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Rural Philanthropy

Across America, rural communities face big challenges as economies change, populations shift, and government resources and subsidies dramatically decline. But rural residents are responding with resilience and innovation, harnessing hidden resources to create permanent assets for the future of their communities.
 
Rural communities build philanthropy from the ground up, using strategies that tap into core values and engage everyone – not just the wealthiest residents. They get support and assistance from community foundations and private philanthropic foundations.
 
Rural areas of America have little in the way of endowed assets: according to a 2004 study by the Southern Rural Development Initiative, only about 3% of the nation’s foundation assets are found in rural places. Rural residents find that building community-based philanthropy from scratch organizes a community around its assets and connects long-term vision to concrete action. While community-based philanthropy is only one component of systemic social and economic change, it can be the lead component—the spark that ignites a community around positive dialogue and financial investment toward a common vision of the future.
 
Most of the first community foundations started up in large metropolitan areas, and that trend continued for years. Statewide community foundations sprouted up next, but focused most of their efforts for years on larger cities and towns, where they could find the most people. Together, these two trends left vast swaths of rural America essentially unserved by community foundations.
Around 1980, rural areas started setting up their own community endowments—and today this trend is accelerating. Some of these community endowments are being structured as brand-new, freestanding community foundations; others are established as affiliate funds of existing community foundations. Each of these routes has pros and cons, its own set of merits and challenges. Every rural community must determine for itself which choice makes the most sense in its situation.
 
We all benefit from rural philanthropy whether we live in a rural place or not. What affects one small, rural place can spill over to help – or hurt – an entire region. When a farm worker in Kansas benefits from better health care, so do the farmer, the miller, the baker, the trucker, and the child, many miles away, who carries the sandwich to school. Whether we care about our water supply, the environment, education, business development, or just about anything else, urban and rural places are tied together.
 
The momentum to build local rural philanthropic resources is growing substantially. The market for knowledge about how to do this well is growing along with that momentum.
News

New Releases Roundup: June 2021

Release Date: 
07/01/2021

Check out the latest resources from around the nonprofit sector featuring items from Asset Funders Network, BoardSource, Center for Effective Philanthropy, The Communications Network, Economic Opportunity Funders, Fund for Shared Insight, Hispanics in Philanthropy, National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, and Philanthropy West Virginia.

News

New Releases Roundup: May 2021

Release Date: 
06/01/2021

Check out the latest resources from around the nonprofit sector featuring items from Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, Biodiversity Funders Group, Council of New Jersey Grantmakers, Environmental Grantmakers Association, Funders Concerned About AIDS, Grantmakers In Health, PEAK Grantmaking, Philanthropy California,  Philanthropy Colorado, Philanthropy Massachusetts, Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders and The Funders Network.

News

New Releases Roundup: April 2021

Release Date: 
05/03/2021

Check out the latest resources from around the nonprofit sector featuring items from Asset Funders Network, Candid, CECP, Center for Effective Philanthropy, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, Hispanics in Philanthropy and Neighborhood Funders Group.

News

Latest Releases from the Field- Late April 2017

Release Date: 
04/26/2017

Check out the latest releases from around the nonprofit sector featuring items from PACE, Grantmakers in Aging, Philanthropy Northwest, The Center for Effective Philanthropy, National Center for Family Philanthropy, FSG, NeighborWorks and Foundation Center and the Peace and Security Funders Group.

Event

2014 Forum Annual Conference

Monday, July 28, 2014 to Wednesday, July 30, 2014
The Forum's Annual Conference is a key opportunity each year for regional association staff to come together for skill building sessions, networking, and thought provoking discussions with philanthropy leaders. We hope to see you in San Diego in July!
Resource

Rural Philanthropy: What Do We Need to Do to Support Rural Communities?

Resources from a concurrent session during the 2019 Forum Annual Conference in Cleveland, OH that featured representatives of Grantmakers in Aging, Philanthropy Northwest,  Southeastern Council of Foundations, Environmental Grantmakers Association, and Rural Philanthropic Analysis Project at Campbell University who discussed disparities that rural philanthropy is experiencing from lack of attention and understanding from philanthropy.

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Resource type: 
Conference Materials
Topic(s): 
ForumCon19Rural Philanthropy
Resource

Mini-Grant Opportunity for Forum Members: Fair Representation in Redistricting

The Forum is offering mini-grants for our regional and national PSO members to engage their foundation members around education and investment in fair representation and redistricting efforts. This will include providing $2,500-$5,000 grants from a pool of $50,000 that will enable Forum members to educate funders and encourage their engagement in efforts related to fair representation and redistricting efforts.

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Resource type: 
Grant Opportunity
Topic(s): 
Rural Philanthropy

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