Missouri Food and Nutrition Grants

The James S. McDonnell Foundation (JSMF) is offering grants to support innovative, sustainable, and scalable approaches to wealth building and preservation within specific priority communities and groups. This initiative aligns with JSMF's broader mission to foster human well-being by addressing systemic economic disparities and promoting long-term financial stability. The foundation's strategic framework emphasizes helping individuals and communities build and protect wealth, demonstrating a clear theory of change that by increasing access to financial resources and strengthening community capacity, economic resilience can be significantly improved. The primary beneficiaries of this grant program are low and moderate-income individuals and families, as well as Black and historically marginalized groups, including immigrants, residing in the City of St. Louis and North St. Louis County. The impact goals are centered on increasing the number of individuals and families served by financial products, services, or practices, and ultimately increasing and preserving wealth for these target populations. This focus is directly tied to the foundation's strategic priority of addressing wealth disparities in disinvested communities. Successful proposals are expected to align with one or more of three core tactics. Tactic A focuses on increasing access to low-cost, low-barrier financial products and services that drive asset attainment, growth, and preservation. Tactic B aims to build the capacity of community-based organizations and financial institutions to support wealth building and preservation efforts. Tactic C prioritizes attracting new investment capital to disinvested communities within the designated geographic areas. These tactics serve as the foundational elements of JSMF's theory of change, postulating that a multi-pronged approach encompassing access, capacity, and investment is essential for sustainable wealth creation. The program anticipates several expected outcomes and measurable results. These include the development of new loan products for homeownership, providing private equity access for companies owned by people of color, adjusting financial products to support small and diverse-owned businesses, creating investment products that increase ownership in financial markets, supporting employee ownership business models, and implementing systemic changes to credit building. The grants, ranging from $450,000 to $900,000, will be awarded for one to three years, with awards totaling $1.8 million. Proposals will be evaluated based on the innovation, scalability, and sustainability of the proposed approach, and their alignment with JSMF’s mission and guiding principles, ensuring that funded projects have the potential for significant and lasting impact.

This grant provides funding for innovative healthcare projects in the greater Lee’s Summit area, prioritizing initiatives that promote community health, education, and sustainability.

This funding initiative provides financial support to small- and mid-scale urban farmers in the Kansas City area to enhance local food production and community benefits.

This grant provides funding to organizations that assist economically insecure seniors in South St. Louis City with housing-related needs and food insecurity.

This funding opportunity provides financial support to nonprofit organizations and eligible entities in specific Missouri counties for projects that promote animal welfare, improve food access and transparency, enhance youth education, and advance agricultural initiatives.

This grant provides financial support to Black entrepreneurs who are positively impacting their communities, helping them grow and sustain their businesses.

This grant provides matching funds to youth agricultural organizations in Missouri for projects that tackle food insecurity in their communities.

This funding opportunity supports local nonprofits and charitable organizations in Laclede County that provide essential services such as emergency shelter, food distribution, mental health support, and poverty alleviation for vulnerable residents.

This grant provides funding to nonprofit organizations, government entities, schools, and churches in the Carthage area to support projects that enhance community well-being in areas such as health, education, arts, and nutrition.