Join the effort to ReImagine Appalachia

Workshop 1 A

Key Takeaways

1. There is a noticeable difference in trends between “progressive” and “conservative” funders. Appalachia struggles to get long term commitments from progressive funders. On the other hand, we’ve seen conservative funders commit to 10, 15, 20 years of funding right out of the gate. Trust based philanthropy is the long term goal.
2. Appalachian Organizations struggle to get in front of national philanthropy.  Once they do get an opportunity to get in front of them, the onboarding process is often long and burdensome. “Open calls” are not as common.
3.  We can develop a better narrative for philanthropy: 
   • Though there has been a severe loss of funding in the region, don’t frame it as having lost $900M in federal dollars. This can be overwhelming to private funders. Instead, we should frame it as a way they can help with 10% of what has been lost in federal funding to continue in a forward manner and avoid being set back a decade or more.
   • We need to continue to workshop the most engaging stories and narratives for the region
   • Appalachia is deeply networked, this is a strength. We need to reflect on this strength and ask ourselves, “How can this be leveraged at the national stage?” If organizations have funders already, it’s also important to advocate for other organizations in the region.

Collaboration is key to lift all of the great work in the region together.