We’d like to welcome this latest group of new funds established since mid-June. Watch the website during the coming year for future acknowledgements of our growth in planned-giving and capacity-building funds.

Beshore Family Foundation – Lance and Sharon Beshore of Carthage established this family and community fund with the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri to assist them with their charitable giving.

John & Betty Brecht Endowment Fund for United Methodist Church in Clinton – Betty Brecht established this designated endowment fund to benefit the United Methodist Church in honor and memory of her late husband, John. Mrs. Brecht also established the John & Betty Brecht Endowment Fund for Clinton Arts Council in honor and memory of John. These are component funds of the Truman Lake Community Foundation.

Community Support Services of Missouri Fund and Community Support Services of Missouri Endowment Fund – These funds were established by Community Support Services in Joplin to help fund the organization’s work with children and adults with developmental disabilities. These also were established with the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri. We also want to welcome Community Support Services as a new agency partner in the social services category.

Billy Coyle Leadership Fund – Bill Coyle established this designated endowment fund to provide a student leadership award to the Conway School District. The student must demonstrate traits and qualities of a leader or have been involved in laboratory opportunities for leadership. Preference will be given to students pursuing higher education as a science teacher, then in the science field and then in law enforcement.

Dallas County Pet Outreach Program Fund – This capacity-building fund will provide for the needs of animals in the Dallas County area, such as spay/neuter services, animal medical bills, and improved living conditions. A component of the Dallas County Community Foundation, the program also will join the CFO as a new agency partner in the environment/animals category.

The Gary Funk Running Jenny Fund for Rural Schools – This Field-of-Interest Fund was established to honor and commemorate outgoing CFO President Gary Funk’s service to the Foundation. Grants from the fund will be used to assist rural schools and education.

Meramec Regional Community Foundation Community Grantmaking Fund – This unrestricted endowment fund will support long-term grantmaking for the Meramec Regional Community Foundation. The Meramec Regional Community Foundation also established a Capacity-Building Fund to provide dollars for grantmaking in the area.

Tri County Pregnancy Resource Center Fund – The newly established Tri County Pregnancy Resource Center established this capacity fund to help support its mission. This component of the Aurora Area Community Foundation also joins the CFO as an agency partner.

West Plains Agriculture-Science Building Fund – The West Plains R-7 Educational Foundation established this capacity-building fund as a component of the Community Foundation of West Plains to support an agriculture-science building project.

EMH at West Plains High School Fund – Haley Bray and Kathy Miller, along with the West Plains R-7 Educational Foundation established this capacity-building fund to support the Educating the Mentally Handicapped program at the high school. This is also a component of the Community Foundation of West Plains.

College Heights Christian School in Joplin established this organizational fund to help with long-term sustainable funding for the school. The fund will be a component of the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, the satellite office based in Carthage.

The school also will become a new Agency Partner in the Education group.

The school, founded in 1978, has a mission of partnering with parents to encourage student growth in a Christ-centered balance of quality, academics, athletics and spiritual growth.

McAuley YEP students present a $1,400 check and supplies to Joplin Schools Angel Fund.

Joplin TV station KOAM aired a report about the McAuley High School Spring 2010 YEP check presentation during their May 26th broadcast.   The McAuley Youth Empowerment Project presented a $1,400 check to Joplin Public Schools during an assembly Wednesday with administration from both school systems present to participate in the event.  The students, along with YEP sponsor Jane Fethers, designated the funds to be given to the Joplin Public Schools Angel Fund.  The Angel fund provides emergency and basic needs for elementary students in Joplin.  In addition to the grant, McAuley students also presented items they had collected throughout the school year including toiletries, shoes, socks, and gently used clothing.

The McAuley YEP is part of a network of 30 YEPS throughout the Missouri Ozarks. Students work to positively impact the community through education, service, grantmaking, and fundraising.

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is pleased to announce the Ozarks Million Dollar Hunger Challenge. Made possible by a $100,000 grant from the Walmart Foundation State Program and a partnership with Ozarks Food Harvest, this program allows CFO affiliate community foundations to raise  dollars that will be matched 1:1 to fight hunger in their local communities. The program will leverage the initial $100,000 gift into $200,000 which will procure $1 million worth of food through Ozarks Food Harvest, the only food bank serving one-third of Missouri.

