, sod and tons of fertilizer for the Fort of Des Moines.

Funds were donated to the city of Des Moines to transform the area surrounding Gray’s Lake into a recreational area.

The club donated to the development of the birthplace and gravesite monument of Iowa-born President Herbert Hoover in West Branch, Iowa

DMFGC members helped with the site, platform, and plantings for the ceremonial Japanese Bell of Friendship and Peace, located on the Iowa State Capitol grounds.

DMFGC members served with others to make yearly recommendations to the city on how to use the funds generated by the estate of a former teacher for perennial plantings.