We are excited to announce the launch of our first cohorts of rural powerbuilding organizations. Each cohort, comprised of three nonprofits, will meet quarterly and collectively steward a pool of $3.2 million over five years, resourcing one another to build, sustain, and scale their work in Washington communities. This launch also marks Magic Cabinet’s first cohorts outside of our traditional funding regions of Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area.
In 2024, Magic Cabinet’s community engagement team began exploring communities for the launch of our next Magic Cabinet cohorts. Following the successful launch of our first fiscally sponsored cohorts, we continued to dig deeper, with our guiding ethos—championing communities’ work— driving our decision-making.
In an increasingly polarized political climate, it felt vital to find and fund organizations that were building community power and poised for outsized impact through long-term philanthropic investment. For us, this would mean expanding our focus to include areas outside of our traditional funding regions in Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Through research and conversations with community leaders, it was clear that rural communities held the key to a more just and equitable future, despite bearing the weight of decreasing philanthropic and government investment. A 2021 report from FSG found that rural communities in the U.S. receive about 7 percent of philanthropic investment, despite accounting for 20 percent of the population.
The FSG report also noted that rural communities across the U.S. are growing more diverse, with people of color, including Native Hawaiian, Asian, and Latine communities, comprising 25% of rural residents as of 2020. The same is true in Washington state, where Native and Latine residents comprise 4.1 percent and 14.5 percent of the population, respectively, with a large percentage of these residents living in rural areas.
Collectively, these communities often face systemic inequities in education, economic opportunities, housing, and access to healthcare, among other areas. In Washington state, data show higher poverty and unemployment rates in rural areas, as well as larger disparities in education and healthcare compared to urban areas.
Despite a historic lack of investment, there has been an expansion of community-based organizations in rural Washington, many of which are working in deep partnership to seed power and forge a more equitable future across identities, affiliations, and rural-urban divides. This is where grassroots, community-driven change is happening, and where we will focus our grantmaking over the next five years.
Advancing Rural Power
At Magic Cabinet, we help nonprofits strengthen their infrastructure; this requires a sustained presence and commitment to a community as a core part of our grantmaking approach. While many nonprofits serving rural communities rely heavily on investments from urban funders to maintain their work, these partnerships are typically short-term, with few funders seeking to build authentic, long-term relationships with rural organizations.
In non-urban areas across Washington state, many impactful, community–driven solutions have emerged in response to the current political climate. These grassroots efforts, guided by small but mighty powerbuilding organizations, are meeting the moment by empowering community members to take an active role in creating positive, lasting change in their communities.
We have much to learn from these powerbuilders that are collectively driving systemic change in their communities. That’s why we’re excited to announce our multi-year partnership with six incredible powerbuilding organizations from rural communities across Washington state.
Launching Our First Rural Powerbuilding Cohorts
For our rural powerbuilding engagement, we made a few shifts to how we enter and engage with communities, ultimately expanding our model to invest more time in building relationships with our nonprofit partners and deepen our understanding of the communities they serve.
With the launch of two new rural powerbuilding cohorts, we will increase the pool of available grant funds from $2.5 million to $3.2 million over the life of the cohort, paving the way for grassroots, community-led solutions to take root and flourish across the state.
Introducing Our Newest Cohorts
WA Rural Powerbuilders #1
Through education, advocacy, and mutual support, Nuestra Casa empowers immigrants in the Lower Yakima Valley to create positive changes, enriching themselves, their families, and their communities.
Rural People’s Platform (RPP) organizes community members across rural North Central Washington around local initiatives and a long-term agenda that makes economic stability possible and sustainable for all working people and families.
Based in rural Vashon Island, We Are Comunidad centers the leadership and well-being of the island’s Latine and immigrant communities through mutual aid, advocacy, and cultural programs that build community power and belonging.
WA Rural Powerbuilders #2
Central Washington Justice for Our Neighbors
Central Washington Justice for Our Neighbors (CWJFON) offers free immigration legal services to low-income community members in Central and Southeastern Washington, and supports pro-immigrant policy changes at the local and state levels to ensure everyone, regardless of immigration status, has equal access to justice and power.
Community to Community Development
Community to Community Development (C2C) works to strengthen Latine and migrant communities guided by the principles of food sovereignty, immigrant and labor rights, and climate justice. They organize farmworkers to build cooperative enterprises and advocate for fair wages, safe working conditions, and equitable food systems.
Unidos Nueva Alianza Foundation (UNA Foundation)
Unidos Nueva Alianza (UNA) Foundation promotes and protects the rights of immigrants, underrepresented, and marginalized communities across Grant, Adams, Franklin, Benton, Yakima, Chelan, Douglas, and Okanogan counties through advocacy, education, and health.
Change Defined by Community
“Investing in rural orgs who work on civic engagement, government accountability, and other types of community organizing projects (though we might not use the term “community organizing”) is really an investment in long-term change.”
In rural communities, there is an average of one nonprofit for every 50 square miles. This statistic, combined with the sheer size of rural Washington and the pressing needs of these communities, suggests that these power-building organizations are well-positioned to achieve impact that reaches far beyond their immediate community.
At Magic Cabinet, we’re excited to fund the vital work of these nonprofits, many of which are building and launching equitable solutions to address the complex issues their communities face.
Many thanks to Integrated Rural Strategies Group and United Philanthropy Forum for creating these two critical resources that guided our work:
