Green River, Utah (population 900) can be seen as a waypoint in the desert with more hotel rooms than residents. Or it can be seen through the eyes of locals like Maria Sykes. She’s the director and co-founder of Epicenter, a nonprofit in Green River that focuses on housing and fosters creativity and art in the community. Maria did not grow up in the region, instead she came by way of Americorps, and in the 16 years she’s lived in Green River, she’s contributed to its vibrancy, livability, and iconic neon signs.
Libraries are vital to rural communities—they do so much more than just check out books. They provide internet access, heating and cooling centers, early learning, nutrition, STEM programs, story time and more. Dr. Regina Washington-Arthur is the managing director of the Rural Library Network for Partners for Rural Impact. With a background in public health, Washington-Arthur explains that libraries contribute to the overall health of a community; they are a critical component of the cradle-to-career educational pathway; and more often than not, they do so with limited financial resources.
More than 50 million Americans face food insecurity. And in the U.S., 9 out of the 10 counties with the highest rate of food insecurity are rural. To offset this disparity, Roundhouse Foundation recently launched a 6 million dollar investment which will support local food purchase over the next three years. Carly Auten is food program director at NeighborImpact, a grant recipient that distributes more than 4 million pounds of food every year and feeds 80,000 people across Central Oregon every month.
Gretchen Guess is president and CEO of the Rasmuson Foundation in Alaska, where 80% of the population lives in remote areas without road access. Gretchen has lived there all her life and served terms in both the Alaska House of Representatives and Senate. She’s brought her public service experience to Rasmuson Foundation, which is one of the largest funders in Alaska and centers the community in all of their grantmaking.
Josh Davis began his career in the nonprofit world by working for the Delta Health Alliance, which is a nonprofit that works to improve access to healthcare and education in the Mississippi Delta. He then made the shift into the philanthropic world and now serves as the vice president of policy and partnerships at StriveTogether, leading national efforts to build civic infrastructure and influence public policy that puts more young people on a path to economic mobility.
Farming and ranching requires experimentation, adaptation, and innovation. It’s a whole lot of problem solving done by people who often don’t have a whole lot of expendable capital. That doesn’t mean that ranchers aren’t deeply committed to stewarding the health of their land for generations to come. Dallas Hall Defrees is a 5th generation rancher in Eastern Oregon who serves as the director of Regenerative Ranching with Sustainable Northwest. She works with ranchers who are actively trying to improve the biodiversity, soil health and wellbeing of their livestock while making a living.
Partnerships play an important role when it comes to tackling the complicated, uncomfortable and often taboo issue of firearms. Jessi LaRose is the Director of strategic initiatives at Missouri Foundation for Health and she runs the Missouri Foundation for Health’s Firearm Injury and Death Prevention program. Her organization works with grantees in more than 84 counties including the city of St. Louis, and they have found that listening first, and understanding local context, is key to building local engagement and trust.
John Cornelius grew up on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota; he served in the US Army; and he has the national suicide helpline number, 988, tattooed on his arm. He is a peer support and suicide prevention specialist and a mental health educator who walks the talk. John has overcome addiction, suicide attempts, and periods of houselessness and says his faith guides him as he helps others facing crisis. This episode delves into mental health topics and suicide prevention. If you or someone you know are experiencing thoughts of suicide, call or text the national helpline at 988.
How much is philanthropy currently investing in LGBTQ organizations? Not a whole lot, especially in rural. Katie Carter is the CEO of Pride Foundation, which was founded 40 years ago to support Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer folks. Pride currently works in the Northwest, providing support to nonprofits in both urban and rural places. Katie grew up rural and recognizes the importance of being your authentic self, no matter where you live.
Healthcare is top of mind for many Americans, and in rural communities, where there are distinct challenges, there is also hope in new ideas and solutions. Benjamin Anderson is president and CEO of Hutchinson Regional Medical Center in Hutchinson, Kansas and he sees the nonprofit hospital system he runs as a nexus that sends ripples of health into the community as a whole. And he puts that community at the center of everything the organization does.
