Community Foundation of the Ozarks

The Marshfield Area Community Foundation, in partnership with the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, recently announced the completion of a $5,000 dollar-for-dollar match to benefit the Marshfield community. Chip & Teresa McGeehan, owners of McDonald’s in Marshfield, made a $5,000 contribution to the Hidden Waters Nature Park Fund, an endowment fund providing long-term sustainable funding for the upkeep and maintenance of a local Marshfield park. This $5,000 gift earned the fund a $5,000 matching grant from the Community Foundation of the Ozark’s Stewardship Ozarks Initiative.

The three-year, $1 million Stewardship Ozarks Initiative is an effort to strengthen regional organizations that are committed to conservation efforts in the Missouri Ozarks. It focuses directly on the sustainability of conservation and environmental nonprofit groups, providing challenge grants to strengthen or establish endowment funds for environmental stewardship. This initiative is supported by a major gift from Johnny Morris on behalf of Wonders of Wildlife, as well as by leadership contributions from Gregg and Nancy Galbraith, Larry and Dr. Nancy O’Reilly, Todd and Betty Parnell, and the Upper White River Basin Foundation. Additional support comes from Sally Baird, Community Foundation of the Ozarks Philanthropy Initiative, Susie Henry, and Dr. Tom and Dr. Kim Prater.

The Marshfield Area Community Foundation (MACF) is an affiliate of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks. It is comprised of 22 funds with assets totaling approximately $365,000. In fiscal year 2009, the Marshfield Area Community Foundation granted more than $33,000 back to the community. To learn more about the MACF, please visit their website here.

PICTURE: From left to right: Dan Beckner, Hidden Waters Nature Park founder, Winter Skelton (CFO), and Barbara Herren (Marshfield Area Community Foundation board member) accept a check from Chip McGeehan.

“How’s the water?”

We take that question for granted in a place like the Ozarks, with so many twisting miles of rivers and shoreline. Rapid growth in the region – in no small part because of the abundant natural resources – has placed considerable pressure on those resources. Maintaining water quality is therefore an essential part of keeping the area economically and naturally viable.

Dedicated to preserving the water quality in the Upper White River watershed, the Upper White River Basin Foundation has published its first “Status of the Watershed” report. Funded in part with a $38,800 grant in 2008 from the Louis and Dorothy Coover Regional Grantmaking Program, a partnership between Commerce Trust Company and CFO, this report helps answer the question above. (more…)

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is pleased to announce that the James River Basin Partnership (JRBP) has successfully reached its fund raising goal for CFO’s Stewardship Ozark Initiative. The organization raised more than $10,000 for its organizational endowment, which will be matched dollar-for-dollar through the Stewardship Ozarks Initiative.

“This is an important milestone for the sustainability of our organization and helps insure that we can continue to protect water quality in our region,” said Holly Neill, executive director, James River Basin Partnership. (more…)