Search Through Grants for Education Nonprofits in Missouri in the U.S.

Background

The Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation is focused on giving back to the people of greater Kansas City.

Through responsive and strategic philanthropy, the Foundation supports a variety of organizations working to improve the quality of life in local communities.

The Foundation is committed to assisting the city’s most vulnerable neighbors and striving to achieve lasting and meaningful change.

Learn more.

Grant Opportunities

The Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation’s grantmaking strategy emphasizes creating excellence and transformational change.

The Foundation’s unique approach combines proactive support that strengthens area nonprofits and responsive community assistance to achieve greater results, with a focus on underserved populations.

Community Impact

The Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation seeks to make strategic and responsive grants that help organizations achieve one or more of the following:

• Support nonprofit excellence and transformational change
• Meaningfully impact systemic issues
• Improve outcomes for low-income, underserved communities
• Expand organizational services

Since inception, the Foundation has invested over $175 million in greater Kansas City nonprofit organizations. Marion and Henry’s legacy of serving others continues to enhance our beloved city.What areas of focus (or cause areas) does the Foundation support? The Foundation’s areas of focus are:

• Education for Poor, Disadvantaged, and Underserved Youth
• Healthcare
• Jewish Community Organizations
• Post-Secondary Business and Entrepreneurship Education
• Social Services
• Visual and Performing Arts

What activities does the Foundation support?

The Foundation supports special programs, capacity building, and capital projects through strategic and responsive grants that help organizations achieve one or more of the following:

• support nonprofit excellence and transformational change;
• strengthen organizations;
• improve services for clients; and/or
• help underserved, low-income individuals.

What is the typical amount and duration of grant awards?

The Foundation does not have fixed minimum or maximum award limits, though grant awards typically fall in the range of $100,000 to $250,000. The Foundation makes both one-year and multi-year grant awards. 

Charitable Contributions

Our goal with financial contributions from BOK Financial and the BOKF Foundation is to enhance the quality of life and economic wellbeing in the communities where BOK Financial operates and where our employees work and live including Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Our charitable contributions are focused on four pillars of giving: United Way, economic development, education and basic needs

Our long-term strategic plan guides all contributions to assure maximum impact in the community and to develop mutually beneficial relationships with our nonprofit partner agencies. BOK financial contributions are budgeted on an annual calendar basis. We accept online charitable contribution/grant applications throughout the year.

Pillars of giving

Basic Needs

We provide volunteer and financial support to organizations serving the most vulnerable members of our community. Our efforts largely focus on organizations providing direct services addressing such issues as poverty, hunger, healthcare, housing and safety.

Education

An equitable, robust educational system drives long-term community growth. We support local nonprofits whose primary mission is promoting basic education, including public school foundations, early childhood education, financial literacy, and institutions of higher education.

Economic Development

Actions that raise the standard of living and economic health of our communities make them better places to live and work. We provide support to local chambers of commerce; nonprofits focused on workforce development, job training, etc.; and public/private partnerships investing in our communities.

United Way

Our focus on strategically investing in the community aligns perfectly with United Way’s approach to achieving its mission of mobilizing the caring power of communities to advance the common good.

Funding Priorities

We focus our grantmaking in a way that honors our founders’ intent and operates in alignment with our mission, vision, and values – to center our work on ensuring all people experience what is possible.

We understand that improving life for all requires an interconnected approach. Therefore, through our grantmaking we seek to increase economic opportunities of all, with an intentional focus on communities of color, those not earning a livable wage, and families experiencing poverty. Kansas City’s community needs will guide us as we work together to create stronger partnerships with communities, nonprofit partners, and foundation colleagues, in order to increase opportunities for all to succeed.

We believe that as we expand our reach and increase our impact through new, strengthened, and reimagined partnerships within our three impact areas, we will help build a community where an improved quality of life is equitable and enjoyable by all.

What we fund and the impact we seek

To achieve our vision of enabling all people in our community to experience what is possible; to achieve their greatest potential, and to create a bigger impact, our grantmaking will focus on three interconnected impact areas:

KC Spirit: Elevating Kansas City

• To ensure that greater Kansas City’s regional assets, cultural organizations, and sense of community make it a thriving and inclusive place to live.
• Make Kansas City stronger by embracing all in our stories & vision for the city through investments in regional assets, arts & culture, and community wide initiatives.

Prospering Communities: Increasing equity for all

• To support families through organizations and initiatives that take a holistic approach to reducing poverty and increasing equity and well-being.
• Communities prosper when there are equitable opportunities to access education, housing, employment, and health care. We prioritize investments that take systemic and comprehensive approaches to increasing opportunities for all to thrive in their neighborhoods of choice.
• Grantmaking focuses on economic inclusion – livable neighborhoods – healthcare – emergency and safety net services.

