With an outpouring of community support, the founding board of the Cabool Community Foundation has raised $30,000 to start a permanent endowment and become the 52nd regional affiliate foundation with the Community Foundation of the Ozarks. The generous support from the community will be matched by a $30,000 grant from Missouri Foundation for Health. The grant will provide $6,000 for five years to support grantmaking to address public health needs related to issues such as family income, education, jobs, neighborhoods and similar indicators. “I’m so proud to be a part of the Cabool community, where people take care of each other,” CCF Board President Kirby Holmes said. “The support of those in our community who helped the CCF become established as an affiliate of the CFO has been phenomenal!”
The founding board also includes Karl Janson, vice president; Audrey Boyle, secretary; Jeremy Hanaford, treasurer; Crystal Dixon; Theresa Gregory; Sarah Honeycutt; Benjamin Leonard; Amy Porter; Janet Roberts; Edwin Rogers; Ronnie Sheets; and Brenda Taylor.
As a regional affiliate foundation of the CFO, the CCF now has access to a wide range of support, such as administrative services in working with donors; training and technical support for local leaders; and opportunities to participate in grant programs open to affiliate network leaders to build community resources.
Even before the establishment of the CCF, the CFO has served as a philanthropic resource for the Cabool community. As a member of the CFO’s Rural Schools Partnership, the Cabool Education Foundation holds several funds with the CFO to benefit teachers, students and graduates of the Cabool R-IV School District. With an affiliate foundation now in place, the potential for the CFO’s philanthropic resources to benefit the community only grows.
The CFO’s Affiliate Foundation program dates to 1993 when the Nixa Community Foundation became the first affiliate. Today, Nixa has assets of more than $2.4 million and has distributed more than $2.8 million back to its community. CCF is the third new affiliate added to the CFO’s Affiliate Foundation program this year, preceded by the Ash Grove Area Community Foundation and the Nevada/Vernon County Community Foundation.
“For more than 25 years, our affiliates have helped improve the quality of life in communities all across our region,” said Brian Fogle, president and CEO of the CFO. “The Cabool Community Foundation will further increase the power of philanthropy in south-central Missouri where a number of communities are represented by our affiliate network members who have done great work to enhance their local priorities.”
Donors can contribute to the CCF Unrestricted Grant Fund online at cfozarks.org/affiliates/cabool.
The CFO is a regional public charitable foundation that works to advance philanthropy through a network of private donors, 52 regional affiliate foundations, and more than 600 nonprofit partners throughout its service region south of the Missouri River. It holds charitable assets of $310 million as of June 30, 2020.
