The Community Foundation of the Ozarks (CFO) awarded seven new COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund grants Thursday for pandemic-related needs.
The Texas County Food Pantry was among the recipients. It will receive $5,000 to support expenses of the pantry’s thrift store. The pantry’s region is served by the Houston Community Foundation.
The grants bring the total competitive grantmaking among the CFO, its affiliate foundations and the Coover Charitable Grantmaking Program to $550,250. Donors who hold funds at the CFO have made another $785,250 in grants to nonprofits working on or affected by the coronavirus. Employers that have established benevolence funds to assist employees have granted $43,870.
The CFO’s grants support nonprofit agencies directly involved in addressing regional needs, particularly for vulnerable citizens, such as seniors, those with food insecurity or health needs.
The CFO made an initial commitment of $1 million, made possible by CFO and affiliate discretionary funds, the Missouri Foundation for Health and the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation, managed by Commerce Trust. Donors have made additional gifts of $310,375.
The CFO encourages those able to make a charitable gift with a portion of their stimulus relief checks to consider donating to a nonprofit in need or the CFO’s COVID-19 Fund. Gifts can be made at cfozarks.org/donate. The CFO is covering processing fees for gifts made by credit card through June 30.
Grant applications are accepted on a rolling basis with announcements anticipated weekly for the near future. The application process is open to nonprofits and IRS-equivalent organizations like faith and civic agencies. The CFO does not make grants directly to individuals.