If you’ve shopped or donated at one of our ReStore locations, you already know the secret to our success: it’s our people. Our team does an exceptional job serving our customers, showing gratitude to our donors, and keeping our stores running leanly and effectively. We focus on efficiency, being resourceful with what we’re given and making the most of our store space and our staff time. Overall, our stores ranked #1 and #3 in the country for revenue this year (and no other affiliate in America had more than one store in the top 10). More importantly, we helped fund the equivalent of 20 homes in 2025, and our operation ranked #3 in the nation for the amount of funding we contributed to the mission. We’re very proud of the impact that we’re able to make.

This year, we took time to share the “special sauce” we’ve developed with our peers around the region and the country. I am proud to lead the Midwest collaboration group, sharing ideas and working alongside ReStores from Minnesota to Missouri, Iowa to Indiana. We presented at this year’s Large ReStore Symposium, highlighting how we use data to drive our decision making. Our leaders, from store managers to marketing, regularly connect with their colleagues around the country to learn from one another. Ideas that start right here in Des Moines can be seen on store shelves across the country — and vice versa.

I would be remiss if I did not take a moment to recognize another group of people who are absolutely critical to the ReStore’s impact: our customers and donors. When you donate to the ReStore, rest assured that we will turn that fridge/couch/flooring into affordable homeownership. When you make a purchase, rest assured that your dollars will turn into screws/hammers/hard hats on the build site. Our impact is your impact. Thank you for making it possible.

— Dana Folkerts, Vice President of ReStore Operations

Whether it comes in the form of a check, inclusion in an estate plan, construction materials, or even a gently used fridge, every gift to Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity comes with an implicit expectation: that our team will use those resources to benefit the people we serve. We take that stewardship incredibly seriously and you can see it represented in our annual financial statements.

This stewardship extends well beyond cost-consciousness:

• In-house Expertise: Our team includes HUD-certified counselors and licensed mortgage loan originators, allowing us to guide the homebuyers we serve from start to finish with expert staff.
• Efficiencies of Scale: As we increase our construction from single houses to developments with dozens of homes, that growth pays dividends through efficient construction methods, shared investment in infrastructure, and increased visibility for our work.
• Future Focused: We have built policies that protect long-term affordability, extending the impact of one home purchase well beyond a single household. These policies combine lessons learned from our home-building peers across the country, helping to both build wealth on an individual basis and ensure that the next generation will have a chance to purchase a home they can afford.

The data tells the story: between 2020 and 2025, we completed 190 affordable homeownership opportunities, creating $43,791,000 in new and renovated homes across Polk, Dallas, and Jasper counties.

— Sara Vanderbilt, Vice President of Finance and Administration

Jasper County Habitat for Humanity had a busy 2025! This fall, we started construction on a new home in Newton. A very exciting build week kicked things off in October, with many community partners participating in construction to help create a home for Cassidy, our homebuyer (pictured above with her kids). We also identified the homebuyer who will follow Cassidy. Construction on that home will start this summer.

Many new home preservation projects were completed in 2025, benefiting from new sponsor and contractor partnerships. For example, Jasper County Habitat partnered with the City of Newton’s Low-Moderate Income Home Repair Grant to help our funds go further. Newton DMACC students gained skills while completing an accessibility ramp and a deck for a homeowner. The students said they felt empowered being able to help their own neighbor!

Looking into 2026, we are excited for Cassidy to close on her new home, start construction on the next home, and complete more Home Preservation Projects. We wouldn’t be able to do this work without support from community partners helping us connect with homebuyers and homeowners, funding our work, and completing critical repairs and modifications. Thank you for being part of it!