About Rural Philanthropy Days

History of the Rural Philanthropy Days

Rural Philanthropy Days (RPD) brings together grant-seekers and grant-makers to meet the needs of Colorado's rural communities.

During the creation of the first Colorado Grants Guide in 1991, the Community Resource Center (CRC) discovered that only 3% of the funds granted by Colorado private foundations were awarded outside the Front Range region. RPD was started in response to that disparity, with the inaugural event held in Grand Junction in 1991. RPD became the bridge to connect Front Range foundations with rural nonprofits, and the event provides an opportunity for networking, building relationships and educating each other about needs and services in rural regions.

In 1997, a partnership between the Anschutz Family Foundation (AFF) and the CRC was forged to coordinate RPD. Since then, many other foundations have joined in to assist in making RPD a great success in the eight rural regions across the state of Colorado.

More recently, the Rural Philanthropy Days program has grown to include programming between the years of RPD events.  In 2010, the Community Resource Center and the Yampa Valley Community Foundation collaborated to offer high quality workshops year-round to improve the operation and services of nonprofit organizations in northwestern Colorado.

To learn more about the state-wide Rural Philanthropy Days program, please visit the Community Resource Center’s website.

Northwest Colorado Rural Philanthropy Days three days event

Northwest Colorado Rural Philanthropy Days is a three-day event where representatives of nonprofit organizations, public agencies, elected officials, business leaders and funders learn from one another and collaborate on projects. Networking opportunities encourage relationships that lead to mutual understanding, successful grant proposals, and more resources for rural Colorado.

The event is designed, organized, funded and planned by community volunteers from the northwest region of Colorado: Grand, Jackson, Moffat, Rio Blanco and Routt Counties.

The goals of the Northwest Colorado Rural Philanthropy Days are to

• Increase the number of grants and the total dollar amount of grants that are awarded to Northwest Colorado agencies by helping nonprofits improve their fundraising skills and relationships with funders

• Acquire stronger support from local resources. Through RPD, the nonprofit community has an opportunity to demonstrate its importance to local business, elected officials and community leaders.

• Improve collaboration between nonprofits, local government and businesses. In addition to communities working together across county lines, the different sectors are encouraged to work more closely and experience the advantages of collaboration.

• Encourage educated giving for grant-makers. Grant-makers see the context for grants awarded in rural communities and therefore make well-informed decisions about how to expand regional giving for maximum impact.

• Improve capacity for local organizations and agencies. Local organizations not only benefit from the training provided during Rural Philanthropy Days but also from technical assistance opportunities introduced at the events.

Rural Philanthropy Days gives communities access to newly identified resources, opportunities for collaboration, and capacity-building services in order to more effectively respond to social, environmental and economic challenges.

This event also allows grant makers to expand their visibility across the state, familiarize themselves with rural communities, and target their philanthropic giving to organizations and programs that have the greatest community impact.

Finally, RPD offers both grant-makers and grant-seekers an opportunity to discuss their common interests, forming stronger partnerships that better meet the needs of rural communities.

Our next three-day event will take place September 25th-27th of 2013 at the Winter Park Resort in Winter Park, Colorado.  We hope you can attend!