Episode recorded live in Minneapolis-St.Paul on June 11th, 2025 at the Council on Foundations’ nonprofit funders conference, Leading Locally. Ash Hanson of Department of Public Transformation and Winter Kinne of Community Foundation of the Ozarks took the plenary stage for a conversation about funding the urban-rural connection with show host, Erin Borla.
Funding Rural is coming back this fall, starting on September 23, 2025 and we can't wait to share the new episodes. Your host, Erin Borla of The Roundhouse Foundation in Sisters, Oregon has been talking with a lot of change agents, steadfast funders, and proud rural advocates in preparation for this season. We think you'll enjoy their perspectives and hope you'll stick around for all the third season episodes. Be sure to head over to our hub, FundingRural.com, for more information.
Narrative plays a critical role in what funders support, and unexamined narratives can create unintended consequences. We often hear about the brain drain in communities as young talent leaves, but Rural Sociologist Ben Winchester offers facts around an alternative narrative—the brain gain— a demographic that is moving back into rural communities. Ben works in the Department of Community Development at the University of Minnesota Extension and he’s fascinated by all things rural.
Across vast stretches of rural America and particularly in the West, emergency care—or even basic routine healthcare—can be hard to come by. People drive hours for eye exams, to give birth, have their teeth cleaned, or get therapy. Robert Duehmig, director for the Oregon Office of Rural Health, works towards solutions that fit rural and remote communities in Oregon. He discusses what’s working, what needs work, and how philanthropy can support healthcare in these communities.
The Children’s Museum of Southern Oregon in Medford, which operates a dynamic museum and expansive preschool program, is a beacon of connection for children and families. They are scaling up their museum and preschool operations and expanding to another rural Southern Oregon community. Executive director Sunny Spicer speaks to the value of these ‘third spaces’ in a community, places curating connections like schools, museums, and libraries, and how philanthropy can best support them.
Bobbie Conner is a cultural leader and enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR). For nearly 30 years, she has been the director of the Tamaslikt Cultural Institute on the Umatilla Reservation in Eastern Oregon. She works to preserve the languages and rich cultural heritage of the Cayuse, Umatilla, Walla Walla, Nez Perce and other Indigenous nations from this region of the west. She offers funders insights into funding Native American causes and projects—spoiler alert—casino income isn’t making these tribes wealthy.
When we talk about pathways to success for young people in rural and Indigenous communities, what does that look like? Dreama Gentry of Partners for Rural Impact shares that it can look many different ways. Dreama grew up in Appalachian Kentucky and has had a long career working with young people. Today, her organization works to empower and uplift young people across several regions of the US.
The Smithsonian Institution has a long history as an iconic museum and hub of research, knowledge, and history in our Nation’s Capital and beyond. Nowadays, the Smithsonian has grown to encompass 21 museums, 40 research centers and the National Zoo. It’s the world’s largest education and research community - and now they are working with communities across the country, collaborating with rural America, and giving back. Andy Mink is their first director of rural initiatives and he joins the show to share his vision of showcasing storytelling, belonging insecurity, and mutual respect.
There are food deserts and childcare deserts throughout America—places where services are few and far between and in much of rural America, there are similar gaps with philanthropy. With so few philanthropic organizations based in rural parts of the country the geographic responsibility for each organization can be vast. Gina Zittola of Humboldt Area Foundation and the Wild Rivers Community Foundation knows this space well. Her regional footprint stretches broad areas of rural southern Oregon into northern California. She’s a natural networker, a connector, who has done amazing things by bringing non-rural philanthropic organizations into the places she cares about, and helps them see the great things that can happen when they expand their horizons.
In recent decades, we’ve seen a steep drop off of young people going into the trades, but that trend has started to reverse. Lee Kounovsky has played a big role in steering young people in Oregon toward meaningful and lucrative careers in tradework - from construction to electrical work and beyond. He is the Lane County Construction Trades Specialist, working with students at the community college, high school and middle school levels. After the devastating wildfires of 2020, he inspired students—who had lost everything—to rebuild for others through a program called Sheds of Hope. That program has grown into a statewide initiative called Constructing a Brighter Future, impacting close to 4,000 students last year. These types of programs illuminate the need to reduce barriers to career technical education — for as Lee points out, these students are learning more than job readiness.