Growing Minds: Creating strong educational foundation for life

• We prioritize investments that improve outcomes and access to quality programming for children and their families in education.
• Grantmaking focuses on Pre-K, K-12, post-secondary, and wrap-around support services, in addition to out-of-classroom initiatives that address barriers to education and provide additional academic support.

Since its inception, the Foundation, which is still led by Lester T. Sunderland's descendants, has focused on supporting construction projects, awarding grants to nonprofits in the Kansas City region and other markets traditionally served by the Ash Grove Cement Company. 

 The Foundation prefers to make grants for construction and special interest projects rather than for annual operating expenses. 

Grants for planning, design, construction, renovation, repairs and restoration of facilities are considered. Areas of interest include higher education, youth serving agencies, health facilities, community buildings, museums, civic projects and energy efficient affordable housing projects sponsored by qualified tax-exempt organizations. 

Funding Areas

In recent grant cycles, the Board of Trustees has awarded the majority of grants in four broadly defined areas:

Higher Education

In 2022, the Foundation awarded $49 million to more than 35 educational organizations. Grantees included community colleges, private colleges, and public universities.

Human Services

The Foundation awarded $30 million to human service nonprofits in 2022, and many grants in this area went to groups that provide essential services to youth and families. Grantees included a range of youth-focused groups, including Reconciliation Services, the Nebraska Youth Justice Initiative in Omaha, Nebraska and the Sno-Valley Senior Center in Carnation, Washington. 

Arts and Culture

Arts and culture projects received $23 million in 2022, including grants to the Springfield Art Museum in Springfield, Missouri, the Omaha Zoo and the Seattle Aquarium in Seattle, Washington. Health Care and Hospitals.

Health Care and Hospitals

This is a growing area of need in many communities the Foundation serves. In 2022, $65 million was awarded to hospitals and health-care groups to build and improve their facilities.

Pettus Foundation

The Pettus Foundation is the philanthropic legacy of Mr. James T. Pettus of International Shoe Company and his son, James T. Pettus, Jr. Core to the Pettus Foundation’s giving is Mr. Pettus’s desire “to enable people who might not have opportunities to have opportunities,” thus the Pettus Foundation prioritizes programs which create self-reliance, independence, and citizen productivity.

The St. Louis Community Foundation has the honor and privilege of working with the Trustees of the Pettus Foundation to continue to ensure that the philanthropic wishes of Mr. Pettus live on in the St. Louis Region.

The Foundation’s giving occurs in three ways:

• Through a competitive grant process in St. Louis, where Mr. Pettus, Jr. was born and went to school
• To pre-selected organizations in Hawaii, where Mr. Pettus Jr. lived in his later years
• Each of the seven children of James T. Pettus Jr. (family advisors) has an allocated amount to give to charities of their choice

Focus Areas

In St. Louis, the Pettus Foundation provides funding to nonprofit organizations working in the following areas:

• Workforce Development
• Direct job, technical, and career training
• Soft skills necessary for success
• Youth Development
• Preparation for the work force including soft skills
• Preparation for life after high school including higher education, technical school, military, or apprenticeship programs
• Education
• Early childhood education
• K – 12 public schools with a focus on the middle school years

Please note the following:

• Understanding how significant a robust early education platform is for putting children on an excellent educational and social trajectory, the Trustees are interested in programs that impact many preschools through teacher training and innovative curriculum design.
• The Trustees believe that there are many paths to job and career success. Funding interests include human services organizations and K-12 schools that are providing direct job training, STEM-related projects, technical training, or “soft skills” development needed to obtain and hold a job.
• The Trustees require evidence of stable, effective governance, solid financials, and multiple funders for programs and projects the Foundation supports.
• The Pettus Foundation typically funds direct services and small capital improvement. The Foundation does not fund advocacy, research programs, or systems-level initiatives.
• The Pettus Foundation does not consider grant applications requesting funds for computer technology.
• The Pettus Foundation’s typical grant range is from $5,000 to $25,000. The trustees particularly favor applications that demonstrate multiple funding partners and match or challenge grant opportunities. The trustees seek to leverage the Foundation’s assets to strengthen Saint Louis non-profits working toward the Foundation’s goals.

Rules and Regulations

The primary purpose of Dana Brown Charitable Trust is to provide grants to organizations in the St. Louis area that support financially disadvantaged children (up to age 18) and programs that enable children to expand their knowledge of the world and nature through programs featuring wild animals in the St. Louis, Missouri, Metropolitan area (MSA).

