When might CFO hit $1B in assets?

When might Community Foundation of the Ozarks Inc. reach $1 billion in assets under management?

That question was posed to CFO President and CEO Winter Kinne by Springfield Business Journal Executive Editor Christine Temple yesterday during the publication's monthly 12 People You Need to Know interview series. Kinne was interviewed live at The Backlot, Alamo Drafthouse Springfield's restaurant and bar.

Stressing that her prediction is a conservative estimate, Kinne said CFO could reach the $1 billion milestone in around a dozen years.

"But we have no control over what happens in the market," she said. "If we have another recession and the market drops 30%, that's a whole different ballgame. So, don't hold me to that."

CFO ended May at $476 million in assets, said Aaron Scott, director of communications for the nonprofit. That's up from record assets of $426.7 million reported by the foundation at the end of fiscal 2023 on June 30, 2023, according to past SBJ reporting.

Perspective shift
Kinne succeeded Brian Fogle as CFO's leader in November 2023, and three months later, the organization announced plans to purchase the Kenneth E. Meyer Alumni Center, 300 S. Jefferson Ave., from Missouri State University for its new home.

Kinne, who has nearly 20 years' experience at CFO, said she's leading a mindset shift at the nonprofit that now includes a different kind of stewardship in addition to its management of donor-advised funds.

She credited architect Tim Rosenbury, director of quality place initiatives for the city of Springfield who helped CFO find its new home, for leading a shift based on questions he asked during the process.

"What if it had gone to an out-of-town developer or company that buys real estate and then didn't keep it up? What would 80,000 square feet of not-great office space do to downtown? If you go worst-case scenario, what if it was boarded up?" Kinne said yesterday. "Now all of a sudden I'm thinking about stewardship and our investment in a different way, kind of related to community development and economic development and what that looks like for Springfield."

Kinne said building renovations at 300 S. Jefferson Ave. would start in around a year and that CFO plans to occupy the fourth floor. The MSU Foundation will remain in the building until it relocates to a planned new facility at the school's main Springfield campus, and the building is 100% full with tenants.

"We've got to get through the renovation and the move right now," Kinne said of CFO, which currently operates at 425 E. Trafficway St.