Leveraging Deep Community Ties: Rural Funders Tackle COVID-19
The philanthropic response to COVID-19 has been dominated by three separate but interconnected themes: (1) Relaxation of standard reporting requirements, programmatic restrictions and timelines, (2) Advocacy for funders to extend themselves past standard 5% payout spending policies and (3) Creation of emergency funding pools or other rapid response structures. While all are worthy of consideration,…
Read MoreHow Small Funders Can Make a Difference on COVID-19
Lots of good grants management advice out there in the midst of COVID-19–flexible General Operating Support; delayed reporting, doubling down on funding to key grantees etc. I hope these are all being acted upon. Unclear how to justify otherwise? For rural funders—and particularly smaller place-based rural funders— what more to do? Here are some ideas:…
Read More2020 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 MoreInvesting in Rural America – Innovation for All Podcast
Dr. Sheana Ahlqvist asked Allen to appear on her national innovation and social psychology podcast with the opening line of “I live in Los Angeles. I don’t know anyone who voted for our current President”. So listen for a wideranging conversation about dispelling the urban myths about rural America; the opportunities for rural investment and…
Read MoreRural Philanthropy in Washington
This is the fourth of a series of four field studies from the Rural Philanthropic Analysis Project (RPAP) here at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina. The regions selected—eastern New Hampshire/southern Maine; eastern Washington; northeast Iowa and rural New Mexico—were included in the studies in recognition of the important local funder commitments to those…
Read More