Your grant request will be required to satisfy the above expectations. Specifically:

• Your funding request must directly positively impact the health, education, and welfare of underprivileged/economically disadvantaged children and/or support programs that enable children to expand their knowledge of the world and nature through programs featuring wild animals and/or zoology.
  • Secondarily, for animals, the Dana Brown Charitable Trust will continue to consider grant requests for programs with animals that provide services and resources for financially disadvantaged children, focusing on mental health, support, and community building.
• Your funding request must be allocated to organizations in the St. Louis, Missouri—Illinois Metro Area. Visit our Frequently Asked Questions section to see which counties this includes.

Additionally, The Dana Brown Charitable Trust is focused on high-impact, low-risk funding and places high importance on those organizations that work collaboratively with other nonprofits.

Awareness. Education. Prevention.  These are three key tenets of Bayer Fund’s investments in health and wellness.  With a focus on cancer and cardiovascular disease, we provide resources to organizations dedicated to educating and/or providing services to patients, caregivers and at-risk populations.

Health & Wellness Grants

Programs that Bayer Fund will support include those that focus on patients and their families needing assistance with issues to managing cardiovascular disease and cancer. This includes education, disease awareness, and supportive services for these diseases. In areas related to cardiovascular disease, priority (though not exclusivity) will be given to charitable organizations that focus on programs and support for the African American community due to the high incidence rate of disease in this population.

Giving in this category will focus on support services such as education, disease awareness, and general access to care (e.g., housing for families traveling for cancer or heart care).

All funding requests and budgets must be for program activities and expenses that start after funding decisions are made. All programs must be completed within one year of the start date, except in limited situations where longer term programs have been agreed upon. Grant award amounts vary, depending on the size of the community, the type of programming, and the reach of the organization.

Please see FAQs for additional guidelines.

Mission

The Christine and Katharina Pauly Charitable Trust was established in 1985 to support and promote quality educational, health and human services programming for underserved populations in Springfield, Missouri and the surrounding SW Missouri region. Special consideration is given to charitable organizations that serve the needs of children and organizations that serve the needs of older adults.

The Christine and Katharina Pauly Charitable Trust was created under the wills of Ms. Hazel Katharina Pauly and Ms. Frieda Christine Oleta Pauly.

Program Type

• Education: We believe that quality education is fundamental to success and is essential to the continued wellbeing of our community. Consequently, we are interested in systemic school improvement, particularly in the areas of management and teacher quality; academic programs that address the needs of disadvantaged children and efforts to better connect schools with their communities. 
  • Specifically, we fund programming that:
    • Promotes effective teaching
    • Improves the academic achievement of, or expands educational opportunities for, disadvantaged students
    • Improves governance and management
    • Strengthens nonprofit organizations, school leadership, and teaching
    • Bolsters strategic initiatives of area colleges and universities.
• Health: We pay special attention to the needs of society's most vulnerable people, including low-income children and their families, frail older adults, adults with disabilities, the homeless, and those with debilitating diseases and illnesses.
  • We fund programming that:
    • Improves the delivery of health care to the indigent, uninsured, and other vulnerable populations
    • Addresses health and health care problems that intersect with social factors.
• Human Services:
  • We fund programming that:
    • Strengthens agencies that deliver critical human services and maintains the community’s safety net
    • Helps agencies respond to federal, state, and local public policy changes.

The majority of grants from the Pauly Trust are 1 year in duration.

The Helen S Boylan Foundation

The mission of the Helen S. Boylan Foundation is to enhance the quality of life in our communities of Carthage, Missouri, the Greater Kansas City Area, and Lindale, Texas. We actively distribute quarterly grants to local non-profit organizations serving arts & education, women & children, health & wellness and the beautification of our communities.

Grant Guidelines

The Helen S. Boylan Foundation is a private family foundation established in 1982 to continue the family tradition of commitment to enhancing the quality of life of the community through grants to qualified charitable organizations. In carrying out its mission, the Foundation considers a wide range of proposals within the following areas: arts, education, health, human services, environment, and public interest.

Preserve Route 66 Grant Fund

The most enduring highway in our public consciousness, Route 66 represents a unique moment in history that continues to define the nation’s identity: the rise of the automobile and its implications of freedom, mobility, and a quintessential American story. Grants from this fund will help preserve and enhance historic places on or connected to Route 66 for future generations.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Preserve Route 66 Grant Fund provides financial support to public agencies, tribal governments or nonprofit organizations to preserve and interpret historic places along the Route 66 corridor. The National Trust has a special interest in illuminating the narratives of communities whose places and stories have been historically underrepresented, which may include communities and neighborhoods along the Route 66 corridor associated with People of Color (including but not limited to indigenous peoples, Latinx, Black Americans and others), women, immigrants, LGBTQIA communities, veterans, and economically distressed communities.

