Nixa foundation receives Cooper Supply Co. grant

The Nixa Education Foundation received $11,100 from the Community Foundation of the Ozarks after completing the Harry Cooper Supply Co. Campaign for the Ozarks, which aims to build long-term education funding through philanthropy.

During 2010, the Nixa foundation raised $21,930 to receive the matching funds through the Cooper Phase II Challenge for members of CFO’s Rural Schools Partnership, according to a CFO news release. The total of $33,030 is designated for the foundation’s Legacy Fund, which aims to annually distribute funds to help stabilize the district’s revenue, the release said.

Nixa was among 26 southern Missouri rural schools that participated in the year-long challenge grant campaign, which raised nearly $1 million from donors and the Harry Cooper Supply Co. to build long-term sustainability for these districts.

Schools were charged with raising $20,000 for academic-oriented endowments in order to receive a $10,000 match.

Bolivar and Lockwood also are among the districts to reach the goal, according to www.cfozarks.org.

Nixa Education Foundation President Becky Sawyer said the group organized a $100 for 100 campaign for Nixa alumni, while faculty and staff contributed through payroll deductions. Additionally, students and parents made donations to honor people special to them, and students created and sold Christmas cards to raise money, the release said.

The Harry Cooper Supply Co. Campaign for the Ozarks Phase II Challenge supports CFO’s Rural Schools Partnership, which builds education foundations and philanthropic assets to maintain rural schools as anchors of their communities, the release said.

The first phase of the Cooper Challenge, which marked the Springfield-based firm’s first 100 years of business in 2008, worked to create similar endowments for the CFO’s affiliate foundations across southern Missouri.[[In-content Ad]]