• The Leona Mackler Fund was established to support the Foster Grandparent program in Higginsville.  This year, the program will receive $610 to provide transportation for volunteers as well as equipment and material needs.

• The Jerry and Tac Caplan Mid-Life Initiative Fund will provide $1,239.25 for an individual currently living in The Kitchen’s Missouri Hotel.  The Caplans established the fund to provide financial assistance to economically challenged women who want to change their lives through education, specialized training or job skill and presentation needs. The woman will receive restorative dental services and dentures to help improve her job interview and employment opportunities.

• The Helen M. Delano Fund provides financial assistance to uniformed police officers and firefighters who have been injured or killed in the line of duty. If, thankfully, circumstances do not match the criteria during an award year, assistance can be provided for needs created through individual or family illnesses, catastrophic losses through fire or storms or other pressing needs.  This year, the Delano Fund will provide $2,844 to the family of a uniformed police trainer whose finances have been challenged by the costs of a long illness.

The two remaining Field-of-Interest Grants are structured to accept year-round applications, with awards made available for requests to the individual programs as they are received:

• A very generous anonymous donor established the Senior Dreams program to provide individuals under Hospice care a chance to live out their dreams, similar to the “Make a Wish” program.  The wide variety of “Dreams” being granted include providing transportation and equipment for an individual who wanted to go fishing in the Cape Fair area, and a visit to family in the Portland, Ore., area.  The “Dreams” vary both in geography and cost, but the thank-you messages sent by the participants all echo similar sentiments of profound thanks for the opportunity.

• The Ellis Fund was established by a donor in honor of her son, who died of pediatric cancer.  The donor understood the financial hardships placed on a family when faced with a life-threatening diagnosis and wanted to provide assistance for those families in need.  This year, one family has greatly benefited with assistance for the hotel stays required for multiple visits to St. Louis Children’s Hospital for diagnostic tests, treatment and follow-up testing.  A second family was faced with a series of financial hardships as a result of a child’s illness and eventual death. The Ellis Fund provided financial assistance throughout the child’s illness, as well as helping with funeral expenses.

As the Community Foundation’s fiscal year closed on June 30, a record number of 231 new funds were established throughout the year.

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.

The Community Foundation today announced the creation of the CFO Cultural Investment Fund, a revolving low-interest loan program to help Springfield-Greene County arts and cultural organizations pay advance costs for performances and exhibits.

The CFO Cultural Investment Fund will offer loans of $1,000 to $20,000 to non-profit groups to help cover the down-payment costs associated with booking major performers, shows or exhibits. The loans, which will carry a 4 percent interest rate, are designed to be re-paid by ticket proceeds, sponsorship funds, or other income raised by the event.

“Managers of our local arts and cultural venues have said that the lack of capital to pay the up-front costs required in many of these contracts impedes their ability to book major regional or national shows,” said Brian Fogle, executive vice president of the Community Foundation.

In fact, the City of Springfield’s Arts, Culture and Tourism Strategic Planning Committee also plans to identify this issue as one of its goals for enhancing arts and culture offerings in Springfield, he said.

The community arts leaders who serve on the CFO’s Arts Programming Sustainability Initiative committee will review and approve all applications. The Fund will be open to all eligible Springfield-Greene County 501(c)3 agencies, but each participant will be required to make a one-time investment of $2,500 into the fund in order to submit applications. The CFO’s initial investment will be $50,000.

The Cultural Investment Fund is the second component of the CFO’s Mission-Related Investment Program. The CFO Board of Directors created this program in 2009 to commit up to 2 percent of the CFO’s assets for community investment. The program represents the CFO’s commitment to the “double-bottom line” of investing in enterprises that produce both financial and social returns for Ozarks communities, instead of investing assets solely in financial markets.