Grants made from the Preserve Route 66 Fund will generally range from $2,500 to $10,000.

Purpose

To provide assistance to community-based organizations that enables them to implement community or neighborhood projects in the areas of community service, education, crime prevention, job training and physical revitalization.

General Information

Administered by the Department of Economic Development (the DED), NAP is a tax credit for contribution program created to help improve endangered communities through a public-private partnership. To administer a project, eligible nonprofits or business organizations/projects must be approved by the DED through the NAP application process.

An approved applicant is granted assistance in the form of state tax credits to help attract eligible donors who would be able to, in effect, redirect their Missouri tax dollars to an approved community development project. Under NAP, a tax credit is equal to 50% or 70% of eligible contributions. The tax credit is used to offset an eligible donor’s income tax liability and is claimed when the donor files their Missouri tax return. The credit may be used against taxes owed for the year of the donation plus five additional tax periods. This form of assistance is not a grant and does not include the transfer of tax dollars from NAP to approved organizations. Through fundraising efforts, approved organizations assume full responsibility for securing the financial support necessary to implement the NAP project. The State’s role is to approve projects, provide project oversight, and issue tax credits to eligible donors that contribute to NAP projects.

The total amount of NAP tax credits available for distribution is $16 million, consisting of an allocation of $10 million in 50% credits and $6 million in 70% credits. Seventy percent (70%) credits are reserved for projects located in a city, town or village with populations less than 15,000 or in unincorporated areas (with the exception of Clay, Jackson, St. Charles and St. Louis counties).

The maximum initial per project award is $500,000 ($350,000 in 70% credits or $250,000 in 50% credits).

United Way of Greater St. Louis

United Way offers three tiers of funding opportunities to support local nonprofits with a proven ability to meet the community’s needs and make a lasting, important impact in our region.

• Safety Net
• Systems
• Targeted

Systems Change

Systems Change (SC) addresses the root causes of social problems, which are often intractable and embedded in networks of cause and effect. It is an intentional process designed to fundamentally alter the components and structures that cause the system to behave in a certain way. SC activities seek to shift conditions that are holding the problems in place through advocacy, policy change, and/or resource allocations.

Focus Area: United for Families

As a signature Systems Change initiative - the United for Families (UFF) program provides funding to select nonprofits in Missouri and Illinois to support the implementation of the innovative, individualized two-generation family empowerment model centered around flexible assistance and client accountability.

UFF initiates a whole-family coaching and case management model and provides individualized support, financial coaching, and emergency financial assistance.

UFF’s objective is to help stabilize and empower families on their road to restoring self-sufficiency by helping them achieve family economic security, prevent homelessness and displacement, and achieve educational stability for school-age children.

Fund Description

The Northland Community Foundation (NCF), an affiliate of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, seeks to improve the quality of life in the Northland by increasing charitable giving, connecting donors to community needs they care about and providing leadership on critical community issues. By using an RFP approach, NCF aims to solicit the best thinking of nonprofit organizations, public sector agencies, research institutions, and other entities serving Clay and Platte counties.

Grant Focus

NCF released a Community Needs Assessment in March 2023. Following a rigorous research process in partnership with several organizations and entities in the Northland, the completed Community Needs Assessment pinpoints gaps in the community ecosystem, and identifies opportunities where investments of philanthropic dollars will have the greatest potential to make measurable differences in the community which are: 

• Mental and behavioral health.
• Growing needs of a rapidly expanding senior population.
• Limited availability of childcare/early childhood education.
• Limited transportation access/infrastructure.

NCF continues to build on the opportunities identified in its 2023 Community Needs Assessment to invest philanthropic dollars in the community’s areas of greatest need. The RFP will focus on sustaining current programs that focus on the well-being of children in Clay and Platte Counties.

What is Impact 100?

The Impact 100 represents organizations working to meet the most critical health and human service needs facing our region today. Each nonprofit must meet a high bar of organizational accountability in terms of finances, governance and community impact. Selected organizations are diverse in human service domains, geographic reach, and populations served.

United Way of Greater Kansas City is seeking proposals from area nonprofit organizations that are part the community’s health and human service ecosystem for inclusion in the 2025 United Way Impact 100, a network of high-impact health and human service providers supported by United Way of Greater Kansas City.

Impact 100 Funding Opportunity

Organizations selected for the Impact 100 receive a one-year, unrestricted grant in support of the organization’s mission. In addition, grantee organizations become part of United Way’s network, gaining exposure to United Way’s community of donors and corporate partners. In weighing whether to apply for this opportunity, organizations should consider their alignment with areas of investment across the three pillars of Health, Education and Financial Stability, as described in United Way’s Community Needs Index as well as selection criteria and related goals established by United Way to ensure the greatest impact across the region.

