Most Canadians live in urban centres or their surrounding suburbs. Everything is close at hand, whether it’s groceries, the theatre, a bookstore, or the family doctor. Not surprisingly, the majority of Canadian nonprofits also set up shop in urban areas, allowing them to reach out to large numbers of the population. Living in the hustle and bustle of a city can make it easy to forget there is a world beyond its borders. Nevertheless, people living in rural areas have many of the same needs as city dwellers, but accessibility to services and resources is usually quite limited. The same is true for the nonprofits that operate in these areas. Funding is tight, capacity is small, and most rural nonprofits are run by volunteers rather than paid staff.

Until recently, little was known about the reality of operating a rural nonprofit. Fortunately, that is changing thanks to a partnership between the Ontario-based Foundation for Rural Living and the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy (CCP). Through the Rural Charitable Sector Research Initiative (RCSRI), launched in 2003, the two organizations are working to better understand the issues and trends affecting the rural voluntary sector in Ontario and beyond.

Why does it matter?

Considering that rural charities account for only about 20% of the charities in Ontario, one might wonder why a full-scale research project – the first of its kind in Canada – is necessary. After all, many of these small, mostly volunteer-driven organizations have been operating for decades with little attention paid to them. Michelle Quintyn, executive director of the Foundation for Rural Living, can point to all kinds of good reasons why the sector as a whole – and Canadians in general – need to sit up and take notice of what’s going on in rural Canada. “Having strong and prosperous rural communities is really important to the whole country. We need to have food and all kinds of other things and if we’re not providing adequate care or jobs and people are leaving [rural areas], I think we have some problems.” She feels it is essential for rural communities to have a strong and productive nonprofit sector that delivers important programs and services for both enjoyment and quality of life, as well as meeting the needs and challenges of the people living there.

In the first phase of the RCSRI, researchers discovered that approximately 13% of the Ontario population, or about 1.5 million individuals, live in rural and small-town Ontario, but only about 4% of charitable revenue flows to rural charities. Quintyn says there is a good level of nonprofit activity in the rural sector but it is being played out almost exclusively in very small organizations. This includes volunteer centres, community health centres, libraries, community development initiatives, small cultural organizations, and sports and recreation groups, to name a few. “They are very small in terms of structure, in terms of human resources, in terms of systems, and the majority have no staff and are completely volunteer-driven.” As a result, these organizations tend to be less structured. For example, findings indicate that rural people are very engaged as volunteers in fundraising, but the type of fundraising they are doing is more small scale. “They do a lot of knocking on doors and it’s not as strategic a process as you would see coming out of a larger institution,” explains Quintyn. “We also found that there are very few professional fundraisers working and residing in rural areas and we see lower levels of investment through charitable contributions.”

The core funding challenge

Quintyn says it isn’t surprising that almost every rural nonprofit talks about difficulties securing core funding. “It’s a pervasive issue right across the sector, but I do think that the smaller charities are probably affected by this issue even more.” Rural nonprofits just don’t have the capacity in terms of organizing projects and putting forward strategic grant proposals and are therefore negatively affected by the trend toward project-driven funding. “It’s really difficult for a small agency to have that kind of funder environment,” she says.

In conjunction with the RCSRI, the Foundation for Rural Living organized the Rural Philanthropy Roundtable, a national consultation process involvingÝphilanthropists, community leaders, and rural practitioners. One of its goals is to develop strategies to encourage grantmakersÝto participate more fully in rural funding, and the outcomes from the first roundtable should be available by the end of this year. Luckily, some funders are already very cognizant of the issues facing rural nonprofits, including Hugh Arklie, executive director of the Thomas Sill Foundation and a roundtable participant. Approximately 50% of the foundation’s grants currently go to rural and northern Manitoban communities, and Arklie feels it is critical for his foundation to support rural areas. “I’m trying to encourage other private foundations to look outside their big urban municipalities. It makes so much sense to focus on rural areas because invariably those rural areas are the sources of wealth in the urban areas. In Manitoba it’s agriculture, it’s forestry, it’s hydro electricity.”

As well, the United Way and community foundations are both working to increase their rural presence. Quintyn points out that many parts of rural Ontario and Canada are not well developed in terms of United Ways or community foundations and many regions don’t have access to a community fund. Community Foundations Canada (CFC) is trying to improve that. Monica Patten, the CEO of CFC, says there has been a remarkable increase in the number of foundations across Canada. “It seems that many rural communities are turning to community foundations as a way to revitalize or retain their way of life.” According to a CFC Members’ Survey, in 1993 there were only seven rural community foundations in Canada. By 2003, that number jumped to 74, representing almost half of CFC’s current members. As well, rural community foundation grants have increased from $355,000 in 1993 to $2.7 million in 2003, and the total assets of rural community foundations grew from $5.6 million to $63.5 million during the same period.

Reaching out to rural nonprofits

Despite some positive progress, Quintyn knows that a lot more research is needed to really understand where rural nonprofits are at and where they are going. The second phase of the RCSRI is now underway and researchers hope to produce more qualitative findings. “We’re at the stage of the study where we are probing attitudes and getting key informant information, both from the rural sector, and from funders,” says Quintyn. “As we look at how we structure the nonprofit sector, I think we have to make sure we have a solid understanding of what the needs and opportunities are within rural communities.”

A second report is expected in the spring of 2005 that will look at rural practitioners’ attitudes about the state of the voluntary sector in rural areas. In the meantime, Quintyn encourages urban nonprofits to embrace and adopt rural communities. “We can endeavour to understand what is going on in rural communities and play a role in fostering community development even though we might be urban-based. I think people at the local level, be it in a small community in a large city, or a small town out in a rural region, must have a strong voice and ensure that community needs are met.”

For more information about the Rural Charitable Sector Research Initiative, visit www.frl.on.ca/frl/home_research.htm.