CFO readies $560K for annual grant cycle

Community Foundation of the Ozarks has set a $560,000 competitive grant offering for 2013-14, a 15 percent increase from last fiscal year's cycle.

The largest portion of the grants are set aside for CFO's metro Springfield category, which portions funding for early childhood, community innovation and community response challenge grants. The organization has made $275,000 available in the category, according to a news release.

Coover Regional, a partnership between CFO and the Commerce Trust Co. to distribute funding from the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Grantmaking Program, will offer $200,000 for poverty proposals outside of Greene County.

Other offerings are:

• $40,000 for senior issues, a partnership with the Greene County Senior Services' Tax Fund Board to improve quality of life for senior citizens;
• $20,000 for arts and culture grants to be administered by the Springfield Regional Arts Council; and
• $25,000 available for CFO's nonprofit partners iin the region.

Application and deadline information is posted on CFO's website.