United Way Areas of Community Investment and Program Demographic Reporting

United Way awards a single, unrestricted grant to organizations that are selected for the Impact 100. To ensure that United Way leaders understand and communicate effectively about the impact of that investment, United Way also collects a limited amount of programmatic data from applicant organizations. Specifically, you are asked to complete a program demographic form for your organization’s top three programs (or 1 or 2, if you have fewer than three) and provide participant demographic data for each. In this form, you are asked to provide a brief description of the program and select up to two program categories with which the program aligns. The categories appear in a drop-down menu in the program demographic form:

• Access to Healthcare and Supportive Services
• Aging and Senior Support Services
• Behavioral Health and Substance Abuse Intervention & Treatment
• Child Welfare
• Community and Family Violence Prevention and Intervention
• Early Childhood Education and Development
• Financial Stability and Employment
• Food and Nutrition Security
• Housing Security
• Services for Individuals with Disabilities
• Supports for People with Involvement in the Justice System
• Youth Development, K-12 Academic Supports and Postsecondary Pathways

Overall Portfolio Criteria

In addition to the above criteria for assessing individual applicants, United Way’s selection of Impact 100 grantees will also be guided by the following goals in ensuring a broad-based and inclusive portfolio of grantees that, together, improve the quality of life for all people across the region.

• United Way strives to invest in a wide variety of strategies and approaches to improving community conditions, including programming that responds to immediate critical needs and preventative strategies to prevent critical needs from emerging, as well as both direct-service programming and systems-level approaches.
• United Way is committed to investing in a wide range of health and human service domains, addressing community needs across the three pillars of Health, Education and Financial Stability. 
• United Way supports a wide range of organizations, in terms of scope and scale—including multicounty organizations and those with a narrow geographic focus; those with large budgets, as well as small- and medium-sized budgets; and those that provide a single service as well as those with a multi-faceted set of services.
• United Way is committed to maximizing the impact of its investments.
  • This means reaching as many lives as possible through those investments.
  • We also consider the depth of impact and recognize that some organizations serve a small number of people but make a deep and lasting impact.
  • We strive to strike a balance between these considerations when selecting Impact 100 grantees.

Not every organization that aligns with United Way’s interest areas and effectively meets selection criteria will be able to receive funding. Organizations that are not selected for the Impact 100 will be eligible for donor-directed giving and, as such, will have the opportunity for inclusion in United Way’s broader network of community partners.

Our Mission

The Kerr Foundation, Inc. is a nonprofit charitable and educational Oklahoma corporation, established to identify and support 501(c)3 organizations, programs and institutions that provide new or enhanced opportunities for those within the granting areas, particularly the young.

Program Categories

Education - Institutions of elementary, junior high, pre-collegiate, along with institutions of higher learning to include health science centers and medical research done by educational institutions

Arts and Culture - Organizations in the visual arts and performing arts areas, museums and libraries

Health - Institutions providing health care, doing medical research, or outreach organizations employing primarily professionals from the allied health area

Human Services - Organizations providing services in diverse areas to the public, and specifically to the disadvantaged, people with special needs and the elderly

Project Categories

Capital - Bricks and mortar projects, including equipment

Program - Programs having an objective and specified time span

Operating - Funds to be used to cover basic ongoing administrative and personnel expenses

The Jelley Family Foundation Endowment for Children's Education Fund

In 2013, the Jelley Family Foundation was established by Dr. Carl Jelley, who cared deeply for the well-being and education of local children. He firmly believed that hard work, responsibility, honesty, and integrity are the building blocks of a meaningful and purposeful life. Dr. Jelley was deeply devoted to helping all children and youth, regardless of demographics, reach their full potential. The endowment established in his name continues to exemplify Dr. Jelley’s dedication to children’s education.

What Is A Typical Jelley Grant Award Amount?

The average Jelley Grant award is $5,000-$8,000. The maximum award is $10,000. More than $141,000 is available annually through the Jelley Family Foundation for Children's Education.

What Kinds of Proposals Does the Community Grants Program Fund?

Applications to the Community Grants program must address one or more of the following issues:

• Arts, Culture, and Historic Preservation.
• Adult or Non-Traditional Education (not Children's Education).
• Community Betterment (improving neighborhoods, youth development and leadership, programs for seniors, transportation, violence prevention, racial equity, etc.);
• Health and Human Services.
• Click here for Wildlife Conservation in Missouri

Committed to your community.

