The Bakersfield R-IV School District is among 16 entities sharing $250,000 in grant funding from the Community Foundation of the Ozarks. The grants to rural communities are for high-priority needs through the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation in partnership with Commerce Trust Company.
The Bakersfield School District is set to receive $20,000 for technology to enable remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and for future needs.
While the grant applications were due in early spring, finalists were offered the opportunity to refocus their funds to address needs related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately $188,000 of the funds are earmarked for COVID-related efforts. The Coover Charitable Foundation is one of the CFO’s lead partners in a $1 million commitment for the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund established in March.
“The Coover Charitable Foundation is so proud to provide this much-needed annual grantmaking opportunity for rural Missouri,” says Commerce Trust Senior Vice President Jill Reynolds. “A hallmark of philanthropy is its creative and flexible approach to funding, which is essential this year for many of these grantees extending their resources to support COVID-19 efforts in their communities.”
The grants are made possible through the generosity of the late Julia Dorothy Coover, who worked for Commerce Bank for 30 years. She established the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation in 1992 to honor her husband’s memory. Since then, the Coover Charitable Foundation has awarded about $5.95 million in grants to nonprofit agencies and rural schools across the Ozarks.
The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is a regional public charitable foundation established in 1973 providing asset and resource development, grantmaking and public leadership through a network of donors, 49 affiliate foundation and more than 600 nonprofit partners across central and southern Missouri.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI