The first grant rounds from the Community Foundation of the Ozarks (CFO) for 2025–26 are now open. The CFO’s annual competitive grant programs are supported by a $5.4 million grantmaking budget — the largest in the foundation’s history. More grant programs will open throughout the year for eligible nonprofit, municipal, educational, and faith-based organizations across central and southern Missouri.
The CFO’s competitive grant programs are made possible by donors who make gifts that are unrestricted or focus on a general field of interest such as youth, health, or education. The CFO also administers grant programs on behalf of funders like the Jeannette L. Musgrave Foundation and U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management, the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation and Commerce Trust, and the L-A-D Foundation.
CFO regional affiliates and advisory boards that serve Phelps County and Dent County include Phelps County Community Foundation, St. James Area Community Foundation, Meramec Regional Community Foundation, and Dent County Community Foundation.
• Rapid Response (Springfield and regional): New for 2025 — $80,000 for nonprofits that lose government funding, are affected by disaster, or require time-sensitive funding for innovation or collaboration. Applications for up to $3,000 will be reviewed and awarded through June 4, 2026, or until funds are fully spent.
• Welcoming Communities (Springfield and regional): $120,000 for projects that improve the quality of life for underserved and underrepresented residents. Closes Oct. 2.
• Inclusion & Belonging (Springfield and regional): $50,000 for smaller grant requests to create equitable participation and engagement in local communities. Applications reviewed and awarded through May 4, 2026, or until funds are fully spent.
• L-A-D Foundation (regional): $55,000 for projects that conserve the natural and cultural resources of the Ozarks in the L-A-D Foundation’s 12-county service area. Closes Aug. 29.
• Holocaust Education (Springfield and regional): $5,000 for educators, clergy and other community leaders to visit the Holocaust Museum in St. Louis or the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Applications reviewed and awarded through May 1, 2026, or until funds are fully spent.
• Jewell Schweitzer Quality of Life (Springfield/Greene County): $120,000 for projects that address priorities identified in the Community Focus Report for Springfield & Greene County. Opens Aug. 4.
• Coover Regional (regional): $250,000 for transformative projects in rural communities, in partnership with the Coover Charitable Foundation. Opens Sept. 4.
• Everyone Outdoors (Springfield and regional): $120,000 for projects that connect community members with nature and outdoor recreation. Opens Oct. 1.
• Musgrave Multi-Year Impact, with the Musgrave Foundation
• Arts & Culture, with Springfield Regional Arts Council and the Musgrave Foundation
• Coover Regional/Rural Schools Partnership, with the Coover Charitable Foundation
• Various field-of-interest programs
In addition to these programs, the CFO’s regional affiliate foundations provide grantmaking programs throughout the year for their respective communities across central and southern Missouri.
Phelps County and Dent County have received support from the Community Foundation of the Ozarks before, including:
• Last year, the Rolla Mission received $10,000 to support inclusive and trauma-informed crisis counseling services in partnership with Your Village, a local behavioral health service provider, to individuals experiencing homelessness. That grant was awarded through an old program that was revamped to this year's Welcoming Communities Grant Program.
• Last year’s L-A-D Foundation Grant Program, Salem Area Community Betterment Association (SACBA) received $10,000 to support updates to its lobby and exhibit spaces to improve the visitor experience and better highlight regional resources and partners.
• In the same program the year before, SACBA received $9,900 for a master plan to guide improvements of the campus. The master plan will prioritize future projects and facilitate funding and grant opportunities in an overall goal of community enrichment.
• In the 2023 L-A-D program, Montauk State Park received $6,280 for natural and cultural education programming. The grant supported the purchase of equipment for an educational program focused on local cultural history, traditional hunting methods and citizen science.
Director of Communications for CFO, Aaron Scott, shared that rural communities like Phelps County and Dent County should consider participating in the Coover Regional Program, opening Sept. 4, which specifically benefits rural communities, as well as the Everyone Outdoors Grant Program, opening Oct. 1, which would be of interest to nonprofits that provide outdoor recreation or environmental programming.
Scott further shared that the community impact team streamlines grant applications to make the grantmaking as equitable as possible, given the range of sizes and resources of the regions nonprofits. If nonprofit leaders have any questions, they are welcome to contact the CFO staff member listed under each grant program’s information. There is also a host of grant writing resources on the CFO website at cfozarks.org/grantwriting.
The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is the region’s largest public charitable foundation serving donors, nonprofit partners and 55 regional affiliates with $541 million in assets under management as of June 30, 2025. The CFO’s mission is to improve the quality of life for everyone in central and southern Missouri through resource development, community grantmaking, collaboration and public leadership.
