At Inside Philanthropy, we’ve written a lot about how rural communities in the United States continue to be underfunded. Rural America faces a number of challenges, including economic struggles, limited access to healthcare, lack of broadband and more, but receives a paltry 7% of all philanthropic support in the U.S.
While large national funders tend to focus their efforts on urban areas, smaller regional funders provide crucial support to rural communities, and they also tend to be better equipped to do so. We’ve been mapping out this funding space in recent months; so far, we’ve looked at funders who work in the Midwest, the South, New England and the Mid-Atlantic. Now, we’re turning our attention to the West, starting with states in the Mountain West: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
Here are some of the funders supporting rural communities in these states.
LOR Foundation
The LOR Foundation, which we recently profiled, serves six communities in the Mountain West. Funded by Amy Wyss, daughter of Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, and her husband, Ed Jaramillo, LOR is dedicated to working closely with rural residents to improve the quality of life in the areas it serves.
LOR primarily operates through its community officers, who are tasked with listening to local community members who have an idea of a project for improving their communities. Projects LOR has supported include things like providing funding for art supplies to unhoused artists, launching a local football team for kids, equipment for food pantries, renovations for animal shelters, among many others.
Helmsley Charitable Trust
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust is primarily a healthcare funder, and one of its focus areas is rural healthcare in parts of the Midwest and Mountain West. We recently wrote about its work to improve mental healthcare in rural America. Helmsley has awarded approximately $700 million in grants through its Rural Healthcare Program, of which $42 million has gone to expanding mental healthcare access.
In addition to its investments in telemedicine, Helmsley has provided funding for Emergency Psychiatric Assessment and Healing (EmPATH) Units in Montana, Minnesota and Nebraska. These 23-hour-a-day units offer patients experiencing mental health crises immediate access to a psychiatrist.
Headwaters Foundation
The Headwaters Foundation is dedicated to improving health for those living in Western Montana. For rural communities in the area, Headwaters provides general operating support (GO! Grants) up to $7,500 for nonprofits that work to promote health for children and families. Headwaters supports organizations that serve either Native American communities or families experiencing poverty, and whose work is aligned with at least one of the foundation’s focus areas of family resiliency, food, housing, social inclusion and mental health.
The GO! Grants program is celebrating five years since its launch, and as of late January, has awarded close to $2.4 million across 406 grants to 200 organizations. Through its GO! Grants program, Headwaters wanted to build close relationships with the rural nonprofits in the areas the foundation serves. As such, it took a more trust-based approach, created a simple application process, and worked to have a quick turnaround to provide funding for grantees.
Anschutz Family Foundation
The Anschutz Family Foundation supports organizations that meet human and community needs in both rural and urban parts of Colorado. Founded in 1982, the foundation’s assets have grown from its original $4.5 million endowment to $66 million through investments and additional family contributions. At the end of 2022, the foundation had awarded more than $63 million in grants since its launch. In 2022, a full 43% of its funding went to rural communities in Colorado.
The foundation is especially interested in self-sufficiency, community development and programs aimed at economically disadvantaged individuals, young and elderly people, and people with disabilities. Other funding areas include food, shelter, homelessness, youth development, early childhood development, community and capacity building, crisis intervention, and senior programs, among others.
In addition to its grantmaking, the foundation is also responsible for initiating Colorado Rural Philanthropy Days. This is a bi-annual event where funders, government representatives, business leaders, and local nonprofits meet to strengthen partnerships and provide better support for the state’s rural communities.
Steele-Reese Foundation
Founded in 1955, the Steele-Reese Foundation is a charitable trust dedicated to supporting rural communities in Montana, Idaho and Appalachian Kentucky. Its rural funding in Montana, Idaho, and Native nations includes education, human and social services, conservation and preservation, health, and arts and humanities projects.
As part of its grantmaking, the Steele-Reese Foundation supports organizations that serve survivors of domestic violence, people experiencing homelessness, disadvantaged individuals, and people living with disabilities. On the education side, Steele-Reese funds literacy and after-school programs, small libraries, charter schools and other model school programs. Some of its grantees on the arts and culture side include Appalachian Arts Alliance and Native American Community Development Corporation.
Grants range from $5,000 to $50,000, with the majority in the $10,000 to $30,000 range. JPMorgan Chase Bank is the foundation’s corporate trustee.
Con Alma Health Foundation
The Con Alma Health Foundation (CAHF) is the largest foundation dedicated solely to healthcare in New Mexico. It is dedicated to improving the health status and increasing access to healthcare services for all New Mexicans. Among its core values is reducing health disparities by placing special emphasis on people of color, rural and tribal communities. It frequently collaborates with other funders, including national players like the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Like other funders of rural areas, CAHF has streamlined its application process to make it easier for nonprofits to seek grants. It also seeks to cultivate relationships and build trust with both grantees and organizations that it doesn’t fund.
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Other rural funders working in the Mountain West include: the Wyoming Community Foundation, Lander Community Foundation, McCune Charitable Foundation, Innovia Foundation, and the Idaho Community Foundation, among others.
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