Convening Partners at Rural Philanthropy Days
By Laurel Petralia, The Colorado Trust
Rural Philanthropy Days (RPD), a program of the Community Resource Center, takes place twice a year. In September, the fall event was held in the northwest region in Winter Park to connect funders with nonprofit organizations and government officials in Grand, Jackson, Moffat, Rio Blanco and Routt counties. Boasting some of the most beautiful areas in Colorado, the northwest region is also sparsely populated which limits the resources available to residents.
Prior to RPD, the Anschutz Family Foundation and the Community Resource Center hosted a listening tour where foundation leaders met with regional nonprofit leaders and government officials to learn about the broad challenges of the northwest region, overarching needs and current actions at the local level to address them. The listening tour allows funders to be better informed and prepared to discuss the various community issues during the RPD community solutions dialogues.
According to Renny Fagan, President and CEO of Colorado Nonprofit Association who facilitated the RPD community solutions, “this process brought together nonprofit, government, civic and foundation leaders for a dynamic discussion about regional assets and deficits regarding mental health and early childhood education. The energy and optimism of participants grew as they identified and developed steps to regional solutions that would benefit their communities. The group reached an amazing consensus on next steps and left with a commitment to implement the outlined projects.”
The RPD collaborative process is similar to The Colorado Trust’s Convening for Colorado grant program. Each month, The Trust accepts applications from nonprofit organizations looking to tackle tough issues affecting the health and well-being of their communities; such as education, transportation, health care, employment, economic stability and housing, often referred to as the social determinants of health. For example, Mercy Housing in collaboration with Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved convened residents and representatives of housing and health care sectors to explore the critical connection between stable housing and improved health. As well, the Denver Hospice convened nonprofit hospice providers to address access to affordable end-of-life care for all Coloradans.
With limited resources facing many communities in Colorado, collaboration is important to advance the work of nonprofit organizations who work to address the needs of their communities. The Convening for Colorado program offers resources for facilitators, note takers, space rental, food and other logistical items allowing the organizations to focus on the process of engaging in deliberative dialogue to reach actionable solutions. If you would like to convene a group around addressing health and community issues or would like additional information about Convening for Colorado, visit The Trust’s website.
