Eighteen groups, mostly in Jasper or Newton counties, will benefit from more than $16,000 in grants that will be awarded next week at Carthage City Hall.
Bill Putnam, executive director of the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, said his group plans to hand out grant checks to a variety of organizations at a public ceremony at 3 p.m., Tuesday at Carthage City Hall.
While most of the grants were approved in meetings of the foundation's board of directors weeks ago, one grant was only approved in the week before the Memorial Day holiday, according to Putnam.
"Just this week, we were notified by the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, our parent organization, that they were making a donation of $1,000 from a discretionary fund to assist the victims of the tornadoes," Putnam said. "They contributed $1,000 and we added $1,000 and the money will go to the American Red Cross office in Joplin to assist with helping victims of the disaster."
Putnam said this was the seventh year, and seventh round of grants, given out by the foundation, which used to be known as the Carthage Community Foundation before it expanded its mission to include Jasper, Newton, McDonald and Barton counties.
He said the group's board of directors reviews applications to decide who gets how much money from the 46 endowment funds administered by the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri.
"Typically, early in February, we send notifications to local charitable organizations letting them know we have money to give away and for them to submit their requests," Putnam said. "Our board of directors meets in early spring to review the requests and divide up the money."
The money give out is the interest income from the assets of the 46 charitable trust funds set up by individuals, groups and businesses, and administered by the foundation. Putnam said the 46 funds in the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri have total assets of nearly $5.2 million, and his foundation is affiliated with the Community Foundation of the Ozarks with assets of more than $140 million.
Some funds designate that their proceeds will go to a specific group. Putnam said at least two trust funds under his administration are set up so their proceeds go to the Carthage Crisis Center to give that group a reliable source of income.
Others allow part or all of their proceeds to be given out as determined by the foundation's board.
