Missouri Charless Foundation Grants for Older Adults

Missouri Charless Foundation Grants for Older Adults — 2026

Funding$10,000-$50,000 per year; food-bank and food-pantry awards are capped at $10,000 per year per distribution site.

DeadlineOctober 7, 2026 at 12:00 PM (noon) CST.

Last verifiedSeptember 16, 2026

Required next actionEligible 501(c)(3) nonprofits or fiscally sponsored organizations serving economically insecure adults age 60+ in the specified South St. Louis City ZIP codes should complete the portal eligibility quiz, prepare the required budget and financial attachments, and submit one application through the St. Louis Community Foundation grant portal by October 7, 2026 at 12:00 PM CST. Five Star Center, Inc. is a high-confidence applicant candidate for the home-repair priority based on its official St. Louis City senior home-repair, weatherproofing, accessibility-modification and financial-need criteria and its 63118 location. Guardian Angel Settlement Association is a high-confidence food-insecurity applicant candidate based on its official 63118 Social Stability pantry and Graceful Guardians services for adults age 60+, including food access and deliveries for people with transportation or mobility barriers. Before any outreach, complete exact Zoho Contacts and Leads deduplication, exact-grant sent-history deduplication, Email Opt-Out verification, and final Zoho-render inspection. Rebuilding Together St. Louis remains a strong mission-fit organization but its current public funding-partners page lists the Charless Foundation as a Community Builder, so verify that existing funder relationship before any outreach. Mission: St. Louis should likewise be treated as an existing Charless-funded relationship rather than a generic cold prospect because its current official home-repair pages identify the Charless Foundation as a funder. St. Andrew's Charitable Foundation is a strong home-repair/senior fit, but historical official annual-report evidence shows prior Charless Foundation funding; verify current grantee/relationship status before any outreach. The 2026 RFP also offers applicant office hours September 17 from 9-11 a.m. and September 28 from 3-5 p.m. through grants@stlgives.org.

Broad Eligibility

501(c)(3) public nonprofits in good standing, or organizations with a qualifying 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor, serving economically insecure adults age 60+ in the Charless Foundation target South St. Louis City ZIP codes. Applicants may request funding for home repair/modification/weatherization/preservation or food insecurity work under the 2026 RFP.

Atlas Analysis

Atlas Opportunity Score 84/100. N9+ Fit 0/100. QC Healthcare/other Dr. Miltie fit 5/100 conditional. The opportunity is health-relevant through aging in place, housing conditions and nutrition access, but the 2026 scope does not establish a clinical-device, telehealth, remote-exam or healthcare-services procurement pathway. Dr. Miltie, LLC is not a verified direct eligible applicant. Applicant intelligence: Rebuilding Together St. Louis is a strong mission-fit candidate for the home-repair priority because its current official materials document no-cost home repairs and modifications for income-qualified older adults in St. Louis City and County. Its 2026 funding-partners page also lists the Charless Foundation of the St. Louis Community Foundation as a current Community Builder, so treat the organization as an existing funder relationship and verify the current award/relationship before any new outreach rather than sending a generic cold introduction. Five Star Center, Inc. is a high-confidence home-repair candidate: its official site lists a St. Louis City office at 2832 Arsenal Street, 63118; a home-repair program offering minor repairs, weatherproofing and accessibility modifications for seniors age 60+ or people with disabilities who live in St. Louis City and demonstrate financial need; and verified grant-facing leadership including Development Director Victor Mathuthu and Executive Director Carla Evans. No public evidence of a current Charless relationship was found during the September 16, 2026 verification. Outreach remains gated on exact CRM Contacts/Leads search, exact-grant sent-history deduplication, Email Opt-Out verification, and final Zoho HTML render inspection.

The Charless Foundation, a component fund of the St. Louis Community Foundation, is accepting 2026 proposals from nonprofit organizations serving economically insecure adults age 60 and older in targeted South St. Louis City ZIP codes.

Funding: Grants may range from $10,000 to $50,000 per year. Food-bank and food-pantry awards are limited to $10,000 per year per distribution site. New applicants may receive one year of funding; organizations funded by Charless within the past five years may request up to three years, subject to annual reporting.

Deadline: October 7, 2026 at 12:00 PM (noon) CST.

Eligibility: Applicants must be a 501(c)(3) public nonprofit in good standing or have a qualifying 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor. The proposed work must serve economically insecure older adults in the Foundation’s target South St. Louis City ZIP codes. The RFP defines older adults as age 60 or older and economically insecure as living at or below 200% of the federal poverty level.

2026 funding focus: Each applicant may submit one application for either home repairs, modifications, weatherization and preservation or food insecurity. Strong proposals help older adults age in place through improved housing quality and financial security, or improve access to nutritious food. General operating support is available for organizations specializing in home repair; program operating support is available for qualifying home-repair or food programs within multi-service organizations.

Geography: Target ZIP codes are 63104, 63109, 63110, 63111, 63116, 63118, 63123, 63125 and 63139. The nonprofit itself does not have to be physically located in those ZIP codes, but Charless funding must be used within the targeted geography.

Ineligible uses: The RFP excludes organizational endowments, research initiatives, capital improvements for the nonprofit organization, nonprofit or homeowner debt reduction, land or building purchases, repairs or modifications to commercial buildings, political campaigns and prohibited lobbying activity.

Match/cost share: The controlling 2026 RFP does not state a mandatory match or cost-share requirement. Partnerships that leverage other funding are viewed favorably.

Submission method: Proposals must be submitted through the St. Louis Community Foundation online grant portal. Applicants first complete an eligibility quiz; passing the quiz unlocks the application, and the eligibility quiz alone is not considered a proposal. Organizations may submit only one application.

Required financial information: Applicants must use the Foundation’s project/program budget template. General-operating requests require the most recent fiscal-year actual budget. Applicants also must upload the two most recent audits or, if audits are unavailable, the three most recent IRS Forms 990. Organizations filing Form 990-N must include the prior fiscal year’s actual budget. The application also requests applicant-controlled program, financial, fiscal-sponsorship and authorized-signatory information, which Atlas will not fabricate.

Atlas fit: Atlas Opportunity Score: 84/100. N9+ Fit: 0/100. QC Healthcare / other Dr. Miltie fit: 5/100 conditional. This is a legitimate senior-health and social-determinants opportunity, but the 2026 scope is specifically home repair/preservation and food insecurity. It does not establish an allowable connected clinical-device, telehealth or remote-exam procurement pathway, so Atlas will not force-fit N9+. Dr. Miltie, LLC is not a direct eligible applicant under the nonprofit/fiscal-sponsor structure.

Official sources: St. Louis Community Foundation Grants Management and the 2026 Charless Foundation Request for Proposal.

Source verificationReferenced source · stlgives.orgAtlas last verified this record September 16, 2026. Always use the funder's current application materials, amendments and portal instructions as the controlling source.View source and application materials ↗