Twenty-one  affiliates have chosen to participate in this program which was available to those CFO affiliates that fall within Ozarks Food Harvest’s 29-county service area. A complete of list participating affiliates is located at the end of this story.

“It’s only natural that we partner with the Walmart Foundation and CFO since our service areas in this part of the state literally mirror each other,” said Bart Brown, president and CEO of Ozarks Food Harvest.

Hunger challenge funds have been established as component funds of each participating affiliate community foundation. The matching opportunity runs through June 30, 2010.

“The challenging economic environment we’re facing calls for us to identify new resources to help with hunger, and make the existing ones stretch further,” said Brian Fogle, executive vice president of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks. “The generous Walmart grant provides the catalyst for our affiliates to raise matching funds, and the strength and connections of Ozarks Food Harvest insure those funds will be used in the most effective manner to address hunger in our Ozarks region.”

This partnership was unveiled following the February 4th announcement of a new landmark hunger study which found that Ozarks Food Harvest is serving 155,000 individuals annually. Ozarks Food Harvest-The Food Bank distributed seven milion pounds of food during its last fiscal year, the highest distribution in its 27-year history. To view the complete study and learn more, please visit ozarksfoodharvest.org.

Ozarks Million Dollar Hunger Challenge participating affiliates include:
- Aurora Area Community Foundation
- Bolivar Area Community Foundation
- Cassville Community Foundation
- DACO Community Foundation
- Dallas County Community Foundation
- El Dorado Springs Community Foundation
- Finley River Community Foundation
- Houston Community Foundation
- Jacks Fork Community Foundation
- Marshfield Area Community Foundation
- Mtn. Grove Area Community Foundation
- Nixa Community Foundation
- Oregon County Community Foundation
- Ozark County Community Foundation
- Greater Seymour Area Foundation
- Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri (Carthage & Joplin)
- Stockton Community Foundation
- Table Rock Lake Community Foundation
- Taney County Community Foundation
-  Community Foundation of West Plains

CAPTION: From left to right: Skip Tinney, market manager, Walmart; Sharon Whitehill Gray, president, Nixa Community Foundation & CFO board member; Leigh Hall, Nixa Community Foundation board member; Brian Fogle, CFO; Betty Ann Rogers, Nixa Community Foundation board member; and Bart Brown, president/CEO, Ozarks Food Harvest.

Michelle Ducre, executive director of the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc., has announced that her organization has received a $625,000 bequest from the late Guthrie Gilmore. The Guthrie Gilmore Fund will benefit three charities that were important to Mr. Gilmore: the First Presbyterian Church of Carthage, American Red Cross, and First United Methodist Church of Carthage. Mr. Gilmore and his wife, Harriet, were members of First Presbyterian Church, where Guthrie served as a deacon. Mr. Gilmore was a veteran of World War II, where he served as a First Sergeant in the U.S. Army. After returning home from the war, Mr. Gilmore worked as a farmer until his retirement.

Carthage attorney Kevin Checkett provided professional assistance to Mr. Gilmore’s planned giving document, and additional support was provided by Doug Crandall of Southwest Missouri Bank Trust. This is the third bequest gift received by the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc. during the past six months.

The Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc. was established in 1999. It serves Barton, Jasper, McDonald, and Newton counties. The foundation currently has 60 different funds and distributed $640,356 in charitable grants during the past fiscal year. It’s total charitable assets are approximately $5.5 million.

The Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc. has been a regional leader in promoting charitable planned giving. In fact, in its relatively short history, the foundation already has garnered 8 Legacy Funds via bequest, which combine for more than $950,000 in philanthropic funding. This movement is supported by a strong local Legacy Society, which currently has 11 members. Legacy Societies recognize individuals and families who have made charitable planned giving commitments and provide momentum for local philanthropy efforts. Lori Smith is the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc.’s board chair.

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is proud to support the work of the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc. For more information contact Michelle Ducre, 417-359-5534.

