Missouri · Nonprofit
SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING
SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING (Missouri) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $189,410 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE OZARKS INC ($80,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 56% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.8M
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $189k
- Net assets
- $4.9M
What Southwest Center for Independent Living does
Mission
The mission of Southwest Center for Independent Living dba empower: abilities, is to reduce barriers and empower independnet living for all people with disabilities. This work is carried out through the provision of a full range of independent living services, assistive technology, durable medical equipment, home modifications, and attendant care services, all aimed at maximizing independence. We work to reduce barriers in the community through advocacy and technical assistance to both private and public entities and advocate for the rights and needs of people with disabilities at the local, state, and national level.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
In home services
$219,772 spent3% of program spendingAccess department
$345,608 spent5% of program spendingConsumer directed services
$4,828,348 spent71% of program spendingAdvocacy expenses: 98,186 personal care attendants expenses: 695,597 independent living expenses: 654,570 investment management expenses: 1,683
$1,446,670 spent21% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,840,398.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2017 to 2018, from $1.9M to $5.4M (+183%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 3% · 2018 2% · 2019 3% · 2020 3% · 2021 10% · 2022 4% · 2023 3% · 2024 4% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Shannon M Porter
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income fell $12k → $10k.
4 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 56% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 11 of 12 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
75% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 49% · 2019 77% · 2020 99% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 50% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
25% of SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 42% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
56% of SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $83k that is directly attributable, 67% of it comes from Missouri funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $107k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Government funding SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.9M on record.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$1.9M
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Missouri
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
89%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING?
- SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING (Missouri) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $189,410 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE OZARKS INC ($80,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 56% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $189,410 in grants to SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING?
- COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE OZARKS INC is the largest funder on record, with $80,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SOUTHWEST CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Southwest Center for Independent Living →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 12 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing