Senior Fund Awards $400,051 in New Applicant Defined Grants

Eleven organizations were selected by St. Louis City Senior Fund’s executive board to receive a total of $400,051 in applicant defined grants beginning April 1, 2020.

Applicant Defined Grants is a new funding category opened by the Senior Fund in October 2019. It was created in recognition that there are a range of needs for older adults—and the organizations that serve them—that may not always fall under the Senior Fund’s focus areas.

The new funding category provides grants based upon an applicant’s determination of organization and community need. Funding was allocated to support innovations in programs, emerging needs, and organizational capacity that is consistent with the Senior Fund’s vision and focused on serving St. Louis City residents who are 60 years or older.

Thirty-two applications were received for this funding round. Requests ranged from $15,000 to $75,000 for a total of almost $1.5M in requests; $400,000 was budgeted for awards.

The following organizations received funding:

  • Cardinal Ritter Senior Services (Program Support/Program Expansion)
  • College Hill Foundation (Program Support/Program Expansion)
  • Deaconess Nurse Ministry, in collaboration with Saint Louis University and Mission: St. Louis (Pilot Project)
  • Lewis Place Historical Preservation (Pilot Project)
  • Mission: St. Louis (Capacity Building)
  • P.E.A.C.E. Weaving Wholeness (Program Support/Program Expansion)
  • Rebuilding Together, St. Louis (Pilot Project)
  • St. Francis Community Services (Program Support/Program Expansion)
  • St. Louis Area Agency on Aging (Pilot Project)
  • Wesley House Association (Program Support/Program Expansion)
  • The Youth and Family Center (Program Support/Program Expansion)

Learn more about the Senior Fund’s applicant defined grants.


Funded partners listed above were supported in part by their grant from the St. Louis City Senior Fund to serve residents in the City of St. Louis who are 60 years and older. Many organizations listed have additional resources to serve older adults in St. Louis City and other areas of the region.