posted on: Friday, December 18, 2009

By Julia Craig

The New York Times recently ran a story chronicling the disproportionate effects of the recession on elderly Americans living in rural areas. Citing a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the article documents the ways in which state budget woes affect the elderly in rural communities, often out of sight of the general population. According to the report, 24 states have made budget cuts to services for the elderly this year, and more are expected in the future.

In addition to difficulty accessing social services, rural elderly have seen their churches close over the years. Many of the people featured in the story are widows or widowers and their children no longer live in the area. The accompanying slideshow brings the numbers to life, portraying the difficulties of growing older in communities with little support infrastructure.

Rural communities are aging as young people leave for education and work opportunities elsewhere; the decline of farming and manufacturing has led younger residents to migrate to more urban areas. This means the new generation is not available to care for aging family members, which used to be a mainstay in agrarian life.

What does this mean for philanthropy?

According to a research we conducted for Criteria for Philanthropy at its Best released in March this year, over a three-year period, just 1.5 percent of grant dollars could be classified as intended to benefit what the Foundation Center classifies as the “aging/elderly/senior citizens.”

And in our 2007 report Rural Philanthropy, NCRP found that stereotypes of life in rural America deterred some funders from investing there. Further, rural nonprofits expressed frustration at feeling cut off from access to foundation resources, sometimes simply by virtue of geography. Attracting and retaining staff is particularly difficult with limited funds.

It seems that the odds are stacked up against the elderly living in rural America. But philanthropy can do something. Here are some ideas:

• Identifying infrastructure gaps. Help sustain organizations that will support and promote rural nonprofit community interests, including those serving the elderly. A strong nonprofit infrastructure is part of the social fabric of American communities.
• Monitor trends. Foundations can’t replace the role of public investments in services for vulnerable communities, but by monitoring trends, philanthropy can identify gaps in government support and target those needs.
• Change perceptions. Funders can support organizations that conduct and disseminate research and other information on rural issues so that grantmaking priorities and public policy reflects more accurately the realities faced by rural Americans.

What do you think? Are there other ways that foundations and other grantmakers can help rural Americans, including the elderly? Share your thoughts in comments!

Image: dan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Julia Craig is research associate at the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP).

posted on: Thursday, July 23, 2009

Speaking at the Council on Foundations conference on rural philanthropy, former president Bill Clinton told attendees, “The foundation activity in rural America has been woefully inadequate.” The conference was held at Clinton’s presidential library in Little Rock, Ark.

While he challenged grantmakers to do more in rural America, he also challenged rural charities to be more creative in their work and create hope for their constituencies. According to Business Week, Clinton said, “Why do you think people in rural America are so dismal? Because they think that tomorrow is going to be just like yesterday. It's not because they're poor, but because they're stuck in a rut they can't get out of.”

Rural areas often experience the same marginalized status as the urban poor. In 2006, the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution collaborated with the Community Affairs Offices of the Federal Reserve System to examine concentrated poverty in America. Concentrated poverty refers to an area in which 40 percent or more of the population is living at or below the poverty line. Their study, “The Enduring Challenge of Concentrated Poverty in America,” found rural poverty rates as high as 45.6 percent (in McKinley County, NM) and led to a policy forum in 2008 that produced an agenda for steps to reducing concentrated poverty.

In a 2007 report, Rural Philanthropy: Building Dialogue from Within, NCRP presented strategies for grantmakers to strengthen their rural work. These included: flexible grantmaking to build strong nonprofits such as multi-year general operating support and appropriate technical assistance; supporting intermediaries; collaborating with other funders and; building local endowments through such entities as community foundations.

While President Clinton emphasized the role of nonprofits in rural areas, Rural Philanthropy found that in 2001 and 2002, only 184 of the 65,000+ foundations even gave grants that could be classified as targeting rural development. Of those 184, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Ford Foundation accounted for nearly half of the grantmaking. Clearly, more foundations can play a stronger role in supporting rural development.

Given the opportunities presented through the stimulus package Clinton noted in his speech (such as investments in alternative wind energy that could benefit rural communities), foundations are presented with an opportunity to partner with their rural grantees and ensure that their constituents’ voices are heard as the process of distributing stimulus funds continues.

Julia Craig is a contributing author of Criteria for Philanthropy at Its Best, and research assistant at NCRP.

posted on: Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Rural Louisiana left wondering after Ike and Gustav wreaks havoc

By Yna Moore

It’s been almost two weeks since Hurricanes Ike and Gustav battered the rural coastal parishes of Louisiana and most of the foundation world seems not to take notice.

True, Gustav and Ike were not the monster storms that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were in 2005. Perhaps there’s an assumption that the need for disaster assistance is less. Nothing can be farther from the truth.

Rural Louisiana is home to many low-income families who lost homes and livelihoods, which are mostly farming, fishing and small family businesses, in the wake of Katrina and Rita. The area was still in the midst of rebuilding when the two recent hurricanes struck the area.

The effect of these hurricanes brings home one sad fact—disasters disproportionately affect the poor: those that can’t afford land; those that have nowhere else to go and no one else to turn to; those that rely on the help of others to survive; those that have no money to tackle on their own the daunting task of rebuilding.