Leaving a bequest is a wonderful way to support the organizations you love after you pass on, and CFO can assist these plans. Henrietta Hedge was a retired schoolteacher with a passion for volunteerism and a heart filled with generosity. She loved her church, the First United Methodist Church of Carthage, and upon her passing left $100,000 in an endowment to be held with the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc. to support the organization. Now the First United Methodist Church of Carthage will always remember Ms. Hedge for her thoughtful long-term support of their congregation.

Thoughtful planned giving has played a significant role in the growth of the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, providing new life to our towns, schools, and the non-profits we serve. A planned gift is simply a legacy to a charitable entity made through a deferred/intentional gift that keeps resources here, working for the benefit of organizations that serve our community. To learn more about planned giving and how you can give something back to your community, visit the planned giving section of our website.

For more information on becoming a Legacy Society member and leaving a planned charitable gift, please contact one of our offices in Springfield, Carthage or West Plains.

Thoughtful planned giving has played a significant role in the growth of the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, providing new life to our towns, schools, and the non-profits we serve. A planned gift is simply a legacy to a charitable entity made through a deferred/intentional gift that keeps resources here, working for the benefit of organizations that serve our community. To learn more about planned giving and how you can give something back to your community, visit the planned giving section of our website.

The Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc. (CFSM) supports asset development, community-based grant making, organizational collaboration, and leadership initiatives in Barton, Jasper, McDonald and Newton counties. CFSM is comprised of 54 charitable funds and more than $4.5 million in total assets.

Unrestricted community grantmaking is the most tangible way in which a community foundation gives back to the community. Because these endowment funds are unrestricted, they can be used to address immediate community needs while providing the flexibility to attend to future problems. Community grantmaking got a big boost over the last year with the successful completion of the Harry Cooper Supply Company Campaign for the Ozarks; thirty-seven regional community foundations, including the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, participated in the dollar-for-dollar challenge that generated $2.2 million for grantmaking and administrative endowments.

Grantmaking was more important than ever this year, and the Community Foundation of the Ozarks and its 40 affiliate foundations gave back a record $15 million in charitable grants and distributions during the 2009 fiscal year (7/1/08 – 6/30/09).

Pictured above: Representatives from 21 organizations were presented grants by the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri. Photo by John Hacker, Carthage Press.

• Foundation gives away $19,000 (Carthage Press)

Carthage Rotary Club Charitable Fund – The Carthage Rotary Club established this grantmaking fund to provide grants to public educational and charitable purposes.

Carthage Rotary Scholarship – The Carthage Rotary Club established this scholarship. They will pass money from the charitable fund to this scholarship fund.

Lagniappe Fund– Michelle and Richard Ducre established this family and community fund. Their sons Kai and Davin will also help make grant recommendations from the Lagniappe Fund which means “something extra.”

Jean S. Morrow and Samuel R. Morrow, Jr. Memorial Fund – This designated endowment fund established by Mr. Morrow will distribute equally to the Fair Acres Family YMCA of Carthage for camperships for needy youth and Carthage Crosslines Ministries. Mr. Morrow has also become a member of the Legacy Society with the creation of this fund.

MSIPC Capacity Building Fund – The Missouri Southern International Piano Competition established this fund. It will distribute back to MSIPC or directly to vendors. The disbursements from this fund will be for payments of outstanding bills of the organization and will be made upon the authority of two MSIPC board members.

The Vivian León Fund for the Musical Arts created by the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition – This field of interest fund will distribute to organizations (including colleges/universities) that offer classical musical programs with an emphasis on piano performance to the community and/or to schools in the Jasper & Newton county area of Southwest Missouri according to procedure.

Pictured above: (left to right) Lori Smith, Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri (CFSM) board chair, Dalton Loveland, and Michelle Ducre, CFSM executive director.

Mr. Curt Carter, a childhood resident of Carthage, MO, established the Curtis Rex Carter Science Scholarship Fund with the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc. in November 2006 to honor his father and benefit students interested in the applied sciences from Jasper County. This was the third year that the scholarship was awarded.

To finance this new scholarship fund, Carter used the IRA Charitable Rollover provision of the Pension Protection Act of 2006. The IRA Charitable Rollover allows individuals over the age of 70 ½ to rollover up to $100,000 from their IRA directly to a qualifying charity without recognizing the assets transferred to the qualifying charity as income. The provision was extended by Congress through the end of 2009.