About Heart of Missouri United Way
Heart of Missouri United Way brings the community together to address changing needs and defeat barriers to basic needs, health, education, and financial stability by forging strategic partnerships, inspiring volunteers and donors, and investing resources for measurable community impact.
Focus Areas
Health & Basic NeedsEducationFinancial Stability / Economic MobilityNonprofit Capacity BuildingVolunteerismEquity, Inclusion & Advocacy
Who They Fund
children and youth (including early childhood)refugees and immigrant familieslow-income families and individualsvictims/survivors of violence (including child advocacy)people with developmental disabilities (autism)
About Heart of Missouri United Way
Heart of Missouri United Way Inc uses local grantmaking to support the needs that show up across Columbia and surrounding Mid-Missouri communities. Recent awards show a consistent pattern of backing partner agencies that work in education, basic needs, health, housing stability, and financial mobility, while also funding capacity-building efforts for nonprofits themselves. The largest recent grants in the list went to Love Columbia for coaching and path-forward support, to United Community Builders for education and training, and to the Voluntary Action Center for basic needs programming. The foundation also supports refugee and immigrant family stability through City of Refuge and housing legal services through Mid-Missouri Legal Services. Another visible thread is early childhood and school-age support, with grants to Harrisburg Early Learning Center, Mary Lee Johnston Early Learning, and Boys & Girls Club of Columbia. Across the record, the foundation funds organizations serving children and youth, low-income families, refugees and immigrant families, and people with developmental disabilities. Its approach combines direct program support with targeted project funding, community engagement, and nonprofit capacity building.
What Heart of Missouri United Way Funds
Education is one of the clearest areas of support. Heart of Missouri United Way Inc gave $158,270 to United Community Builders for education and training, and $105,000 to Harrisburg Early Learning Center for early childhood services. School-age learning also appears in grants to Boys & Girls Club of Columbia for the Great Futures program and to Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture for education-related garden programming. Basic needs and health are another recurring priority. The foundation awarded $135,000 to Voluntary Action Center for basic needs, and it supported Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture with $86,920 for education and gardens tied to health and service. Housing stability and legal help also receive funding: Mid-Missouri Legal Services got $100,000 for housing law. The grant list also includes refugee stability support through City of Refuge.
How Heart of Missouri United Way Gives
Typical awards cluster around a mid-sized local grant range, with a p25 of $30,761, a median of $75,000, and a p75 of $100,002. The recent grants list shows repeated support to the same organizations across multiple years, including Love Columbia, Voluntary Action Center, Harrisburg Early Learning Center, City of Refuge, Wilkes Blvd Umc, and Mid-Missouri Legal Services. That pattern suggests ongoing relationship-based funding rather than isolated one-off awards. The foundation operates as a community grantmaker with local, project-based, and capacity-building programs, including some that are open to unsolicited requests and others that are invitation-based or cohort-based.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$1.7M
Total Assets
$3.9M
Total Revenue
$3.1M
Total Expenses
$3M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $31K and $100K, with a median of $75K.
25th Percentile
$31K
Median
$75K
75th Percentile
$100K
Geographic Reach
Local1 state funded
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
ANDREW GRABAU
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