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Home » How We Fund » Accountability

Accountability.

One of our core values at CSF is accountability. We strive to invest public funds wisely and responsibly, to earn and sustain the trust of St. Louis County residents, and to ensure that the services we fund have a positive impact on the community. We’d like to tell you a little bit about how we do this.

Therapist working with a child

Investing in High-Quality Programs.

Before we choose to fund an organization, we take the time to learn about them. To receive funding from CSF, an organization must first apply. In the application, we ask them to tell us about:

  • who in the community their services are intended to help
  • what impact they expect those services to have on their clients
  • their current financial situation
  • and much more

All of this information helps us learn more about each organization that applies for funding, which helps us make responsible decisions about who to invest in. It’s always our priority to ensure the organizations we fund are providing services that will have the greatest positive impact on the community.

Holding Partners to High Standards.

Once we are in partnership with an organization, we continue to do our part to ensure public funds are being invested wisely. We have regular check-ins with our partners to make sure their funded services are on track and going well. We also visit our partners once during their contract period to meet with staff, learn about what’s going well, and discuss any concerns to ensure funds are being used appropriately.

If we receive complaints about any of our funded partners or their services, we act quickly to understand and address concerns. Our priority is always to ensure that kids and families in St. Louis County are receiving quality services and that our funding is being used wisely and within our statutory limits.

Mutual Accountability .

While we do all we can to ensure the sales tax dollars we’re investing into the community are being used responsibly, we also expect our partners to hold us to high standards as well. We regularly seek feedback on how we operate as a funder, partner, and community leader. When it’s clear that changing our policies and practices would better support our partners and the community, we take steps to do so. We strive to be the best partner, funder and steward of public funds that we can, and we recognize that evolving our practices to meet changing community needs is part of that.

If you’re interested in being informed of upcoming funding opportunities, sign up here.