The Business Record’s 2025 Lean Techniques innovationLEADER Award recipient is the Great Outdoors Foundation. The organization is only the second nonprofit to receive the award.
The West Des Moines-based organization has found a way to maximize its impact by utilizing its Conservation Acceleration Fund, a new way of obtaining capital by matching donors with a curated conservation portfolio. These donations double as investments and allow the Great Outdoors Foundation to access federal water quality grants, which the state of Iowa previously would not have had the infrastructure to utilize. In doing this, donors on average received an “eight-times multiplier” on their investment.
Projects taken on through the fund guarantee at least a 4-to-1 public to private dollar match. Through the program, CEO Hannah Inman said the organization was able to leverage $28 million for water quality projects in 2024 alone.
The Great Outdoors Foundation has used funding to combine conservation and recreation.The foundation has worked on projects that benefit the environment while providing spaces for people to engage with the outdoors. One such project is the Iowa Confluence Water Trails, which connect over 150 miles of rivers and creeks the public can use for fishing, kayaking or swimming.
“We are currently in an exciting time for conservation,” Inman said, noting the organization’s strong momentum and great coalition of partners working toward a common goal. She is particularly enthusiastic about the potential of the Conservation Acceleration Fund to demonstrate how conservation can benefit the bottom line for most businesses and looks forward to continuing to develop a business model that supports and advances conservation practices.
Inman sat down with the Business Record to share more about the Great Outdoors Foundation’s approach to innovation.
How do you define innovation as an organization?
Most people think of conservation as this stagnant ideal. You’re preserving and reverting things back to their natural state. But we really see innovation within the conservation space as finding new ways to accelerate the pace of conservation. We do this by taking advantage of unlikely partnerships, really providing listening and finding new ways to make things happen. We don’t assume that we know the answer to things, we really want to listen to our partners to hear what they’re saying and to find new ways to make a big impact.
What impact has your organization had so far and how do you measure success?
We have impact by the numbers, but just with dollars raised we’ve been able to leverage an additional $28 million in funding for conservation projects in Iowa in 2024 that are purely water quality projects. Internally we have a motto of collaboration, innovation and stewardship and so for us, we have internal goals of working with new partners, removing barriers and really investing in things that are working and can be scaled up in other areas, so we measure impact certainly by the traditional ways like number of projects, what our match ratio is, what we’re
leveraging and what the money is, but really if we can change the business model for conservation, that’s the bigger impact that we measure within our organization.
How have your innovations been able to focus on both recreation and conservation?
We were really focused on using recreation as a catalyst for conservation. Whether you’re fishing, cycling along one of our trails or paddling in one of our waterways, when you are outside and engaging in recreation, it brings a sense of joy, but it also brings a sense of community ownership over what you’re participating in. Naturally then people care and are invested in the quality outdoor recreation and the quality of the water and land around you. It has stacked benefits, being able to not only go and add recreation amenities, but since you’re already in there doing construction, being able to stack water quality and conservation elements in the same project provides multiple benefits for multiple stakeholders.
What challenges have you encountered as a leader and how did you guide your organization through them?
I think the biggest challenges have also been our biggest opportunity. In the last six years not just the Great Outdoors Foundation, but all of us have dealt with things like COVID, inflation and change in administration, which can represent a huge pivot in priorities or strategy. Whenever there’s a change, there’s an opportunity to do something innovative and new. Take each time you have something like that and really listen to what is going on around you. What are the priorities and how can we make what we do an advantage in that situation? Having collaboration with multiple partners and stakeholders really helps to be able to take on any new challenge in a way that has benefits for everyone.
What advice would you have for other organizations looking to create innovation?
Innovation is messy. So if you’re doing something new or for the first time, you have to assume that there’s going to be mistakes because you’re going outside of the box and creating a new pathway. One of the things that we try to embed within our organization is recognizing that innovation is messy and with that, you’re not necessarily making mistakes, you’re just finding your process and recognizing that is really important.
Lean TECHniques: Helping Iowa companies grow in a business environment shaped by constant change and accelerating tech disruption.
We partner with business leaders under pressure to modernize, scale, and deliver more — often within systems and structures that weren’t built for today’s pace. Instead of adding complexity, we help teams move with clarity and use technology as a strategic lever for growth. That means working alongside your people, coaching by doing, and focusing on progress that lasts. Our approach is shaped by your culture, not one-size-fits-all frameworks. From AI adoption and digital experiences to software delivery and cloud modernization, we help organizations create the conditions for meaningful, sustainable change and business resilience. Learn more at leantechniques.com.