Funding Rural Roundhouse Foundation

During times of crisis, we often see the disparities in community resources, especially in rural and remote communities. Cari Cullen from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy offers ways philanthropy can and should be showing up in the communities we serve during and after disasters. Cari reminds philanthropists it’s not ‘if’, but ‘when’, with disasters. Funders need to plan ahead, in partnership with government agencies and community stakeholders. And perhaps most importantly, we need to be listening for what the communities actually need.  

Over the past few years federal funds have increased to rural communities, but how are they actually getting to those communities? Tony Pipa, a Senior Fellow with the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, shares programs, leads the Reimagining Federal Rural Policy Initiative and hosts the Reimagine Rural podcast. In this episode, he demystifies the federal government and its resources, and talks about the need for a rural renaissance to ensure the available funding for rural and remote communities makes it to those on the ground doing the work across rural America.

Belinda Brown has spent over 30 years providing leadership, developing programs, and facilitating community development in Indian Country. She has expertise in intergovernmental affairs coordination with Tribes, communities, and collaboratives. An enrolled member of the Pit River Tribe, Belinda’s varied experience links back to a consistent theme: supporting young people. Her current role with Lomakatsi Restoration Project helps to align young Indigenous and rural youth with workforce training related to cultural practices —and just at the right time.

Margaret “Margi” Hoffman is a woman of action – not something commonly thought of when talking about Government officials – and yet she now serves as the Oregon State Director for Rural Development of the USDA.  She is looking creatively at ways her role can support the state of Oregon and its rural communities to access capital from federal partners, even as small pilot projects, bringing together the “coalition of the willing” to get dollars on the ground.

Barton Robison of Willamette Partnership tackles what he calls ‘weird projects’: those things that are hard to manage or hard to fund – because rural capacity is limited in city and county governments. With his lighthearted approach, Barton makes it seem easy.  But in reality there are many ways grant processes can be improved, starting with happy hour.

Lesli Allison cut her teeth on a 50,000 acre ranch in Southeastern Colorado—a massive land management experience that taught her the importance of private lands and their role in the conservation conversation. On episode 8 of the Funding Rural podcast, Lesli shares how ranchers and farmers are leading the way on innovative climate and environmental projects, and the challenges of accessing resources including research. She touches on the importance of showing up to better understand the challenges facing communities and discusses how conservation projects require on-the-ground collaborations because they have a long runway, and can require multi-year funding. Lesli reminds us that it's important to direct funding to those organizations within the community where the issues are happening—not just the national groups—in order to ensure project sustainability.