Show-Me Philanthropy Statewide Conference & Annual Meeting Sessions

The Boone County Community Services Department will share how common outcomes were developed in partnership with local funders and implemented across all funded contracts. Participants will learn how these shared outcomes are used to measure and report the impact of funding initiatives. The session will then transition into an interactive discussion where participants can share what data they collect, how they utilize it, and the challenges and opportunities they encounter in measuring and communicating impact.

Firearm injury and death (FID), including homicides, suicides, and accidental shootings, impacts people of all ages and backgrounds in all communities across Missouri. This session will explore how Missouri Foundation for Health has partnered with communities across the state to address these issues in lasting ways that align with the needs and values of their region. Lessons and implications for funders will be shared, including: navigating a politicized issue and shifting narratives, centering local contexts and voices, developing flexible and responsive funding structures, and supporting community listening and community-driven solutions.

Fiscal sponsors are among the most misunderstood - and most essential - intermediaries in Missouri’s nonprofit ecosystem. This session demystifies what fiscal sponsorship actually is (and isn’t), moving past the outdated “fiscal agent” framing to show how modern sponsors operate as relationship-based partners rather than transactional pass-throughs. Drawing on their experience leading two Missouri-based sponsors, the leaders of Build Missouri Health and Community Capital Fund will share how sponsorship strengthens emerging nonprofits by absorbing back-office burdens, facilitating access to larger funding opportunities, and providing technical assistance and training. This allows community leaders to stay focused on mission. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of the fiscal sponsorship models and the opportunities to leverage this type of partnership to strengthen the nonprofit sector.

'Familiar systems, frameworks, and funding streams have shifted dramatically in the past 18 months — leaving organizations asking questions that feel less strategic and more existential: Who are we, what is our purpose, and where do we go from here? This session opens with context: a look at major trends reshaping the field today, and how past periods of disruption have produced new structures, hard-won lessons, and an evolved sense of purpose. From there, we draw on psychology — existentialism and trauma response — to help philanthropy name what we are collectively experiencing and emerge from it. We'll explore how fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses are showing up across the sector, and offer practical approaches for finding purpose again through self-reflection, stakeholder re-engagement, and reinvention. Small-group discussions will surface strategies participants have used to reset direction — and attendees will leave with adaptable approaches for navigating instability and renewing alignment in their own institutions.'

Missouri grantmakers are often working with national data, national trends, and national benchmarks to make deeply local decisions. This session shares early findings from the Missouri Nonprofit & Philanthropy Research Project, a two-phase statewide effort pairing giving data with a survey of nonprofit staff, grant professionals, and grantmakers across the state. After a brief look at what the research has surfaced so far, attendees will work in small groups to shape what they'd want to see in a living Missouri philanthropy dashboard: what should be tracked, what's missing from current data collection, and what could actually inform funding decisions if it existed. Input from this session will directly inform future work.

'Community foundations recognize that strong relationships with communities are vital for real impact. This session will discuss the importance of trust in building effective partnerships and lasting change. We will review a case study on a Black youth suicide prevention event by Missouri Foundation for Health to show how funders can prioritize trust in their programs. Participants will complete a worksheet and discuss in small groups to identify one specific change they can make in their grantmaking or partnerships. They will leave with a clearer understanding of trust's role in impact and actionable steps for their organization.'

Can a foundation move fast and move slow at the same time? When grant cycles run twice a year and boards meet infrequently, urgency alone won't move money quickly. Responding to direct threats to the organizations it funds, the JF Roblee Foundation worked through committees between board meetings to open a broader conversation about how to be responsive to grantee partners. What emerged was change and continuity together: a codified rapid-response process with defined criteria and a 'not to exceed' budget, alongside a deepening commitment to multi-year general operating dollars. Learn what content was used in which setting, the framing that helped focus the work, and where the conversation stalled. Participants will then apply Roblee's experience to their own structures, leaving with an approach they can adapt regardless of foundation size or type.

This session shares how the St. Louis Mental Health Board developed an evaluation framework to identify Essential Services and High Performing Projects during its FY27–FY29 competitive funding cycle. The framework was created to support more contextual, equitable, and transparent funding conversations when traditional comparison factors, such as organizational size, grant amount, or number of participants served, failed to fully capture the complexity of community behavioral health work. The framework was designed to help reviewers move beyond narrow “apples-to-apples” comparisons and better account for service gaps, system continuity, equity and access, organizational learning, participant experience, and community trust.

Coming soon...

'Familiar systems, frameworks, and funding streams have shifted dramatically in the past 18 months — leaving organizations asking questions that feel less strategic and more existential: Who are we, what is our purpose, and where do we go from here? This session opens with context: a look at major trends reshaping the field today, and how past periods of disruption have produced new structures, hard-won lessons, and an evolved sense of purpose. From there, we draw on psychology — existentialism and trauma response — to help philanthropy name what we are collectively experiencing and emerge from it. We'll explore how fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses are showing up across the sector, and offer practical approaches for finding purpose again through self-reflection, stakeholder re-engagement, and reinvention. Small-group discussions will surface strategies participants have used to reset direction — and attendees will leave with adaptable approaches for navigating instability and renewing alignment in their own institutions.'