The Patterson Family Foundation, based in Kansas City, Missouri, is a family-led foundation that extends the legacy of Neal and Jeanne Patterson. The Foundation’s mission, “Working together to help rural communities thrive,” is carried forward through strategic grantmaking and other collaborative initiatives that serve rural counties across Kansas and western Missouri. 

Our Mission

Working together to help rural communities thrive.

Strategies for Thriving Rural Communities

At the Patterson Family Foundation, we believe that thriving rural communities aren’t just about the numbers—they’re about the people who choose to live there. A strong and engaged community is built on essentials like access to good jobs, quality healthcare, educational opportunities, and a sense of belonging. But keeping rural communities strong doesn’t happen on its own—it takes all of us working together. That’s why we focus on working with local leaders, businesses, and organizations to invest in the areas that matter most, ensuring that rural places don’t just get by but thrive for generations to come.

Innovation in Education

The Patterson Family Foundation invites creative proposals aimed at improving education in rural communities. We’re looking to fund projects that explore new ideas with the potential for long-term impact and growth. 

Committed to your community.

The Patterson Family Foundation, based in Kansas City, Missouri, is a family-led foundation that extends the legacy of Neal and Jeanne Patterson. The Foundation’s mission, “Working together to help rural communities thrive,” is carried forward through strategic grantmaking and other collaborative initiatives that serve rural counties across Kansas and western Missouri.

Our Mission

Working together to help rural communities thrive.

Strategies for Thriving Rural Communities

At the Patterson Family Foundation, we believe that thriving rural communities aren’t just about the numbers—they’re about the people who choose to live there. A strong and engaged community is built on essentials like access to good jobs, quality healthcare, educational opportunities, and a sense of belonging. But keeping rural communities strong doesn’t happen on its own—it takes all of us working together. That’s why we focus on working with local leaders, businesses, and organizations to invest in the areas that matter most, ensuring that rural places don’t just get by but thrive for generations to come.

Specialty Care Access

Funding to bring specialty medical services closer to rural communities. Specialty care may include, but is not limited to, maternal care, oncology, chronic conditions, dental, and mental/behavioral health.

Rooted in rural.

Committed to your community.

The Patterson Family Foundation, based in Kansas City, Missouri, is a family-led foundation that extends the legacy of Neal and Jeanne Patterson. The Foundation’s mission, “Working together to help rural communities thrive,” is carried forward through strategic grantmaking and other collaborative initiatives that serve rural counties across Kansas and western Missouri. 

Our Mission

Working together to help rural communities thrive.

Strategies for Thriving Rural Communities

At the Patterson Family Foundation, we believe that thriving rural communities aren’t just about the numbers—they’re about the people who choose to live there. A strong and engaged community is built on essentials like access to good jobs, quality healthcare, educational opportunities, and a sense of belonging. But keeping rural communities strong doesn’t happen on its own—it takes all of us working together. That’s why we focus on working with local leaders, businesses, and organizations to invest in the areas that matter most, ensuring that rural places don’t just get by but thrive for generations to come.

Trades Workforce Development

Provides funding for skilled trades training, apprenticeships, and workforce upskilling in high-demand fields including HVAC, electricians, plumbers, welders, diesel mechanics, healthcare, the legal profession, etc.

Committed to your community.

The Patterson Family Foundation, based in Kansas City, Missouri, is a family-led foundation that extends the legacy of Neal and Jeanne Patterson. The Foundation’s mission, “Working together to help rural communities thrive,” is carried forward through strategic grantmaking and other collaborative initiatives that serve rural counties across Kansas and western Missouri.

Our Mission

Working together to help rural communities thrive.

Strategies for Thriving Rural Communities

At the Patterson Family Foundation, we believe that thriving rural communities aren’t just about the numbers—they’re about the people who choose to live there. A strong and engaged community is built on essentials like access to good jobs, quality healthcare, educational opportunities, and a sense of belonging. But keeping rural communities strong doesn’t happen on its own—it takes all of us working together. That’s why we focus on working with local leaders, businesses, and organizations to invest in the areas that matter most, ensuring that rural places don’t just get by but thrive for generations to come.

Healthcare Workforce Development

Programs that develop and promote the education, licensure, development, and recruitment and/or retention of critical healthcare workforce roles in rural communities.

Committed to your community.

The Patterson Family Foundation, based in Kansas City, Missouri, is a family-led foundation that extends the legacy of Neal and Jeanne Patterson. The Foundation’s mission, “Working together to help rural communities thrive,” is carried forward through strategic grantmaking and other collaborative initiatives that serve rural counties across Kansas and western Missouri.

Our Mission

Working together to help rural communities thrive.

