Rural Health Collaborative

What Rural Health Collaborative does

Rural Health Collaborative (RHC) is a Portland, Oregon-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2010 that trains and supports community health promoters called "Kekeli Women" (Kekeli meaning "Brightness" in the local Ewe language) in the Akatsi North and Akatsi South Districts of Ghana's Volta Region. The Kekeli Program has trained four cohorts since 2011, growing to 68 active women across 82 unique communities, delivering health education, maternal health support (Home Based Life Saving Skills curriculum), automated blood pressure screening for chronic disease, basic wound care, and referrals to local clinics. In 2024 alone, the program conducted 1,879 community teaching events reaching 33,082 people, took 5,297 blood pressure readings, and treated 1,708 wounds. The organization also operates a smartphone-based pregnancy monitoring program using Medic Mobile technology and Ewe-language animated educational videos developed with InvestED.

RHC's revenue model is donations-driven. The organization raised $51,312 in FY 2023/24 from grants and donations, up from $45,331 in FY 2022/23. Approximately two-thirds of revenue comes from "The Collective," a monthly recurring donor program with 58 members contributing $2,681 per month at the end of 2023, down from 63 members and $2,856/month at end-2022. Suggested monthly giving is $50 to support one Kekeli Woman, with $15 allocated to the woman's stipend, $10 to ongoing education, $5 to teaching supplies, $5 to communication credits, and $15 to Ghana program costs. Donations are processed via Stripe and managed through Donately. The organization holds IRS 501(c)(3) status and a GuideStar Platinum Seal of Transparency.

RHC operates a lean team of approximately 15 volunteers and committed Ghanaian staff, with leadership divided between a USA team (Portland) and a Ghana team (Akatsi). Co-founders Jason Kroening-Roche (MD/MPH) and Olivia Kroening-Roche (nurse midwife) remain active. Dr. Brandy Holloman became Executive Director in 2023, succeeding Heather Poynter-Lausch, who transitioned to the Board. The Ghana team is led by Country Director Alnice Agbeko, with Bridget Bockor joining as Teaching Director in 2024. The seven-member Board of Directors includes Sarah Hamill (Chair), Melissa Tucker (Vice Chair), and Nana Aboagye (Treasurer, T. Rowe Price).

Name

Rural Health Collaborative

Legal name

Rural Health Collaborative

Website

https://rhcollaborative.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Rural Health Collaborative is a US-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that trains and supports community health promoters (Kekeli Women) delivering maternal health, chronic disease screening, and health education across 82 rural communities in Ghana's Volta Region.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Health Services

NAICS

Voluntary Health Organizations (813212), Other Individual and Family Services (624190)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Maternal, Child & Family Health Organizations (BPAGACAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Community Health, Prevention & Health Education (BPAGACAC), Maternal, Newborn, Child & Adolescent Health (MNCAH) NGOs (HLAJAKAG)

Keywords

• Community health promotion
• Maternal health training
• Rural health services
• Health education programs
• Community health workers

Headquarters

HQ city

Portland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations and Grants: RHC raises funds through individual donations and grants. In FY 2023/24, $51,312 was raised from grants and donations. The organization is a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit, making donations tax-deductible within US law guidelines.
2. The Collective (Monthly Recurring Donations): Monthly giving program called The Collective, where donors give recurring monthly donations to sustain the work of the Kekeli Women. As of end of 2023, 58 members give a total of $2,681 each month. The suggested monthly donation is $50 to support one Kekeli Woman.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Rural Health Collaborative trains and supports 68 Kekeli Women — community health promoters living in the rural communities they serve — to deliver health education, maternal and newborn health support, blood pressure screening, and referrals in the Akatsi North and South Districts of Ghana's Volta Region. Subprograms include Home Based Life Saving Skills (HBLSS) maternal training, automated blood pressure monitoring, and the Kekeli Pregnancy Monitoring Program using Medic Mobile smartphone technology paired with InvestED animated videos in the Ewe language. The organization funds this work through individual donations, grants, and a monthly recurring donor program called The Collective.

