A long‐standing belief in fundraising circles is that it is much harder to raise money in rural communities than in urban or suburban settings and that you probably won't be able to raise all the money you need. There's some logic to this belief: fewer people live in rural areas, which means there are fewer people to ask. Although these communities may have fewer local nonprofits, many of the basic services that must be supported are often covered by increases in rural residents' tax rates through special surcharges for things like local health services or school expenses or a library. Studies have shown that nonprofits in rural communities do not receive foundation funding in proportion to their need or even in proportion to their population. These facts support the belief that it is more difficult to raise money in rural communities. But more difficult does not mean impossible, and sometimes, with a little creativity and luck, rural organizations can raise a good deal of money.

THE MANY KINDS OF RURAL

There are many kinds of rural communities, and organizations in these communities will have to look at their specific communities' assets and challenges in creating stable fundraising programs. For example, our romantic image of rural people living and working on the same piece of land all their lives is more often than not pure fantasy. Many people living and working in rural communities do not make their living from farming or ranching. Where they do, there may be laborers working on these farms or ranches, often forming large communities of their own of migrant or semi‐migrant workers.

Some rural areas have become retirement communities, with many residents not originally from the region and with little loyalty to it. Their charitable giving to that area may develop over time, but most of their donations will continue to be made to the organizations in the communities they left behind.

Other rural communities are bedroom communities for commuters who work in nearby cities. Many rural residents may work remotely—and many more may do so as a result of the COVID pandemic—rarely commuting to another physical location. Their loyalty to their local community may depend on whether they are raising a family there and how strongly they wish to be accepted and involved. “Back to the land” small farmers, boutique winery vintners, bed‐and‐breakfast proprietors, retreat center staff, and the essential workers who serve these communities are among the many types of people who live and work in rural settings. The finances and values of these people are extremely varied. The job of local nonprofits is to help people develop loyalty to their community and want to make it a better place.

There are rural communities primarily built around a college or a prison. The populations of many rural communities vary seasonally, swelling during part of the year with tourists and “part‐timers” who own second homes or timeshares. Many towns in popular tourist areas will host thousands of visitors on weekends. Where tourism is the main economic driver, “locals” are often the people providing services to the visitors. The majority of the population in some rural communities consists of non‐English‐speaking immigrants or refugees from Latin America, Russia, and Asian countries, and even historically white rural areas are becoming more racially diverse. All of these variables add layers of complexity to any rural fundraising effort.

Regardless, there are certain things that must be taken into account when mounting fundraising efforts in any rural community.

RAISING THE MONEY YOU NEED IN A RURAL COMMUNITY

The first step in fundraising in a rural community is to gather data and reflect on what it tells you about the community. How big is the permanent population, and what do most of those people do for a living? What nonprofits are raising money locally? If you have a part‐time as well as full‐time population, who are the part‐timers—weekenders, tourists, students, farm workers? What is their giving potential, and how can you invite them to give?

The second step—or more accurately, a simultaneous step—is to set a goal. How much do you need to raise? People have told me: “We can't raise millions of dollars here in Green Valley like you can in a city.” If you don't need millions of dollars, then it doesn't matter that you can't raise it. It may be that you can't raise what you need, and there are some solutions for that; but first, know your need. It is possible to raise substantial amounts of money in rural communities. There are people in every community who have the means and will understand the need for larger gifts.

Here's an example. A number of communities called colonias span the border between Mexico and the states of Texas and New Mexico. These communities often lack running water and electricity. Their community infrastructure—schools, roads, and local government—are in poor condition or nonexistent. People in these communities tend to work in nearby factories or on local farms. Many people have lived in these communities for years. Raising money for nonprofit work is not easy where so many people have so little, but some organizations in these areas have done well. In addition to collecting small amounts of money from residents, some nonprofits in those communities have identified a few people who care about the community and who can afford to give more. In one instance, a staff person of an organization working with teenagers identified a small farmer they thought could give $100. When they asked him for that amount, he misunderstood the question. “Yes, I can give that every month,” he said, to their surprise. He has been helpful in identifying other people who can also give substantial monthly or yearly contributions. Further illustrating the relationship between fundraising and organizing, he has helped several community groups petition local government agencies for improvements to roads, sewage systems, and public schools. He has helped people understand that, because they pay taxes, they have the right to services that taxes are meant to provide.

Here's another example to illustrate that even relatively small communities can raise large amounts of money for a variety of big projects over time. More than 20 years ago, in a community of 2,000 people in northern California, the Friends of the Library decided to expand their public library facility, moving it from a one‐room converted garage to a two‐room house nearby that was donated for the purpose. To do so, they needed to raise $135,000. Everyone involved in the local nonprofit community agreed that amount would drain the community and make other large fundraising drives impossible. Nonetheless, many in the community supported the idea, and the Friends of the Library decided to proceed because the expanded facility would be well used. They raised the $135,000 they needed. Soon after, leaders at the community center in town decided they desperately needed a new space for community classes, dances, and other functions and set out to raise $750,000 to build a new community hall. Between grant monies, county subsidies, and individual donor fundraising, they succeeded. After that campaign, the common belief was that there certainly was no community capacity for another capital campaign. Nonetheless, two years later the health clinic had no choice but to launch a capital campaign to modernize and expand its facilities. This successful campaign was followed by an affordable housing drive. Each campaign was much larger than the one before, but so far, they have all succeeded.

