County Endowments

County Endowments

Live Here. Give Here.

County Endowment Funds keep local money working for local causes.

Our County Endowments began with a pilot program in Pike County, Illinois. In 2008, a few of the county’s residents began raising money to establish a Pike County Endowment Fund with the Community Foundation. As they did, others started to realize that a county endowment fund provides a way to retain local assets to support a broad range of charitable needs and opportunities in their county—for good, forever. 

Pike County’s success led the Community Foundation to launch a County Endowment Fund Match Initiative. All 12 counties in the Community Foundation’s service area were invited to participate. Why? Because the Community Foundation believes each county can effectively pool resources for community betterment and generate increased awareness of local needs and opportunities. 
County Endowment Intro Packet
The Community Foundation continues to act on its mission of ‘Connecting people who care with causes that matter’ by offering its assistance—and up to $15,000 in matching funds—to reach its goal of establishing a county endowment fund in each county in its service area. To date, eight counties have established endowments and met the match: Adams, Brown, Hancock, and Pike in Illinois and Lewis, Marion, Monroe, and Shelby in Missouri. Ralls County, Missouri is currently in the fundraising stage. 

If you’re interested in establishing a County Endowment Fund for your county (Clark, Knox, and Pike in Missouri), please click here or contact us to learn more. 
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