Posts by Allen Smart
2020 Vision: US National Census
Pleased to be part a comprehensive look from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota at the history and challenges of getting the Census right with emphasis on the movement to a dominantly on-line system—leaving rural communities with a potentially disastrous financial loss due to census undercount. You can read the article titled 2020 Vision on…
Read MoreBrief Recap of the Rural Philanthropic Analysis Project on Washington State
A piece from Inside Philanthropy that features our report on the innovative rural philanthropy of the Empire Health Foundation in Spokane, Washington along with references to our other three case studies and the larger Rural Philanthropic Analysis Project. The Inside Philanthropy article is available at https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2019/10/15/a-study-drilled-deep-into-rural-philanthropy-in-washington-state-heres-what-it-found. You can find links to the Washington study as well…
Read MoreFamily Funders – Always Important in Rural Communities
The history of the United States is marked by wealth created in rural America. Timber and wood products in the northwest and northeast; fossil fuels in Appalachia, the southwest and Rocky Mountains; textiles in the south, among others. Related philanthropic funds have been created alongside these rural industries—often from multi-generational family commitments to these rural…
Read MoreThe Case for the Field of Rural Philanthropy
Linked here you’ll find my case for taking all of the disparate elements of rural foundation work and supporting the development of a cohesive and coherent field of work that best serves the interests of rural communiities and funders alike. Download Building a Field of Rural Philanthropy: The Case for Creating a Rural Philanthropic Network
Read MoreThe Rural Philanthropic Analysis Project 2017-2019
Over the course of the last two years, the Rural Philanthropic Analysis Project (RPAP) team has blogged, reported, presented and collected data from all over the country about philanthropic activity that has, as its focus, a deep commitment to the future of rural communities. While philanthropic activity in rural America precedes anything akin to a…
Read MorePushing Aside the Rural-Urban Divide
The heightened state of distrust between rural and urban communities has made it more difficult to recognize that there is an inherent interdependence between them. Philanthropy is uniquely positioned to offer an intentional approach to rural inclusion, as well as a new rural–urban narrative, that doesn’t increase division. The renewed focus on rural America that…
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