Each of these fundraising drives took place over a number of years and used several different strategies, from tables at the farmers' market to major donor solicitations. Each effort took a lot of hard work and the volunteer efforts of dozens of people. To be sure, this community has a number of wealthy retirees, and many of them made significant gifts to these campaigns. But the entire community participated, and some money was even raised from tourists. A poorer town with no wealthy retirees and no tourism would need to turn to government or foundation grants to raise this kind of money, but it would still do well to be open to the idea that a few people in their community could make significant gifts and the rest of the community could give significantly with a number of smaller gifts.

The lesson here is that, in any community, but more obviously in a rural community, fundraising is not a zero‐sum game. There is always more money, and it is not diminished or used up by big campaigns. Organizations in rural communities will want to time their campaigns. For two organizations to run a capital campaign simultaneously will rarely be as successful as running them sequentially. In addition, the need has to be well established, and the community has to agree with the goal of the campaign. The takeaway lesson here is that money grows back and produces more money.

PROSPECTS

There are four populations from whom a rural organization can raise money: full‐time locals, part‐time residents, people in nearby towns and cities, and people who used to live in these rural communities. Let's begin with the last two demographics. If you are located near cities with populations of 10,000 or more—and where there is not another program like yours—focus attention on raising money in those towns and cities, where the financial base is strongest. First, see if you already have any donors from those communities and ask those donors to host a small party for you to introduce your organization to people in their circle. If local people have contacts in nearby towns and cities, use those contacts to introduce your local needs to this population and to cultivate potential major donors. Contact sympathetic religious organizations, service clubs, and the like to find the best ways to introduce your program to their members. Ask any contacts you have or develop to share information about your organization on social media, and seek interviews on local radio stations. Keep your website current and interesting, even to people who don't live in your community. For specific projects, consider a crowdfunding campaign through which people can solicit their friends and family. Consider having a special event that would bring people from the city to your area. Often these events can be done successfully in conjunction with other local nonprofits. Art fairs, locavore food festivals, century bike rides, and the like can raise money from people who are not locals.

Focus attention also on people who grew up in your community but now live elsewhere. Many communities of all sizes have a social media presence; by following and posting on those sites, you can call attention to your organization. Ask local donors for names of friends and family who have moved away and invite them to be on your email list. People leave their community of origin for any number of reasons. You are looking for people who may have left to take a job and who still have fond memories of their hometown, or even would like to move back at some point. Use the methods discussed in other parts of this book to broaden your network of supporters outside your location.

Next, try to discover ways to raise money from people who pass through the community, particularly tourists and visitors. Some communities mount events primarily to attract tourists. For example, many communities have county fairs or various kinds of festivals, such as the Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California; ramp festivals in many communities around Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia; and the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon, as well as similar, albeit smaller Shakespeare festivals in many other communities. These events attract tourists who spend money to attend the event, at the event, and in the town hosting it. Local nonprofits will have a table or some other kind of presence at the event.

If you live where tourists come to see natural beauty or to vacation (such as along the coasts or near national parks or monuments), consider developing products that tourists will buy. Local crafts and homemade jellies and jams are always appealing. Photography books and calendars, guides to the local sights, and collections of stories of people who live in the community have all proved to be steady income streams for rural organizations when offered for sale at local outlets. In some communities, the history museum will have a gift shop featuring items from a number of nonprofit organizations. A for‐profit bakery or grocery store may also carry calendars, woodcarvings, weavings, and the like, the sale of which benefits local nonprofits. Imagination and cooperation are key to the success of these endeavors. (Remember, if you pursue the sale of items, pay attention to laws about unrelated business income tax [UBIT]).

At the local level, focus on finding a few people who can give larger gifts. Every community has generous people, and a few of those community members will be able to give major gifts, if asked. Whenever possible, ask current donors for the names of other people who could also give. People tend to be friends with people who not only share their values but are also in a similar economic situation. Someone who gives your organization $500 will know two or three other people who could give $500 and one or two people who could give $1,000. They, in turn, will know people who could give $2,500. Add these people to your database and follow the instructions in other chapters of this book about building relationships.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Without nightclubs and movie theaters to compete with, the special events that nonprofits can put on often form the basis of the social life of small towns and rural communities. A rural organization can raise $5,000 to $50,000 or even more with three or four months' lead time and a handful of volunteers. Start with an event that people would like to attend and might even travel some distance to attend.