Strategies for Thriving Rural Communities

At the Patterson Family Foundation, we believe that thriving rural communities aren’t just about the numbers—they’re about the people who choose to live there. A strong and engaged community is built on essentials like access to good jobs, quality healthcare, educational opportunities, and a sense of belonging. But keeping rural communities strong doesn’t happen on its own—it takes all of us working together. That’s why we focus on working with local leaders, businesses, and organizations to invest in the areas that matter most, ensuring that rural places don’t just get by but thrive for generations to come.

Innovation in Healthcare

The Patterson Family Foundation invites creative proposals aimed at improving healthcare in rural communities. We’re looking to fund projects that explore new ideas with the potential for long-term impact and better health outcomes. While all innovative solutions are welcome, priority will be given to proposals focused on testing new models to expand maternal care in rural areas.

Who We Are

Your Community Foundation is a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization created by and for the people who live here. We build bridges between donors with a charitable vision and the nonprofits who make our region a great place to live, work, and play.

Gather

We work with individuals, families, businesses, and nonprofits to create tailor-made funds that help them make their charitable visions a reality. Donors can trust that the Community Foundation will act as a steward of those funds, ensuring funds are used according to their intent and vision.

Grow

Together with a team of trusted, local advisors, we invest funds to build endowments so they are available to support ever-changing needs and opportunities in the 12 counties we serve.

Grant

Based on our donors’ intentions and goals, we invest in our region to make our communities great places to live, work, and play.

What We Do

The Community Foundation Serving West Central Illinois & Northeast Missouri connects people who care with causes that matter for here, for good, forever. 

We work with donors, nonprofits, and community leaders to improve the quality of life in the communities we serve. We accomplish this by building permanent charitable funds that benefit our communities today, tomorrow, and for years to come.

Community Grants

The Community Foundation annually awards grants through its Community Grant process to meet needs and advance opportunities in its 12-county region. Through the Community Grant program, the Community Foundation seeks to strengthen nonprofit services to enhance the quality of life throughout the region that we serve. Due to the broad scope of this program, it is a competitive process and requests are evaluated by a volunteer committee based on the annual program budget and fund restrictions.

Focus Areas

 Grants in the areas of

• arts & culture,
• community betterment,
• education,
• health,
• human services. 

Priorities:

Through the Community Grant program, the Community Foundation seeks to award grants that will enhance the quality of life in West Central Illinois and Northeast Missouri by:

• Helping organizations better respond to defined needs or opportunities within the community they serve;
• Encouraging community collaborations and partnerships to maximize the impact on the community and population served;
• Reaching a significant number of community members or specific groups of underserved community members throughout its 12-county service area; 
• Supporting nonprofit organizations which are physically located in or have demonstrated, active services that directly benefit residents within the Community Foundation’s service area.
• and  making a significant impact on the success of the overall request (consider the size of the grant in relation to the total budget).

About Cigna

Our Mission

To improve the health and vitality of those we serve.

Our Vision

A better future built on the vitality of every individual and every community.

Youth Mental Health Grant

The Cigna Group Foundation is committing $9 million over three years to improve the mental health of youth (ages five to 18) as it relates to post-pandemic stress and distress. This commitment includes support for their parents, caregivers, and youth service professionals like educators and therapists.

We seek to collaborate with and support nonprofits that leverage evidence-informed programs and services to serve local youth experiencing the most need.

During the first year of our three-year commitment, we will focus on investing in solutions that address mental health concerns early, and strategically offer programming, intervention, and access to care in schools and related settings in underserved communities. We look forward to partnering with nonprofit organizations that align to at least one of these grant program goals:

• Increase reach of programming that fosters social-emotional skills and well-being.
• Increase the number of parents, caregivers, and youth service professionals who feel equipped to support.
• Increase pathways to mental health intervention and access to care.

Grant Range and Term

• $100,000 – $150,000
• One-year term

The Spirit of St. Louis Women’s Fund (SOS) strengthens the Greater St. Louis community through informed, focused grant-making by educating and inspiring women to engage in significant giving.

SOS Commitment To Diversity, Equity And Inclusion

SOS is committed to equity, diversity, collaboration, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability because all people deserve to live full and abundant lives free of prejudice, discrimination and oppression.

We will prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion in our philanthropy.

means full participation of all individuals regardless of race, ethnicity, gender orientation, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, ability, citizenship status, language, religion, geographic location, and national origin, among other identities.

is the condition that would be achieved if one’s identity no longer predicted how one fared in life.

creates a culture and environment for diverse individuals to bring their authentic and full selves. Inclusion results when underrepresented people are seen as fully belonging in a community.

