In southern Ontario's rural heartland the new state-of-the-art West Elgin Community Health Centre opened its doors on January 21st 2004. The Foundation for Rural Living's Rural Philanthropy Resource Network has been a catalyst. Capacity in the form of human resources, infrastructure and knowledge has supported a citizen effort responsible for seeking $250,000 from the community and private sector to make this project possible.

"The Foundation helped our volunteers develop a strategy, guided us through the various processes and did research on potential donors - many of which came through. We had access to resources we simply could never afford. We achieved our goal and I am certain this support was largely responsible for our success".

Doug Graham
Executive Director (former)
West Elgin Community Health Centre

The Rural Philanthropy Resource Network (Network) is a new model being developed and tested in an effort to advance the rural nonprofit and voluntary sector. The aim is to provide individuals, communities, and agencies with the knowledge, training, and support needed to successfully expand community investment and charitable programs.

The rationale for the Network arises from formal research conducted in partnership with FRL and Imagine Canada (formerly the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy), that clearly implies that the relative small scale of rural nonprofits, a lack of critical mass and geographic concerns are resulting in a sector that is lagging and not realizing its potential. Infrastructure, human resources and knowledge are immature, limiting volunteer effort and making the sector less competitive. Rural charities are experiencing difficulty competing for funding.

Private and community investment has tremendous potential for growth if conditions - primarily community capacity - can be improved.

Goal

• To stimulate rural philanthropy and advance the rural nonprofit and voluntary sector thereby improving quality of rural life

Objectives

• To stimulate pro-active, strategic pursuit of philanthropy in rural
• To develop rural community fundraising capacity through traditional approaches and through the creation of new collaborative models that address the small scale of rural nonprofits, lack of critical mass and geographic distance
• To create sustainable rural employment in the field of professional fundraising
• To increase rural community investment and involvement
• To improve and sustain rural nonprofits and improve the quality and sustainability of rural life

Description

The key element of the concept is the development of a shared resource that recognizes that small rural nonprofits do not have the threshold or capacity to create elaborate structures. However, in order to be competitive in fundraising and management, resources and investment are necessary.

Vital to the success of the Network are links with organizations which exist to foster the charitable sector in specific areas, such as Community Foundations Canada, United Way of Canada, Imagine Canada (Formerly the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy), Association of Fundraising Professionals and successful fund development programs located in or proximal to rural. Several models, most notably the Southern Rural Development Initiative based in rural south United States, serve as a guide and mentor to growth and development.

The Network involves the development of:

• A central, virtually accessible infrastructure to directly support rural fundraising and nonprofit management
• The placement of a team of rural development officers in several agencies in a variety of communities to assist with planning and execution of strategies
• Professional facilitation from a management team

1) Resource/Learning Centre
Virtual Sharing of an Infrastructure for Efficient, Effective Outcomes

Premised on the notion that rural agencies are small in scale and may lack the capacity or critical mass to, on their own, develop sophisticated systems and structures for resource development, the centre piece of the Network is a virtually accessible infrastructure to directly support rural fundraising and nonprofit management.

The Resource/Learning Centre features a variety of training programs, links and resources and technical services/assistance to advance rural fundraising and management, and link agencies to funding opportunities. The intent is not to develop or duplicate resources but rather filter and identify those existing opportunities which are most relevant to rural and then make them readily available.

The Resource/Learning Centre offers four types of support:

i) Learning Resources/Links - Filtered selection of the most relevant to rural resources, placed or linked to the FRL web platform that will build knowledge and provide access to opportunity

ii) Research Assistance - To aid rural practitioners to 'way find' through the many resources pertinent to a specific interest

iii) Professional Development and Training - Education in many formats on a variety of fundraising and nonprofit topics relevant to the needs and interest of rural nonprofits and targeted to remote rural locations

iv) Technical Assistance/Services- Direct technical support from trained specialists or professionals such as grant writing, funder research, communications and marketing, technology development or training, financial or administration and fundraising

This shared resource model precludes each rural charity from requiring its own sophisticated infrastructure - an unlikely possibility for many rural nonprofits.

