CFO's Moe Sandfort announces retirement

Maurice "Moe" Sandfort, the Community Foundation of the Ozarks’ Senior Advisor for Philanthropy for the East Region based in Cape Girardeau, has announced his retirement effective Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016. A longtime banker, Sandfort was hired in 2015 as the Springfield-based CFO’s first staff member serving the foundation’s east region.

The CFO will maintain its east region office in Cape Girardeau and plans to hire a new staff associate by early 2017. Sandfort plans to remain active in philanthropy and serve on the board of the Cape Area Community Foundation, which he helped establish in August 2015.

“It has been a pleasure and privilege to introduce the east region of Missouri to the spirit of community philanthropy through the Community Foundation of the Ozarks,” Sandfort said. “I am grateful for those donors that helped raise the $30,000 in unrestricted funds to get the Cape Area Community Foundation established, as well as the boards of the Cape Area, Perry County, and Ste. Genevieve County foundations that continue to improve the quality of life in their areas.”

Sandfort spent 46 years in executive management positions in banking before retiring in 2011 from the Bank of Missouri. He has worked at banks in Cape Girardeau, West Plains, Columbia and St. Charles, and also taught principles of banking courses for the American Institute of Banking.

An active community volunteer, Sandfort has served on the boards of the St. Francis Medical Center, Trinity Lutheran Church and the Southeast Missouri State University Foundation. He also has been involved in civic organizations including Rotary Clubs, Chambers of Commerce and United Ways in Cape Girardeau and West Plains. He and his wife, Patricia, have six grown children and 14 grandchildren.

“We were, and continue to be, very fortunate to have Moe working on behalf of philanthropy in eastern Missouri,” CFO President Brian Fogle said. “He was the right man at the right time to grow CFO’s presence in the region and we are excited about the momentum he has started.”

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is a regional public charitable foundation with a service area covering 58 counties south of the Missouri River. The CFO includes a network of 49 regional affiliate foundations. The Cape Girardeau office helps the CFO more closely serve the Ste. Genevieve County Community Foundation, the Perry County Community Foundation and the Cape Area Community Foundation, which serves Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City.

The CFO holds assets of $253 million as of June 30, 2016 in about 3,000 charitable funds serving donors, affiliate foundations and nearly 600 nonprofit agencies and schools.