Focus Areas

Grants are not restricted to issues dealing exclusively with women, but are made to organizations focusing on at least one of the following areas:

• Arts and Culture
• Education
• Environment
• Health
• Social Services

Single-year Eligibility

Single-year grants of $5,000 – $25,000 are awarded to nonprofit organizations in the Greater St. Louis community. Applicants are encouraged to submit Letters of Inquiry for general operating support, project/program support, and capacity building. Capacity building strengthens the development of an organization’s core skills and capabilities, such as leadership, management, finance/fund-raising, programs, and evaluation, in order to build the organization’s effectiveness and sustainability.

Multi-year Eligibility

In the 2022-2023 granting cycle, SOS will be investing in one, renewable, three year accelerator grant for $33,333 a year, totaling $100,000. The application can be for a specific project or for general operating support.

Organizations that apply for multi-year grants must:

• Demonstrate a history of successful programming and financial stability
• Show collaboration with other agencies
• Exhibit strong leadership in board and organizational management
• Have a clear multi-year plan that is visionary, meets an urgent community need and significantly enhances the applicant organization’s ability to serve their mission into the future
• Demonstrate how having consistent funding will allow your agency to think big and take chances
• Have specific and numerically measurable project goals, objectives/actions and outcomes/impact described for each year
• Include a three year budget:
  • If applying for a project include a separate project budget for each year
  • If applying for general operating support, submit the organization’s budget for the current year and two subsequent years
  • Have the option to include up to 2 additional supporting documents such as an Annual Report or Strategic Plan
• Organizations that have received single-year SOS grants for the past two consecutive years CAN apply for a multi-year grant. However, organizations applying for a multi-year grant CANNOT apply for an SOS single-year grant in the same grant cycle.

Mission

The mission of the Community Foundation of Central Missouri is to improve lives in our communities by promoting private giving for public good. Since its beginning in 2010, the Community Foundation of Central Missouri (CFCM) has become an expert in listening and responding to community needs by providing creative charitable solutions and resources.

CFCM has prioritized funding to address many community needs. While the CFCM’s numerous donor and/or organization funds have their own mission and granting goals, the Community Granting Fund is the name of CFCM’s unrestricted fund, from which the Community Foundation board of directors distributes to chosen nonprofit agencies in central Missouri (Adair, Audrain, Boone, Callaway, Cole, Cooper, Howard, Macon, Moniteau, and Randolph counties).

Impact Grant

Impact Grants allow the Community Foundation of Central Missouri (CFCM) to have a greater effect in the mid-Missouri area with a more significant allocation, specifically, one $5,000 award.

• The Impact Grant partners CFCM with an agency to address an issue in a significant way.
• The Impact Grant award will center on one of the two following CFCM priority areas:
• human capacity development, especially for disadvantaged persons,
• or the arts.
• Projects proposed might focus on equal opportunity, poverty reduction, education and literacy, affordable housing, workforce training, diversity training, and other similar efforts.
• Projects proposed for the arts might focus on education in theater, dance, music or visual arts, or other.
• Projects proposed for senior services might focus on transportation, delivery, health/respite care, home care, etc
• In the future, the area of focus for the Impact Grant may change.

Mission

The Community Foundation of Central Missouri (CFCM) seeks to improve lives in our communities by promoting private giving for public good. Since its beginning in 2010, the Community Foundation of Central Missouri has become an expert in listening and responding to community needs by providing creative charitable solutions and resources.

CFCM has prioritized funding to address many community needs. While the Community Foundation’s numerous donor-advised and/or organization funds have their own mission and granting goals, the Community Granting Fund is the name of CFCM’s fund from which the Community Foundation board of directors distributes to chosen nonprofit agencies in central Missouri (Adair, Audrain, Boone, Callaway, Cole, Cooper, Howard, Macon, Moniteau, and Randolph counties).

Funding Priorities

The Community Foundation of Central Missouri wishes to partner with nonprofits that share our vision and passion for improving lives of central Missouri residents. We consider our grants to be community investments and look for an “improved lives” return on the investments we make.

To receive a Community Support Grant (if your organization did not receive one last year), the organization must consistently pursue work that falls into at least one of the following four CFCM priority funding areas. This means that the organization’s mission, or much of its programming, as well as the proposed application project, falls within of one of the following areas:

• human capacity development, especially for disadvantaged persons (equal opportunity, poverty reduction, education and literacy, affordable housing, work force training, diversity training, etc.)
• senior adult services (transportation, delivery, health/respite care, home care, etc.)
• arts (dance, theater, music, visual arts, literary arts, etc.)
• environmental sustainability and public spaces (environment, recycling, food production—farmer’s markets, public transportation, parks, trails, conservation, neighborhoods, recreation, aesthetics, etc.)