When people don’t know where to begin when it comes to funding rural America, collaborative funds are a great way to start. Charlie Brown is the executive director of the Trust for Civic Life, which is an example of one of those funds. They’re made up of 20 different funders from across the country all working together to empower people to get involved in shaping the future of their communities and everyday democracy. They prioritize listening and learning instead of coming in with a top-down approach.

Funding for disaster response is much needed in the American West where vast rangeland ignites quickly under dry conditions. In Eastern Oregon, innovative Rangeland Fire Protection Associations (RFPAs) bring together local ranchers and state resources to work collaboratively when fires break out. Derek Burkhardt is a 4th generation rancher and farmer from Vale, Oregon who is in a leadership role with his two local RFPAs, and Allison Rayburn is the Oregon Dept of Forestry’s Rangeland Fire Program Coordinator. They share their motivations, recent firefighting experiences, and wish lists.

Meeting the mental and behavioral health needs of rural communities, where people are dispersed and remarkably self-reliant, can be a challenge for a variety of different reasons. In Northeast Oregon, Community Counseling Solutions serves an area of more than 60,000 square miles, in which just 100,000 people reside—the sheer distance can stretch resources thin. Kimberly Lindsay is their director and she cofounded the David Romprey Oregon Warm Line in Oregon, which unlike a hotline for an immediate crisis, warm lines provide early mental health intervention with a confidential free phone service. If you or someone you know is just wanting to connect, call 800-698-2392.

There are so many folks who want to age in place but live far away from the care they need, and that can present challenges for their health, happiness and the social fabric of their communities. Dr. Jordan Lewis is the director for the Center on Aging at the University of Hawaii at Manoa with the Thompson School of Social Work and Public Health. He’s Alaska Native on his mother’s side and got his PhD in Community Psychology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Over the course of his career, Jordan has been drawn to the study of elder care— especially in rural and American Indian/Alaska Native communities. He wants to study the ways in which people can “age how they wish” and what we can all learn from the elders who are navigating that chapter of life.

When massive wildfires swept through Oregon in 2020, Dee Anne Everson helped hundreds of people who had just lost everything, and five years later, she’s still helping them. She’s CEO of United Way of Jackson County Oregon, and has a special leadership philosophy that’s evident in her work. Everson leads a staff of 7 and they partner with hundreds of volunteers across south-central Oregon to help folks with everything from transportation issues, senior needs, and emergency cash support for things like car repairs or utility bills. They’ll even help you prep your taxes.

Crosshatch Center for Art and Ecology in Northern Michigan is an artist residency that aims to build community through farming, ecology and economy. The Northern Michigan Small Farms Conference is a program of theirs that brings farms together to learn and connect in the height of summer. Led by Brad Kik and his wife, Amanda, Crosshatch was also a key partner behind a recently completed new building near downtown Traverse City called The Alluvion that serves as a performance center, co-working space, and also provides affordable housing. Kik shares his fundraising experiences for both Crosshatch and The Alluvion, and offers a perspective rooted in place and purpose.

Philanthropy has long been a champion of public radio, providing grants for everything from infrastructure and new buildings to special reporting projects. Recent federal cuts have made philanthropic support even more critical to keep public radio stations afloat: across the country, in rural and remote areas, and especially on Tribal lands. Sue Matters is the station manager at KWSO 91.9 FM, which is a non-commercial radio station that is licensed, owned and operated by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs in Oregon. She shares her experience, spanning nearly 40 years, on the reservation’s radio and what the station means to the culture and well-being of listeners.

In rural and remote Oregon, where populations are low and the need for educators is high, there’s Rural Teacher Corps, a Grow Your Own program that is implementing new approaches to identifying, supporting, and training tomorrow’s teachers. Dave Dallas, who runs the program, teaches in the College of Education at Eastern Oregon University and he’s the Director of Teach Rural Oregon. He shares how philanthropy can play a key role in meeting some of the overlooked needs in rural education.

Native American Tribal communities are a blind spot for philanthropy with just .4% of funding going to Native organizations—but some philanthropic organizations are trying to change that. Stone Hudson, a citizen of the three affiliated tribes (Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara) of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota shares his experience as Program Officer at Meyer Memorial Trust where he oversees the Tribal Nations Partnership Initiative. His sense of service, stewardship and curiosity is magnetic, and he knows how to show up authentically and bring people together in the process.

Luke Shaefer, PhD is one of the nation's foremost scholars of poverty and social welfare policy. He is a professor at the University of Michigan and is the inaugural director of Poverty Solutions, an interdisciplinary initiative that partners with communities and policymakers to find novel ways to alleviate poverty. In 2015, he co-authored the book, “$2 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America”, which was named one of the 100 Notable Books of the year by the New York Times Book Review. In Flint, Michigan, Luke helped launch RX Kids, the nation’s first citywide cash prescription program designed to help ease the financial journey into parenthood.