Give Ozarks Day returns March 24, 2021

Give Ozarks Day, the regionwide day of giving presented by the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, will take place on March 24, 2021. The online crowdfunding event will run 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to support the CFO’s nonprofit agency partners.

With the theme “Rally for Recovery,” this Give Ozarks will offer nonprofits the opportunity to raise operating funds to help sustain their work after a year of fundraising cancellations, financial challenges and program disruptions, often coupled with an increased need for services during the pandemic.

The event will be powered by CauseMomentum.org, the CFO’s crowdfunding platform developed in partnership with Springfield-based digital agency Mostly Serious. Each participating agency partner will have a fundraising page on the site to describe its program goals and financial needs that would be supported by donations for operating funds. Donors can visit GiveOzarks.org on March 24 to make secure, tax-deductible online gifts starting at $5. The CFO hosted Give Ozarks for three years in 2015–17 and raised more than $3.6 million in donations, prizes and matching funds for some 250 agencies.

“Operating funds are often the hardest type of money to raise because donors are often attracted to marquee projects that advance a nonprofit’s mission,” CFO President Brian Fogle said. “But as this very challenging moment in history continues, we want to encourage donors to help nonprofits keep their doors open to provide the valuable services that help sustain all of us, ranging from basic needs to areas like art and nature that have helped so many of us cope over these months.”

Sponsors for the 2021 event include: Bass Pro Shops; Central Bank and Central Trust Co.; the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation managed by Commerce Trust; the Darr Family Foundation; Great Southern Bank; Guaranty Bank; the Hatch Foundation; Legacy Bank; Ollis/Akers/Arney; and SFC Bank.

The sponsors will support prizes to be awarded hourly. Individuals or businesses interested in sponsoring a prize should contact Winter Kinne, the CFO’s Vice President of Development, at wkinne@cfozarks.org or (417) 864-6199.

The CFO’s nonprofit agency partners are organizations with 501(c)3 or equivalent status that have established a fund with the CFO. Through fund management, endowments and a host of other services, the CFO’s Agency Partner Program helps build stronger organizations to better serve their communities. More than 600 agency partners across the region participate in the program.

Founded in 1973, the CFO is the region’s largest public charitable foundation serving a network of donors, 51 affiliate foundations and nonprofit partners across central and southern Missouri through with assets of $310 million as of June 30.