June 8, 2006
Contact: Bev Pfeifer-Harms
314.345.5500 office

Foundation Funds Strategic Development

Four Nonprofits Receive Help in Planning and Improving Efficiency

ST. LOUIS- Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) has awarded $82,869 to assist four nonprofit organizations in strategic planning and evaluation development. These grants were made available through MFH's Strategic Organizational Development (SOD) funding program.

SOD funding is designed to help organizations improve their decision-making, program efficiency, and managerial performance in order to better implement their missions.

Those organizations receiving SOD funding are:

Whole Kids Outreach, Ellington, $12,590. This east-central Missouri organization, which serves children who are victims of or at risk for abuse and neglect, will develop a five-year strategic plan to help shape its future programs.

FaithWalk Ministries, Inc., Paris, $30,729. The organization, located in Monroe County in northeast Missouri, will use strategic planning and time management training to increase its capacity to provide individuals with transitional and outreach services.

Jefferson County Health Department, Hillsboro, $7,250. The department will use a consultant to integrate and streamline the current data system in order to improve efficiency.

Central Missouri Food Bank, Columbia, $32,300. The organization will conduct a strategic needs assessment to improve the use of its mobile food pantry and to implement a warehouse food distribution system.

The SOD program will offer two more funding cycle in 2006, with the next one opening in July. Details and eligibility requirements are on the MFH website, www.mffh.org.

Established in 2000 through the for-profit conversion of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Missouri, MFH is the largest non-governmental funder of community health activities in the state. The Foundation is in its fourth year of grantmaking, issuing more than $167 million in grants and awards to date. It is dedicated to serving the uninsured and underserved in 84 Missouri counties and the City of St. Louis.

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