| Fund for Rural Georgia (GA)
Location and Context
Seventy-seven (77) of Georgia's 159 counties have per capita income levels
below those of Mississippi (a standard used by the Georgia Rural Development
Council). Many of these counties are predominantly African American (41.7%
of "Lagging Rural" and 55.5% of "Declining Rural"). Community-based organizations
from these counties have found it nearly impossible to develop sustainable
development efforts because of the lack of philanthropic and public support
outside of metro Atlanta.
In 1997, only 6.2% of the grants made by major foundations to Georgia
organizations went to non-metro counties. Only 1.3% ($11.3 million) went
to persistently poor rural counties. Conditions are ripe in Georgia for
public-private partnerships to benefit poor rural places.
These opportunities include:
- New political interest in rural Georgia;
- Banks now seeking to engage in community development lending;
- Philanthropy looking beyond Atlanta. (A partnership between SRDI
and the Southeastern Council of Foundations is focusing on building
philanthropic resources in poor rural places in the South; the Sapelo
Foundation is helping to organize Rural Philanthropy Days, a new initiative
to bring rural nonprofit leaders and philanthropy together.); and
- Tobacco settlement funds. (Georgia is now getting $304 million in
Phase II funds from the national tobacco settlement, directed to tobacco
producing communities. These funds represent a unique opportunity
to direct new and continuing resources to rural Georgia and to its
community based organizations.)
Collaborative Structure and Strategy
The Fund for Rural Georgia is working to incorporate as a nonprofit
organization in order to secure philanthropic support to leverage public
funding. The Fund will seek both public and private resources of funds
-- only a public-private partnership can attract a continuing and substantial
flow of resources to grassroots organizations doing CED at the local
level. At the same time, the Fund proposes to secure State legislative
appropriations, grants and program-related investments from private
foundations and loans from private lenders as well as the Federal Home
Loan Bank of Atlanta.
The Fund for Rural Georgia is unique in that it is a statewide model
exclusively focused on rural communities. It will channel public and
private support for programs that build institutional capacity and project
support for community-centered, broad-based rural development activities
in Georgia's rural counties. Activities of the fund will include the
following:
- Capacity Building for Community-Based Organizations:
- core operating support for community-based organizations;
- project-based technical assistance support;
- training for community-based organizations' staff and board
of directors; and
- support for organizations providing technical assistance.
- Project Financing for Community Economic Development Projects:
- subsidies for projects in need of initial funding but not continued
operating support; and
- gap debt and equity financing.
Inherent in this model is the belief that the partnership must play
the following roles:
- Convenor and catalyst, to bring together key decision-makers
around a common agenda;
- Fundraiser, to raise and aggregate philanthropic and development
capital to distribute across the entire state;
- Broker, to provide matching funds and expertise to local
initiatives supported by funders with geographic restrictions;
- Advocate, to provide support at the state level for policies
and practices to build a healthy non-profit development sector in
poor rural communities;
- Incubator, to support and disseminate innovative approaches
to building healthy rural communities through community-based development;
- Standard bearer, to establish mutually agreed-upon performance
standards for each grantee - which standards, in turn, help to establish
the level of resource allocation; and
- Capacity builder, through provision of core operating grants,
training, technical assistance and mentoring to ensure grantees continually
grow in scope, effectiveness and accountability.
The governing body, comprised of key funders, stakeholders and community
leaders, will provide a critical forum to build bridges and productive
working relationships between formerly segregated sectors.
Leverage and Impact
Eleven other public-private partnerships across the country share a similar
mission, strategy and governance. Much of our thinking has come from the
experiences of these partnerships, particularly the two that include rural
communities - the NC Community Development Initiative and the Neighborhood
Partnership Fund in Oregon. Given the experiences of these and other partnerships
and the developing philanthropic interest and political commitment in
Georgia, we believe that it is feasible to have an annual budget of $5
million in five years and of $10 million in ten years.
Through the next 12 months, the following steps will be taken to plan
and form the Fund. First, an Executive Director/President will be hired.
Second, a formal business plan for the Fund will be developed. Third,
using the business plan as part of a proposal, funding from foundations
as well as commitments from lenders and equity investors will be secured
to leverage State appropriations. Fourth, based on the success of the
business planning and solicitation effort, the Fund will be formally created.
Fifth, as a first step toward operations of the Fund, Fund staff will
work with community-based organizations and community economic development
projects identified in the business planning phase and direct resources
to these areas.
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Main
Contact
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Debby Warren
Southern Rural Development Initiative
Phone: 919 829-5900 x-203
dwarren@srdi.org
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