Miami County, Kansas has a charitable sector small enough to name. Part of it runs through Miami County Community Foundation in Paola, which holds funds for scholarships and local causes; the rest is independent nonprofits, churches and volunteer groups working in Paola, Osawatomie, Louisburg and Spring Hill. This page lists the organizations and funds that are publicly documented.
It is not a complete directory, and it should not be read as one. Plenty of good work in this county is done by groups that have never published a page about themselves. What is below is what can be verified, with a note wherever the record runs out. If your organization belongs here and is not, the last section says how to fix that.
Organizations the Foundation Has Publicly Listed as Supported
Miami County Community Foundation publishes a list of organizations it has supported. As published, it names the Miami County Historical Museum, the Paola Community Garden of HOPE, Lakemary Center, the American Legion Riders, Cops for Tots, the Salvation Army, the United Way, the Paola Senior Center and USD #367, the Paola school district.
Read that list for what it is. It is the set of names the Foundation has published, not a current or complete account of everyone it works with. A revised list is being compiled and has not yet been finalized, so treat the nine names as examples of the kind of organization the Foundation supports rather than as the whole picture. Asked how much the Foundation distributes and contributes, Executive Director Tammy Booe put the total at more than $100,000 and said she did not have an exact number to give.
The Funds Held at the Foundation, and What Each One Pays For
This is the part of the county’s charitable map that is documented in detail, because the Foundation administers it. Each of these is a separate fund with its own purpose. Some can be given to online through the Donate Now button; the rest take a check or a phone call. Several have no published description of what they support, and that is stated plainly below rather than papered over.
| Fund | What it does | How to give |
|---|---|---|
| Miami County Community Foundation Fund | The Foundation’s general fund | Online |
| Shifting Gears, in memory of Regan Johnson | A $500 scholarship for Paola High School seniors affected by suicide or mental illness, personally or through a family member, and a grant program paying for suicide-prevention training in public and private schools | Online |
| Stomp Out Suicide | A $500 scholarship for a graduating Osawatomie High School senior, added in 2026 in memory of Joshua McQuay, and a grant program funding suicide-prevention work in public schools across Miami and Linn County | Online |
| Avelyn SonShine Journey | Gives children’s bibles to churches and youth groups. It does not award money | Online |
| Miami County (MICO) Youth Leadership Council | A year-long leadership program for students at Louisburg, Osawatomie and Paola high schools, with a $500 scholarship at each school voted on by the Council | Online |
| Osawatomie Ministerial Association | Listed in the giving drop-down as the Oz Ministerial Fund. No published description of what it funds | Online |
| Miami County Sheriff’s Fund | No published description of what it funds | Online |
| Blue Paws for a Cause | No published description of what it supports | Online |
| Teammates of Louisburg | No published description of what it supports | Online |
| D.O. Smith Memorial Scholarship | A $3,000 award, the largest the Foundation publishes, for permanent Miami County residents holding CNA certification and/or accepted into a nursing program | Check or phone |
| Summer Blessings of Louisburg | No published description of what it funds | Check or phone |
| Osawatomie Memorial Hall Restoration | Supported the restoration of Osawatomie’s Memorial Hall, a renovation the City of Osawatomie announced as complete in August 2026 | Check or phone |
The four with no published description are a real gap, not an oversight in this article. They take donations today and nothing on the record says what the money does. If one of them is the reason you are here, call the Foundation before you give. The fund pages themselves carry whatever detail exists, and the wider question of how giving through a community foundation works is covered separately.
The Scholarship Funds Sending Money to Local Students
Eleven scholarships are published, reaching students at Paola, Osawatomie and Louisburg high schools and at Prairie View in La Cygne. Most are $500 awards and the largest published is the D.O. Smith at $3,000 a year, and between them they cover nursing, education, music, cosmetology and art, writing and screenwriting, and student leadership.
One thing matters more than the list. Almost every one of them is applied for through the student’s own high-school counselor, not through the Foundation, and no application forms are hosted on the Foundation’s website. Deadlines are set school by school, generally between January and March, with selection in April. Full eligibility for each award is on the grants and scholarships page.
Other Charitable Organizations Working in the County
Agape’s Grace, Inc. is a not-for-profit in Louisburg providing day services and residential services to adults with physical and mental disabilities, built around helping people live as independently as they are able.
4-H reaches Miami County through K-State Research and Extension’s Marais des Cygnes District, which runs the county’s clubs, projects and fair programming for young people. Joining goes through the district rather than through a national office.
Lakemary Center in Paola appears on the Foundation’s published support list and is one of the larger service organizations based in the county.
That is a short list on purpose. Two organizations that have appeared on this page for years have been left off this version because their current status could not be confirmed, and putting an unverified charity in front of a donor is worse than leaving a gap.
Where to Find the Ones That Are Not Listed Anywhere
Most small-town charitable work is invisible online. It surfaces in four places.
- The chambers of commerce. Paola, Osawatomie and Spring Hill each have one, and the rotating Chamber Coffee across the county is where most local organizations show up in person.
- Town events. The Paola Roots Festival, the Louisburg Cider Run and Fall Festival, the Spring Hill Fall Festival, Porchfest and the Freedom Festival in Osawatomie are all run by somebody, and that somebody is usually a nonprofit or a volunteer committee.
- The Paola Free Library, which hosts book clubs and creative writing sessions and knows who else is running things in town.
- The Miami County Non-Profit Gathering, an all-day event the Foundation hosts that puts the county’s nonprofits in one room.
If you are new to the county, our guide to Miami County, Kansas covers the towns themselves and the needs behind most of this work.
How to Support a Miami County Organization
If the organization you want to help holds a fund at the Foundation, there are two routes. The Donate Now button opens a drop-down of the funds that can take money online. Or mail a check made payable to Miami County Community Foundation, with the fund name written in the memo line, to 702 Baptiste Dr, Paola, KS 66071. Do not make a check payable to the fund itself; it will not be processed.
If it does not hold a fund, give to it directly, and consider whether time would help more than money. Most organizations on this page are run by volunteers, and the ways of giving back to your community that cost nothing are frequently the ones in shortest supply.
What This List Is Missing
Two things, and both are worth saying out loud. The Foundation’s published list of supported organizations is being revised and this page will be updated when the new one is available. And four funds on the table above still have no description of what they do.
If you run a charitable organization in Miami County and you are not on this page, or something here is out of date, email info@micocf.org or call (913) 404-7287. A directory is only as good as the people who correct it.
