UMB Bank deposits $350K supporting The Porter House KC; $1.25M in year-end KC donations to benefit underserved communities
December 21, 2021 | Startland News Staff
A hefty, end-of-year donation from UMB Bank will provide The Porter House KC an opportunity to dig deeper in assisting local entrepreneurs, said Daniel Smith, expressing appreciation for the $350,000 boost.
“These resources will be used to continue our current work and implement another program that will assist small businesses with direct support, creating additional inroads to success,” said Smith, co-founder and principal of The Porter House KC.
Charon Thompson and Dan Smith, The Porter House KC
Click here to read more about what drives Smith and co-founder Charon Thompson, who were recognized for their work at The Porter House KC as two of Startland News’ 2021 Kansas City Community Builders to Watch.
The donation from Kansas City-based UMB Bank is part of a $1.25 million gift to three organizations supporting underserved communities’ housing needs, small business efforts, and education and emerging talent in Kansas City. KC Scholars is expected to receive $500,000, while CHES, Inc. is set for $400,000. (The Porter House KC is itself a program of CHES, Inc., but is receiving an individual donation.)
“For more than a century, UMB has actively supported each community we serve,” said Mariner Kemper, chairman, president and CEO of UMB Financial Corporation. “We’ve had a strong year, and we want to share this success by giving much needed funding to key organizations within our communities. We’re thrilled to support these outstanding community partners and the tremendous work they’re already doing. We hope to see the impact of these dollars for years to come.”
CHES, Inc. is a HUD approved housing counseling and financial empowerment organization dedicated to helping clients maintain the knowledge and skills needed for long-term credit, financial and homeownership success. The UMB Bank donation will support CHES, Inc. programs including CHES Financial Empowerment and Kansas City Bank On.
The Porter House KC is an inner city based co-working community that provides entrepreneurship access and resources to underserved populations in the Kansas City Metro area. The organization resolves to assist in the representation of entrepreneurs of color by providing an affordable business space that can be used to grow an idea to a full-fledged business.
Click here to learn more about The Porter House KC.
Two additional donations of $375,000 from UMB Bank have been made to Denver organizations NEWSED and Rocky Mountain MicroFinance Institute, bringing the total for the five year-end donations to $2 million, and UMB’s 2021 giving to more than $6 million.
UMB offers commercial, personal, and institutional banking services with branches throughout Missouri, Illinois, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arizona and Texas, and serves business and institutional clients nationwide.
This story is possible thanks to support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a private, nonpartisan foundation that works together with communities in education and entrepreneurship to create uncommon solutions and empower people to shape their futures and be successful.
For more information, visit www.kauffman.org and connect at www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn
Featured Business
2021 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
This 11-year-old’s lemonade sells out in hours at Hy-Vee; Here’s how he hopes to extend the shelf life of his young family business
The all-natural, fresh-squeezed lemonade made by 11-year-old Tre Glasper and his family in a Manhattan commercial kitchen is making its way to Kansas City thanks to a tart partnership with one of the Midwest’s leading grocery chains. Tre typically sells about 100 bottles of Tre’s Squeeze — an amount that takes two to three hours…
City’s KC BizCare experiment proves itself as a model to replicate, says new small biz official
Editor’s note: KC BizCare is a financial supporter of Startland News. This story was produced through a paid partnership. Amanda Wheeler’s background in biology provides new insight and expertise within Kansas City’s growing small business culture, the KC BizCare official said — a community give-back hypothesis supported by Wheeler watching women in her family do…
LaunchKC eyes startups building ‘a more prosperous and equitable future’; Social Venture Studio opens apps
A program created in late 2021 to help boost promising social ventures as they create sustainable business models to tackle social, racial, or environmental issues is returning this spring for its second cohort. LaunchKC’s Social Venture Studio is now accepting applications for its program, which aims to drive social impact and return on investment via…
Grief happens on (and off) company time: Why a startup founded from loss is building holistic bereavement plans for corporate America
When grieving employees return to work, managers and colleagues often aren’t equipped to properly support them, said Lisa Cooper. “While I was working in corporate America for quite some time, I had witnessed a lot of dysfunction surrounding grief,” said Cooper, co-founder of Workplace Healing alongside Mindy Corporon. For example, I can remember specifically when someone…