Community Endowment Fund - St. Louis Community Foundation

Ensure a bright future for St. Louis.

Community endowments matter.

They fund regional opportunities. They also help kickstart relief efforts in times of crisis and emergency. These endowed dollars enable the St. Louis Community Foundation to ensure the region has the agility needed to act quickly and support promising initiatives that benefit our area for years—if not decades—to come.

Covid relief: When COVID-19 appeared in the St. Louis region, the St. Louis Community Foundation started the Regional Response Fund—with its endowed dollars.

Digital divide: When further study of the scope and depth of the region’s Digital Divide was required, the St. Louis Community Foundation helped fund the research—using its endowed dollars.

Targeted community reinvestment: When comprehensive neighborhood reinvestment programs in North and South City were created, the Community Foundation pulled community resources together and helped fund the efforts—with its endowed dollars.

Unfortunately, endowed funds dedicated to St. Louis lag behind those of comparably-sized cities such as Kansas City, MO and Indianapolis, IN.

Your contribution helps ensure we have the resources to meet the exciting opportunities of the future, and the challenges that will inevitably emerge. You can also be assured of the steady, community-focused, stewardship of the Foundation’s knowledgeable staff, who can convene community experts, nonprofits, and others to creatively maximize impact of those endowed funds when circumstances warrant.

Leave your mark on the region today—and tomorrow.
Click here to make an investment in the future of St. Louis.

Impact of Endowed Funds Local Examples of Grantmaking Activity

Impact of Endowed Funds

Indianapolis: Meaningful, Lasting Investments

The Central Indiana Community Foundation has invested in Indianapolis using earnings from its endowment fund to fund efforts to address broken systems in its region, including a homelessness partnership with the city, as well as initiatives to address transportation barriers, racial disparities in infant mortality rates, bail costs for low-income people interacting with the criminal justice system, and other systemic issues.

The Central Indiana Community Foundation also led the development of an 8-mile downtown greenway cultural trail. The trail cost approximately $60 million to develop and has shown billions of dollars in impact from new restaurants, retail, mixed-use, and other high-demand development along the greenway. Property values along the greenway have increased significantly more than in other parts of the city. Before this initiative, there were only three restaurants along a single mile of the now-greenway. As of 2021, that mile has over 60 restaurants.