Are you a funder considering ways to diversify your funding and ensure more equitable disbursement of your grants? If so, are you considering rural?
Unfortunately, most foundations are not. In the Northwest, most foundations are located in urban areas, and philanthropic dollars are concentrated in those hubs. A June 2015 article in Nonprofit Quarterly found that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s effort to increase philanthropic investment in rural areas failed to significantly move the needle. Rural residents continue to consistently receive less per capita than their urban counterparts, with only approximately 7% of total foundation dollars between 2005-2010 going to rural recipients even though rural communities comprise 19% of the country’s population.
Sherwood Trust and Blue Mountain Community Foundation are working to change that. We have been investing for decades in the rural communities of the Walla Walla Valley, which spans from Dayton and Walla Walla, Washington, into Milton-Freewater, Oregon. Our dream is to help our region become known as much for its wonderful wine as for its amazing nonprofit organizations. That’s why Sherwood Trust and BMCF are inviting funders interested in rural philanthropy to come experience both. On November 1-3, we’ll be hosting a small group of grantmakers to tour our region and to learn from each other and our local leaders.
Highlights will include a visit with the Community Council to facilitate an interactive Data Walk that will provide context on local indicators and trends that have driven regional decision making and goal-setting. Part of the Data Walk’s value is in illustrating the challenges facing Northwest foundations in an innovative and interactive way. The data show us how urban issues like affordable housing shortages, racial disparities, declining health, education achievement gaps, environmental degradation, or economic inequities also impact rural communities. Participants will also tour Blue Mountain Action Council’s new Hub, the result of a collaboration of four nonprofits that now house a variety of services for youth: a homeless shelter, healthcare facility and an early learning center.
Complicated policy issues such as youth homelessness require creative solutions, like the Hub. Our experience has proved that rural communities are important allies in advocacy efforts, to ensure their voices and ideas are heard by policy makers. With local traditions of everyone chipping in to help one another and the ability to innovate with scarce resources, Sherwood Trust has seen our rural communities serve as great philanthropic laboratories for trying out new ideas.
Working with rural communities has been a privilege and a joy for us. We have learned tremendously from our community leaders and appreciate Philanthropy Northwest’s work to connect us to other rural funders. Like the nonprofit leaders in this photo from the grand opening of “The Hub,” we think you will have a lot to smile about when you invest in and collaborate with rural communities. We hope you’ll join us!
Learn more about the Walla Walla Valley Funders’ Tour on November 1-3 .