Round Two Funding Decisions Announced
National Rural Funders Collaborative recently completed its 2nd round of grantmaking totaling $1,121,600. The current portfolio consists of five (5) strategic investments and eight (8) smaller Innovation Grants that either build upon existing regional strategies or introduce new innovative models that contribute to NRFC’s theory of change.
“Unlike the first funding round, this round was more iterative in approach,” said Jim Richardson, Executive Director, “building on NRFC’s three outcome targets for ‘rural community transformation’: Wealth Creation, Family Self-Sufficiency and Leadership Transformation.” This overarching theory of change is now the learning and funding framework for NRFC’s decisions going forward. This approach is more focused and deliberate than was NRFC’s initial funding round. In its first call for proposals, NRFC conducted a nationwide search for collaborative regional strategies that address rural poverty in a holistic way. The initial round generated 284 Letters of Intent and resulted in 20 finalists. While all 20 were invited to participate in NRFC’s learning network, only nine (9) were funded. Those nine, along with finalists participating in the learning network, have helped to develop the “rural community transformation” framework that now guides NRFC grantmaking and learning.
In future rounds, NRFC will rely on an internal nomination process of potential grantees from staff, steering committee members and learning network participants. Nominated collaborative efforts will need to demonstrate resonance with NRFC’s theory of change and be able to further its learning through amplifying or expanding the learning. More detailed criteria are available upon request.
NRFC’s ten year goals are to build the field of rural practice, policy and philanthropy and to leverage more than $100 million in new or untapped resources to support and strengthen rural communities and families facing persistent poverty. To date, NRFC has made $2,125,000 in direct grants.
For more information, contact Stacy Caldwell at stacy@nrfc.org.
ROUND TWO GRANTS
STRATEGIC INVESTMENTS
Alaska Rural Community Health Economic Strategies $100,000
Alaska
To expand the base of village-based primary health providers to work in remote Native Alaskan villages to provide dental care, mental health/behavioral care and elder care while also providing Medicaid reimbursable health-related career ladders, meaning more viable Native communities and stronger local leaders.
Appalachia Ohio Regional Investment Collaborative $250,000
Ohio
To build a strong economic and entrepreneurial base within the 28 counties of Appalachian Ohio, engaging both state and federal partners in a wide variety of projects that include: supporting entrepreneurial opportunities and networks; encouragement of specialty food businesses and local buying; and building a local arts and nature tourism base.
Central Valley Partnership for Citizenship $100,000
California
To support the work of 14 immigrant organizations working in California’s Central Valley to increase civic participation through legalization and naturalization, to build and strengthen a Valley-wide culture of collaboration and mutual understanding and to empower residents to bring about positive, lasting improvements to quality of llife for Valley immigrants through leadership development and grassroots policy change.
Rural Livelihoods Collaborative $100,000
New Mexico
To strengthen the viability of communities and families in pueblo- and small rural communities through revival and nurture of culturally-based community industries that promise to revitalize the economic base of these communities, identify and strengthen emerging community leaders and increase the overall self-sufficiency of rural New Mexican families living in poverty.
South Carolina Community Economic Development $150,000
Public Policy Collaborative
South Carolina
To support a community capacity-building, grassroots leadership development, and wealth creation in low wealth rural communities throughout rural South Carolina through building a strong based of community development corporations, establishing a forum for training and policy advocacy for grassroots leaders and expanding a statewide program of IDA’s for low wealth families and individuals.
Total Strategic Investments $700,000
LEARNING OR INNOVATION GRANTS
Black Family Land Trust $50,000
South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia
To implement a strategy for land conservation and ownership retention utilizing public easement funds and funds from other sources to restore historic Black family lands to original ownership and to allow for limited development thereof, which will allow for wealth creation for Black families while preserving the integrity of natural assets.
Building Philanthropy to Support Rural Entrepreneurship $50,000
Nebraska
To support a strategy for capturing some portion of rural Nebraska’s transfer of wealth over the next 20 years through establishing community endowments and for using this community endowment strategy as an opportunity to educate rural communities to be come more competitive by adopting more entrepreneurial economic strategies for growth.
Good Faith Fund $50,000
Arkansas
To expand a multi-faceted strategy in the Mid South Delta for increasing family self-sufficiency through strengthening workforce development efforts by connecting them to a statewide Career Pathways program with Arkansas’s two-year college system and by expanding the Arkansas Assets Coalition to provide financial literacy and IDA savings opportunities throughout the Mid South Delta.
Montana HomeOwnership Network $50,000
Montana
To develop and expand, in partnership with the American Indian Tribal Homeownership Task Force, Native-based financial literacy programs on seven Montana reservations, leading to greater family self-sufficiency and wealth creation – and ultimately, homeownership – on tribal lands.
New Mexico Community Foundation $50,000
New Mexico
To expand existing efforts to expand usage of the Earned Income Tax Credit by low-income families to include Rural Livelihoods communities and to support corollary efforts to eliminate predatory lending in the state.
Rural Community Assistance Program (RCAP) $50,000
Washington, D.C.
To undertake a national research project to develop and refine NRFC’s evaluation model based on Community Capital and Rural Success Indicators and Performance Measures.
Rural Community College Initiative $71,600
Hawaii, Alaska, Chippewa Reservation North Dakota
To support Rural Community College Initiative to understand and document the unique contributions and efforts of Hawaii Community College, College of Rural Alaska and Turtle Mountain Tribal College to expand their mission to include community capacity building for long-term positive change.
Western Maine Sustainable Development Collaboration $50,000
Maine
To create a stronger regional economy in Maine's western mountains through developing local leadership, participation and civic institutional capacity; through educating community leaders to understand natural, built and financial assets as shared assets to be used and managed by community interests; and through increasing area community and family economic self-sufficiency by supporting and developing new craft and heritage-based industries in an artisan- and culture-rich region.
Total Learning or Innovation Grants $321,000
TOTAL ROUND TWO GRANTS $1,121,600
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