Sister Helen Vinton, assistant executive director of the Southern Mutual Help Association and NCRP board member, informed us that the country’s foundations are largely absent in responding to the pleas for help from Louisiana’s rural communities despite great need.

So to foundations across the country, big and small: they need your help! This is your chance to have an impact on the lives of thousands of Americans struggling to rebuild and recover from these natural disasters. There are many nonprofit organizations in the frontlines that will put your foundation’s dollars to good and worthwhile use. Will you take heed?

Do you know of foundations who are responding to the needs of rural areas affected by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike? How can the country’s foundations best help relief and recovery efforts? Please, tell us about it!

Kristina “Yna” Moore is communications director at the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP).

posted on: Tuesday, September 11, 2007

“Exposure and personal contacts” go far in the world of grantmaking, according to Rural Philanthropy: Building Dialogue From Within. But developing that essential cache of contacts is largely difficult without nonprofits having the opportunity to foster meaningful interactions with foundations.

That’s the kicker, though. Compared to urban nonprofits, rural nonprofits are much more isolated because of sheer geography, which in turn makes it difficult to create a philanthropic infrastructure. For example, “seldom do rural groups have the opportunities to rub elbows with granters,” and “few foundations conduct tours of rural areas,” cites NCRP’s latest report.

Although Rural Philanthropy highlights a handful of initiatives aimed toward overcoming those barriers, more needs to be done to connect rural nonprofits to major foundations. After all, without more familiarity with such groups, foundations are more likely to rely on pre-existing conceptions such as those discussed in previous postings.

What are some ways to overcome this "philanthropic divide"? How can rural groups increase access to foundations? These are difficult questions which NCRP invites readers to debate as they read Rural Philanthropy.

Download the report for free.

posted on: Wednesday, September 05, 2007

America’s celebrated “small family farm” more of a rarity these days…

Grant Wood probably had no idea how ingrained into American culture his iconic painting “American Gothic” would become. But the painting’s stoic farmer standing alongside his daughter, his pitchfork gripped in hand, has signaled the self-reliance and hard work of rural America since the 1930s. In 2007, however, America’s romanticized family farm image needs a major upgrade.

Sure, agriculture continues to be an integral part of the rural economy. But only a small percentage of rural populations actually work in agriculture. According to Rural Philanthropy, “less than five percent of non-metro residents” work in agriculture-related sectors. As for small family farms, although they comprise 90 percent of the farms in America, they account for only “25 percent of farm production.”

So what does all this mean? For one, the workplace is diversifying such areas. But populations also are shifting because of increased out-migration, replaced in part by new immigrants. Consequently, rural advocates must stress to foundations, especially those located in more urban centers, to revise their preconceptions about rural America. Doing so may help grantmakers become more responsive to the evolving needs of America’s rural landscape.

What are some of the issues that rural nonprofits face with corporate farms overtaking the production capacity of family farms? How do population shifts in numbers and composition shape the needs of rural communities?

Download Rural Philanthropy: Building Dialogue From Within for free.

posted on: Friday, August 10, 2007

Positive and Negative Assumptions have adverse effects, nonprofit directors say

Traditional families. Family farms. Safe communities. These are just a few of the nostalgic perceptions of rural life perpetuated by American culture and society. But they have adverse effects on foundation giving to rural areas, nonprofit directors say. According to one rural nonprofit director interviewed in Rural Philanthropy, “There’s a Normal Rockwell picture of rural America … . A great deal of that is true, but poverty is not seen in rural areas. Behind all those things, there is a great deal of poverty … and a lack of opportunity.”

NCRP’s latest report concludes that these “overwhelmingly positive notions of rural life” have “actually deter[ed] foundations from considering rural groups … as potential candidates for funding.” And if positive perceptions of rural America were not enough, negative images of rural life also have taken their toll.

Associating rural landscapes with the “sticks” or the “boonies” also may cause foundations to treat rural America with almost fatalist-like attitude. For example, as one rural Mississippi contributor said in Rural Philanthropy, “I think there’s this historic perception of Mississippi as backwater… . There’s this ‘giving up’ attitude when it comes to this state.”

How do you think perceptions of rural America impact grantmaking behavior? How do you keep those historical perceptions from undermining giving levels?

Download the report for free.

posted on: Thursday, August 02, 2007

The gap in foundation giving to urban areas compared to rural ones is staggering. In 2001 and 2002, for example, “only 184 foundations made grants that the Foundation Center categorized as ‘rural development’ grants.” And yet, “a larger percentage of children live in poverty in rural America than in urban America,” reports NCRP’s latest report, Rural Philanthropy: Building Dialogue From Within.

Understanding that disparity, however, is difficult. After all, grantmaking behavior, nonprofit operations and the spatial economy interact in complex ways, especially in rural parts of the country.

Rural Philanthropy tackles those complexities and recommends ways to boost charitable giving to rural America. It focuses primarily on foundations’ perceptions of rural areas and nonprofits, rural nonprofits’ access to grantmakers, and population constraints on such areas.

More discussion points will be provided during the next couple of weeks. NCRP invites readers to join in the dialogue on issues regarding rural philanthropy.

Download the report for free.