Take, for example, a dinner dance. The dance can be held in the community center or the school gymnasium, which in many places can be used for free or for a minimal fee. Members of your organization can provide the food, but to make it more fun, turn it into a competition. Community members pay a small fee to “enter” the food competition in various categories, such as main course, salad, and dessert. Each person is asked to bring enough food to feed five people. People coming to the event get a small sample of each entry and then vote on which they like best. They can then pay for a larger portion of the dishes that they liked, including paying for takeout containers. In reality, most people will be full after the tasting, so the group will not run out of food. A cash bar serving smoothies, soft drinks, and juice can provide extra income. (Be cautious about serving alcohol to people who will be driving home. If you want to have alcohol for sale, be sure to get permission from local authorities and check on the rules for serving alcohol if your event is in a publicly owned building. Also make sure you have adequate insurance.) Later, a local band trying to become better known can provide dance music for a small stipend or for free. Or music can be provided by a DJ who is a friend of one of the members. Ask attendees to share pictures of the event on social media and invite people to donate.

Marketing and advertising for the event takes place largely by word of mouth; the local paper if there is one; social media; and the time‐honored posters hung in the post office, general store, library, and other places around town. Each board member is expected to sell 10 tickets. If your event is the only thing going on that Saturday night, it should be possible to get 100 people to attend. If the ticket price is $25 to $50 per person, many people pay $20 to $50 more for extra food or drinks, and the food competitors each pay a $15 entry fee, an organization can easily gross $5,000 to $10,000. If you have T‐shirts or other items to sell, you can add a small income stream from those sales with little effort.

Expenses will include buying drinks to sell, printing nice‐looking certificates or ribbons for the winners of the food contests, and mailing thank‐you notes after the event to volunteers and participants. Of course, you can solicit a local store to donate some drinks or other food, and perhaps someone in your organization can print the certificates on their home computer. As the years pass, more and more people will want to enter the food contest, and more people will want to attend the event.

A Chocolate Lovers Festival put on by an organization with a total budget of $175,000 in a college town of 8,000 people—including students—was organized along the lines of the dinner dance we've described. By the eighth year, the festival netted $60,000! Eventually, it attracted popular chefs from restaurants in nearby towns in addition to laypeople entering their favorite brownies or best hot chocolate. Pictures of the festival posted on the organization's web page and video highlights on YouTube become the festival's best advertising for the following year.

The dinner dance is just one example of how malleable events are. Each aspect of the event should be conceived of as a separate component, and components can be added or subtracted according to the number of volunteers and the amount of time available. A silent auction can be added to the dinner dance, or a live auction could replace the dance or be added to it. To focus more on families with young children, an afternoon barbecue at the beach could replace the dinner, and games could replace the dance. Tea and dessert followed by a lecture would appeal to a more academic or older crowd. Consider opening your silent auction to online bidders first, especially if your auction includes items that can be easily shipped. One organization whose staff is technologically sophisticated is experimenting with a simultaneous live and online auction using an auction platform designed for this purpose.

The secret to all of these events is to do as much as possible for free or at very low cost, and to charge for as many things as you can without having people feel that they are being nickel‐and‐dimed to death. Advertising must be effective so that the maximum number of people who might be interested in attending are attracted to the event at minimum cost. Word of mouth is the least expensive and most effective advertising and marketing vehicle, and the organization's board should talk up the event everywhere they go.

VIRTUAL EVENTS

Thanks to the COVID pandemic, some rural organizations learned, to their surprise and delight, that running a virtual event was more lucrative than events that require people to show up. (See Chapter Seventeen for more on how to do this.) They attracted “attendees” with connections to the community who lived thousands of miles away and would never have attended otherwise. The previously mentioned problems with connectivity caused some organizations to run their virtual event from the nearest city.

PERSONAL SOLICITATION

Personal, face‐to‐face solicitation is the most effective strategy for all organizations, big or small, rural or urban. Your rural organization may not have a lot of name recognition outside your immediate community, and you may not have famous people on your board, but your board members and volunteers have integrity, and some donors will give thousands of dollars because their friend is on the board and says that the organization does good work.

Personal solicitation is both the easiest and the most difficult strategy for almost anyone. It is the easiest because volunteers merely have to talk to their friends, who are, presumably, easy to find and comfortable to talk with. There is no real cost involved, except for the time of the volunteer and perhaps the cost of taking a friend out for coffee or lunch, and the meeting can be set at the convenience of the volunteer and their friends. It is the most difficult because it requires asking for money, which we have discussed earlier in this book.

CONCLUSION

When all is said and done, the essence of rural fundraising is the essence of all fundraising: building relationships. Successful fundraising of any kind requires ingenuity, commitment to the cause, love of people, common sense, a willingness to ask for money, and an understanding and deep appreciation of human nature—especially of the natural desire of all humans to be appreciated.