Applications open for Coover Regional grantmaking program to support senior centers

The Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation is dedicating $250,000 to the needs of senior centers across central and southern Missouri through its 2022 regional grantmaking program.

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is accepting applications for the Coover Regional Senior Center Support Grant Program for building improvements, maintenance, equipment and other expenses that ensure senior centers are operating in their best conditions.

This grant opportunity is available to senior centers outside of Springfield-Greene County operating with IRS-recognized nonprofit or equivalent status within the CFO’s 58-county service area south of the Missouri River. The recommended range for proposals is $10,000 to $25,000 for this single-year program offering a total of $250,000.

Many senior centers were closed for significant periods of time throughout the pandemic or shifted their services to drive-through or drop-in operations. That left centers with deferred maintenance, new ways of providing services and other needs that this grant cycle is intended to address.

Logo for Community Foundation of the Ozarks

This grant cycle is made possible through the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation, a partnership with Commerce Trust Company. A 30-year Commerce employee, Julia Dorothy Coover established the foundation in 1992 to honor her husband’s memory. Since then, the Coover Charitable Foundation has awarded more than $7 million in grants to nonprofit agencies and rural schools across the Ozarks.

For information on how to apply, visit cfozarks.org/applyforgrants. The deadline for applications is 11:45 p.m., Friday, Feb. 4, 2022.

Founded in 1973, the Community Foundation of the Ozarks is the region’s largest public charitable foundation serving a network of donors, 53 regional affiliate foundations and nonprofit partners across central and southern Missouri through with assets of $394 million as of June 30.