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Dallas County Community Foundation

Dallas County Community Foundation

A trusted resource for philanthropy serving the communities of Buffalo and Dallas County.

Our Mission

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Our mission is to enhance the quality of life in Dallas County through resource development, community grantmaking, collaboration and public leadership.

Since our founding on October 28, 1998, Dallas County Community Foundation has distributed more than $517,220 in grants to the community. We now hold assets totaling $441,245 as of June 30, 2023.

Our Leadership

Our foundation is led by members of our community.

  • Mark Elliott, President
  • Dr. Tim Ryan, Vice President
  • Sue Dyle, Treasurer
  • Laura Stewart, Secretary
  • Joy Beamer
  • Jazmyne Custer
  • Hollie Elliott
  • Cheryl Eversole
  • Mary Hitchings
  • Arthur Mallory
  • Bill Monday
  • Magan Henderson, Advisory Board Member
  • Zac McMillan, Advisory Board Member
  • Mindy Morris, Advisory Board Member
  • Tanya Watson, Advisory Board Member
     

Leading Locally

"Believe in Buffalo" has become a way of life

The Dallas County Community Foundation has served the people in and around Buffalo through $325,751 in grants since its founding in 1998. In more recent years, however, that support has manifested less in one-off needs than contributing to a bigger economic vision.


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Dallas County Community Foundation awards Coover Regional Recovery Grants

April 23, 2021 — The Dallas County Community Foundation has awarded total grants of $10,000 to seven nonprofit agencies for recovery needs related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The grants are made possible by the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation, managed by Commerce Trust Company in partnership with the Community Foundation of the Ozarks. The Dallas County Community Foundation is one of 30 CFO affiliate foundations to receive Coover grant funding this year and chose to use its award to hold a community recovery grant round for eligible nonprofits.

The Dallas County Community Foundation awarded its Coover Regional Recovery Grants to:

  • Bennett Spring Christian Church Camp: $1,000 to support the BSCCC Building Foundation
  • Buffalo Downtown Association: $1,000 to support programming
  • Dallas County Economic Development Group: $1,000 for books for elementary students and scholarships, in partnership with Buffalo Area Kiwanis Club
  • Dallas County R-1 School District: $1,000 to support programming for Dallas County Parents as Teachers; $1,000 for the “Making Learning Flexible” project; $1,000 to support the “Educators Rising” program at the Dallas County Technical Center; and $1,000 to support the Buffalo High School Art Club
  • Dallas County Historical Society: $1,000 to support improvements to the DCHS library
  • · Haven of Rest Ministries: $1,000 for the Haven Diaper Bank
  • Ozarks Area Community Action Corporation: $1,000 to support the People’s Pantry and OACAC Dallas County Neighborhood Center

“One of the benefits of the CFO’s affiliate network is the ability of local leaders to make decisions in the best interests of their own communities,” said Jill Reynolds, senior vice president at Commerce Trust. “Using leaders across rural Missouri to award Coover Charitable Foundation grant dollars has contributed to this partnership’s success in distributing more than $7 million since 2002.”

Dallas County Community Foundation receives $10,000 Rural Ozarks Health Initiative Grant

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks and Missouri Foundation for Health have awarded a $10,000 grant to the Dallas County Community Foundation through the Rural Ozarks Health Initiative to address health issues in communities in the CFO’s rural service area.

The Dallas County Community Foundation will support free health exams and tests for eligible women through the Dallas County Health Department in order to educate and prevent the spread of HPV, the leading cause of cervical cancer.

“Persistence pays off at our local health department,” DCCF President Joy Beamer said. “Director Cheryl Eversole and her staff continued applying for the ROHI grant for the third year. By winning the grant, additional programming will enhance health care in Dallas County. I am eager to watch this grant make a substantial impact on the community.

“The Dallas County Health Department and Dallas County Community Foundation have adopted the town slogan, ‘Believe in Buffalo,’” Beamer added. “I believe this money will help continue advancing the area’s passion for making Dallas County the best place to raise healthy families.”

For a third year, the CFO has awarded $10,000 grants to 10 affiliate foundations to support community health programs and grantmaking. The grants are part of the Rural Ozarks Health Initiative, a program to address health issues in communities or regions served by the CFO’s affiliates. Other recipients for 2020 include affiliate foundations serving Benton County, Douglas County, Eldon, the Hermann area, Houston, the Jacks Fork area, Rogersville, Stockton and Willow Springs.

DCCF Board President Joy Beamer, center, joins DCCF advisory board members Mary Hitchings, Jazmyne Custer, Laura Stewart and Tanya Watson on March 13 to receive the grant.

This grant program was developed by Missouri Foundation for Health and the CFO because of a disparity in health indicators between urban and rural areas of Missouri and the scarcity of grant resources available for rural issues in general.

The ROHI grant program launched in 2018 and has provided a total of $750,000 to more than 30 communities served by CFO affiliate foundations.

“We look forward to these projects building on the success of the first two years of community-based grants across the region to support key health and wellness priorities,” CFO President Brian Fogle said. “This has been an outstanding partnership with the Missouri Foundation for Health to get its resources working on the ground through our Affiliate network, which is comprised of local leaders who are well positioned to identify specific needs in their communities.”

Dallas County Legacy Society

S. Joy Beamer

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