Principles for Rural Philanthropic Engagement
July 2023
Drafted by the United Philanthropy Forum’s Rural Equity Philanthropic Practice Subcommittee
Effective rural philanthropy challenges preconceptions about rural communities; acknowledges the historic and continuing marginalization, exclusions and/or disenfranchisement of rural people of color; recognizes the value of place to its residents; focuses on building from within; emphasizes impact over scale; and prioritizes equity, trust-building and co-creation with local partners.
Listen, learn, and unlearn from authentic rural leaders, particularly from Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color, as well as other under- or unrepresented groups, and from those with local lived rural experience. They are trusted and can articulate how identity, history, and politics combine to suppress the power and prosperity of their communities. Don’t assume they are well connected to existing political, economic, and philanthropic power structures. They can help funders appreciate a community’s history, understand how change happens and how communications flow.
Search out unfamiliar partners. Reconsider the presence of traditional partners and consider investing in non-traditional organizations and informal structures. Don’t look for your typical grantee/partner with formal education, nonprofit management capacity and an established 501c3 structure.
Focus on building trust, knowing that it can take years of work. Many rural communities are distrustful of outsiders and wary of local leaders who profess to represent the entirety of the community. Seek out leaders that embody the multiple perspectives that exist. Acknowledge that power and privilege undermine trust within the community.
Search out existing networks before attempting anything new — networks of collaboration, resource sharing, and co-strategizing. Don’t create funder driven collaboratives that ignore what already exists.
Invest to build locally anchored, sustainable assets. Account for the centuries of wealth extraction and the concentration of assets in metropolitan areas. Resource communities in ways that build local capacity and power, and enable them to develop solutions that actualize their aspirations. Work within a mindset of abundance rather than scarcity of resources and build on local pride of what was and a vision of what can be.
Recognize the sovereignty and power of tribal nations, the unique legal and political powers that they bring, and the complex set of identities that tribal members simultaneously wear.
Seek outcomes and benchmarks that reflect the scale, time frame, and aspirations of this rural community. Don’t come with an urban lens of “bigger/more is better,” as that may not be applicable in a rural context.
Institutionalize language and behaviors within your philanthropic organization that internalize the regard for and respect of rural people and places. Scrutinize how all RFPs are worded; your efforts to hire diverse, inclusive, equity-driven and competent staff; the choices of where to meet and convene; and how your communications implicitly/explicitly value/devalue rural places.
Recognize the long standing and critical contributions that immigrants and refugees make to rural communities, invest in their visions and organizations, and encourage rural communities to welcome these new members.
Build partnerships in the public sector, recognizing that local, state, and federal resources are critical to rural communities, but that government is often constrained by regulations, match requirements, and siloed funding.
