Community Foundation of the Ozarks Opens Joplin Recovery Fund with $10,000 Contribution

Breaking News

(Editor's Note: Contributions to the Joplin Recovery Fund can be made online at: Give Online – please note “Joplin Recovery Fund” in the Fund/Program box. Checks can be mailed to: Community Foundation of the Ozarks, P.O. Box 8960, Springfield, MO, 65801. All donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by the IRS.)

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks, with its Joplin-Carthage area affiliate, today established the Joplin Recovery Fund for donors interested in supporting mid- and long-term community redevelopment efforts to rebuild the devastated city.

The CFO will seed the fund with a $10,000 contribution on behalf of its affiliate, the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc., which covers Barton, Jasper, McDonald and Newton  counties through the CFO’s regional office in Joplin.

 

 

The goal of the fund will be to address the needs of non-profit organizations serving the Joplin area as they work on recovery efforts, which will require years of support. The CFO will make 100 percent of the Joplin Recovery Fund available for recovery grantmaking needs in Joplin. The Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc., Board of Directors is developing a community leadership committee that will establish criteria and make local funding decisions.

Contributions to the Joplin Recovery Fund can be made online at: Give Online – please note “Joplin Recovery Fund” in the Fund/Program box. Checks can be mailed to: Community Foundation of the Ozarks, P.O. Box 8960, Springfield, MO, 65801. All donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by the IRS.

“Joplin has never seen a disaster to this magnitude,” said CFSWM Board Chair Lisa Knutzen. “We pray for the missing and the families without loved ones, but with your help we can rebuild their lives, homes, and our community.”

CFO President Brian Fogle said making the $10,000 contribution to open a fund focusing on Joplin’s  recovery  underscores the CFO’s mission of public leadership, resource development, grantmaking and collaboration.

“The strength of being a community foundation is that we are well established in all of our affiliate communities with local leaders who are in the best position to understand the local priorities,” CFO President Brian Fogle said. “We have strong ‘boots on the ground’ in the Joplin area who are vested in the community’s long-term recovery.

“We also know from our past disaster experience, including the 2003 Stockton tornado, that recovery is a long-haul process. As bleak as things might look today, we want to help give our Joplin neighbors hope and confidence that they will successfully re-build their community,” Fogle said.

The Joplin Recovery Fund will not be directed to emergency needs, such as food and shelter, because many other agencies are addressing those issues. Any donors interested in contributing for first-response needs are encouraged to contact one of those agencies, such as the American Red Cross or Convoy of Hope.