Giving Compass' Take:

• Allen Smart offers advice for rural philanthropists looking to make connections. His first piece of insight: Know who you're looking for.

• How can funders best leverage their networks to help rural communities? 

• Learn about the impact of small rural foundations. 

Rural philanthropy requires a different kind of thinking and creativity from urban philanthropy. It stands to reason, then, that the networks rural funders build will look different from those that traditionally attract more urban-focused foundations.

In my work researching and building rural philanthropy, I’ve seen two main types of foundations that describe themselves as “rural funders.” These include statewide or regional foundations that invest in rural and urban communities, and smaller, place-based family or corporate foundations that are specifically rooted in individual rural communities.

These two types of funders represent two extremes—the lonely voice in a crowd, or the voice that’s just plain lonely. But the good news for rural funders of all sizes is that allies and partners are closer than you think. You just need to understand who you’re looking for and where to find them.

With this in mind, it pays to get to know the many government agencies and organizations that bring both money and expertise to the table in the rural communities you serve. Of course, rural nonprofit organizations can and should be a part of your funder network. Whether you provide grants to them or not, they can help inform and add value to your own thinking, and identify opportunities where others might leverage the investments you’re making.

The bottom line is that rural philanthropy requires a different kind of thinking and creativity from urban philanthropy. It stands to reason, then, that the networks rural funders build will look different from those that traditionally attract more urban-focused foundations. By focusing on the allies and partners at hand and building a truly rural-centric network, funders will find themselves accomplishing much more than they could by searching for rural needles in an urban haystack.

Read the full article about rural philanthropists by Allen Smart at Exponent Philanthropy.