Rural Non-Profits
They don’t know the half of it!
I just read an interesting article on the difficulties facing rural non-profits when it comes to securing Grant money. I think they read my mind and felt my frustration.
There are no large corporations funding non-profits in our rural location. We don’t have any large corporations. Our largest companies are the local non-chain grocery store and hardware store.
There are no large Foundations in our rural location. There are no Foundations either.We are so rural most Foundations can not find us on a map. During a discussion with a potential Foundation about a Site Visit there is a long pause when I mentioned the 3+ hour drive down a windy 2 lane road. That road makes it difficult to develop a “meaningful” Relationship. We are a great vacation spot and I have even offered a room in a local Bed & Breakfast; no one has accepted yet.
Those with the money in the urban environment do not grasp our world or some of our problems. I mentioned to one Foundation that we had a problem in a distant location from our Center and gas money for volunteers was crucial. She apparently had a vision of 10 miles or less round-trip; I was thinking 50 miles one-way. My grocery store is 10 miles away. I want to laugh when someone asks about excessive employee benefits or high-priced salaries. What are benefits? Do employees get benefits? Not here! A benefit is they have a job. As for those high-priced salaries; some of the Foundation Heads make more than our entire payroll.
One of the suggestions in the article was to establish a local Non-Profit group. That won’t happen. The 50 local charities are trying very hard to grab every $1 donation; we could never sit in a room together and share information. We are jealous if another non-profit got to put their Donation Can beside the busiest cash register at the grocery store. Competition is rough here.
One Foundation requires a professional Site Video. I did not know how to explain that I could borrow a camera or hire the local television station; but we did not have anything in between. The profession videographer moved out of town.
Now that I know the problem, I do not know what to do with the information.
