Overview
TFFF’s RURAL COMMUNITY BUILDING COLLECTIVE
The Rural Community Building Collective (RCBC) is a group of ten place-based, community-led organizations that center trust-building to support rural resilience efforts across many sectors–disaster recovery, childcare, education, workforce development, and more. Supported through The Ford Family Foundation (TFFF), RCBC organizations regularly convene to share, adapt, and scale resilience initiatives and create sustainable cross-sector partnerships throughout Oregon and Northern California.
Kelley Nonprofit Consulting is supported by TFFF to serve RCBC as a technical assistance provider. Kelley NPC provides individual and joint fund development support; fractional CFO services and bookkeeping; marketing, communications, and design; program development, and more.
Below are a few of the collaborative and capacity-building initiatives provided.
Index
CONTENTS
A living page documenting Kelley Nonprofit and RCBC’s collaborative initiatives, capacity support, and ongoing work — built for quick reference and shared context.
Initiatives
COLLABORATIVE FUNDING REQUESTS
RCBC has applied to the following collaborative grant opportunities with support from Kelley & Co./Kelley Nonprofit Consulting:
Collaborative funding could be used for:
Developing rural autonomy funds supporting community-driven projects and building capacity to seek, secure, manage, and distribute funding from a variety of sources
Sustain and expand community-directed projects combating social isolation, doomerism, and encouraging civic engagement by facilitating in-person events where citizens break bread, have fun, and form the authentic relationships and know-how necessary for lasting systems change
Build trust-based disaster resilience infrastructure throughout rural Oregon and Northern California by strengthening local networks, creating shared tools and systems, and enabling rapid coordination for preparedness, response, and recovery efforts
Current & Upcoming Funding Opportunities
Finalists for the New Pluralists Breakthrough Grants
Out of 250 applicants nationwide, RCBC was among the top 45 invited to apply for the New Pluralists Breakthrough Grants, which fund collaborations focused on pluralist practices that help communities mitigate distrust, disconnection, and dehumanization
RCBC will be featured on a New Pluralists funding dashboard, opening more doors for national funding opportunities
Thank you to New Pluralists for recognizing RCBC’s efforts and sharing our work!
Initiatives
IMPACT STORYTELLING
In collaboration with RCBC, we developed a flexible, scalable “RCB Storybook” system that allows each Rural Community Builder to continually showcase how their rural communities come together to build resilience across sectors like disaster preparedness, childcare, education, food security, and so much more! We also developed assets to help explain the “what” and “why” of Rural Community Builders, and emphasize that centering trust through place-based, community-led projects is essential to successful rural resilience efforts.
TOPIC SPECIFIC RESOURCES
Growing & Diversifying Revenue: Developed for TFFF's Rural Community Builders cohort and tailored specifically to small, place-based nonprofits, this document shares actionable tips and ideas for how organizations can set themselves up for success – and help their rural communities thrive!
Budget planning
Financials and accounting
Fiscal policy
Fed grant management
Vetting funding opportunities
Grant planning and writing
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT AVAILABLE
Collaborative grant management
Design, marketing, and communications
Legislative requests
Evaluation and reporting
Legislative requests