2) A Development Team in Rural
Working with 'Host' Agencies to Advance Goals

The second feature of the Network is the placement of a team of Rural Development Officers (RDO) in rural nonprofit and voluntary agencies at the community or regional level. One RDO may serve more than one agency at a time and possibly undertake outreach across a rural region.

Rural nonprofit agencies such as health clinics, volunteer centers, social agencies, United Way's, Community Foundations… are both the primary beneficiary of the RDO program and they serve as 'host' providing space, access to business equipment and supplies and a relationship to an executive or lead volunteer who can provide direction, guidance and supervision. The 'host' agency may also provide a platform for outreach to other small nonprofits.

Working with direction from 'host' volunteers and nonprofit managers, the support of the Resource/Learning Centre and with senior mentoring and supervision, the RDO's serve in a variety of capacities including research, community assessment and development planning, determining the proper structure and vehicle for fundraising, seeking charitable status, establishing information systems, communications and marketing, designing and executing strategic fundraising programs, donor cultivation and stewardship…

The primary funder of the RDO initiative is the Job Creation Partnership Program (JCP) of Human Resources Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) and as such RDO's are JCP Participants seeking to develop meaningful employment in a rural setting. HRSDC is committed to the potential for rural job creation and skill development and the benefits to rural community service. The growth of professional jobs to support the nonprofit sector is considered key to the sectors advancement.

3) Professional Facilitation and Management Access to Senior Professionals to Guide Development

A key growth factor in the nonprofit sector (urban primarily) has been the rapid and dramatic growth of professional fundraisers. This growth, combined with rising salaries and a limited market availability of seasoned professionals has precluded many rural agencies from having access to these professionals. The Network's third key component is senior professional mentoring - 'wrapped around' the whole initiative and again in a shared manner - to ensure proper facilitation, supervision and adherence to industry standards and trends.

All RDO personnel in the rural communities and the Resource Centre are trained and supervised by senior professionals with more than seven years experience in the field. Daily mentoring by phone, periodic site visits and continuous virtual linking assists individuals and agencies with strategic direction, planning, problem solving and performance monitoring.

"When we needed help drafting our messages and completing grant requests, FRL was quick to respond with the expertise we were lacking. Leadership from FRL in the initial research phase got us started on the right track and provided the boost we needed."

Pat Smith,
Chair, Founding Committee
Oxford Community Foundation

Toward Sustainability

The Network proposes to bring a more formal and sustainable approach to strategic fundraising to rural. The result will be growth of an asset that will have a measurable, significant and lasting impact on rural life. The ultimate goal is the creation of a cooperatively owned social enterprise.

The intent is to catalyze or stimulate growth in the rural philanthropy and community investment by demonstrating the benefits of new technique and initiating development programs. The start-up phase for many nonprofits is always the most difficult often requiring subsidy (usually by a 'parent' organization - e.g. hospital), time and intense effort on the part of 'champion' volunteers. In rural it may also require innovation, as the urban experience may not apply.

It is proposed that in time - three to five years - the return from investing in fund development programs will yield enough to cover the cost of fundraising while investing most of the profit in community work. As the shift to more sustainable development occurs agencies will be able to assume the costs on an internal basis (i.e. hiring staff and setting up infrastructure) or through a user fee to the Network.

A vital and productive industry of services fostering the health, education, social, cultural, economic and spiritual well-being of rural citizens and their families is the foundation for a thriving rural sector. Our rural people and those who might choose to make rural a way of life in the future deserve no less. The Rural Philanthropy Resource Network could reasonably be expected to catalyze essential growth in Canada's rural nonprofit sector.

"Rural and northern communities are prime for more community investment. An initiative to encourage the strategic pursuit of private support for the good work of our social and community groups is not only welcomed - it's imperative!"

Mayor Victor Fedeli,
North Bay, Ontario