Product overview

Rural Health Collaborative operates the Kekeli Program as its core offering, training and supporting community health promoters (Kekeli Women) in rural Ghana. The program includes Home Based Life Saving Skills training for maternal health, a Blood Pressure Monitoring Program for chronic disease screening, and a Smartphone-based Pregnancy Monitoring Program using Medic Mobile technology. The organization also runs 'The Collective,' a monthly donor program providing sustainable funding. These components work together to deliver health education, basic healthcare, and referrals across 68 communities in the Akatsi North and South Districts of Ghana's Volta Region.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Kekeli Program The core health-promotion program training and supporting community health promoters (Kekeli Women) in rural Ghana to deliver health education, maternal health support, blood pressure screening, wound care, and referrals across 68 unique communities in the Akatsi North and South Districts of Ghana's Volta Region.
• Home Based Life Saving Skills (HBLSS) Intensive maternal health training curriculum teaching Kekeli Women to prevent maternal hemorrhage at birth, recognize and stabilize sick newborns, and improve referral systems to hospitals when complications arise.
• Blood Pressure Monitoring Program Chronic disease screening initiative where Kekeli Women use automated blood pressure cuffs to screen community members and follow an algorithm for referral when readings are elevated.
• Kekeli Pregnancy Monitoring Program Smartphone-based prenatal monitoring system using Medic Mobile technology to track pregnant women, send automated reminders, and document home visits by Kekeli Women to encourage facility-based deliveries.
• The Collective Monthly recurring donation program supporting the ongoing work of Kekeli Women, with a suggested donation of $50/month to sponsor one Kekeli Woman's stipend, education, supplies, and program costs.

Quantifiable outcome

• 33,082 people taught in 2024 across 1,879 community teaching events in 82 unique communities
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Medic MobilecoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2017Nonprofit organization building open-source smartphone software for health workers. RHC partnered with Medic Mobile from 2017 to 2019 to use their smartphone technology as part of an antenatal monitoring program, allowing the Kekeli Women to track pregnant women and encourage facility-based deliveries. The partnership was on pause during COVID-19.
• InvestEDcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Creates animated health education videos. RHC worked closely with InvestED to develop a new series of animated videos in the Ewe language that the Kekeli Women show to pregnant women and their families during home visits using smartphones, covering different stages of pregnancy.
• Point Loma Nazarene University School of NursingminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducation partner that has sent nursing students and professors to Akatsi each spring (pre-pandemic) to learn about global health and participate in an exchange with the Kekeli Women. Students and faculty teach the Kekeli Women (most recently blood pressure cuff usage), while the Kekeli Women educate students about rural health promotion in Ghana.
• StripeminorOthersPayment processing platform used to securely process online donations so that donors can be confident their payment information is safe when donating via credit card or bank account.
• DonatelyminorOthersOnline giving platform partner used by RHC to manage recurring donations (The Collective), donation history, and donor accounts. Donors can update recurring donations, view history, and manage their giving through their Donately dashboard.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Muso: Runs a community health worker-led model in rural Mali focused on maternal and child health, with proactive door-to-door health care. Directly comparable to RHC's community-embedded health promotion and pregnancy monitoring work.
• Last Mile Health: Operates community health worker networks in rural Liberia, Sierra Leone, Malawi, and Ethiopia. Directly comparable to RHC's Kekeli model of training and supporting local women as community-based health promoters in underserved rural settings.
• Living Goods: Supports a network of community health promoters in Uganda and Kenya who deliver health education, diagnosis, and treatment at the household level. Closely analogous to RHC's trained-Kekeli model focused on maternal/child health and disease prevention in rural Africa.

Broad incumbents

• Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI): Global health organization working in over 30 countries to strengthen health systems and expand access to maternal, newborn, and child health services. Comparable maternal-health focus to RHC, though operating at policy and systems level rather than direct community delivery.
• Partners in Health: Major global health nonprofit delivering health services in rural and underserved settings across multiple countries including Rwanda, Haiti, and Liberia. Comparable mission to RHC but operates at vastly larger scale with broader service portfolios.
• BRAC: One of the world's largest development NGOs, with extensive community health worker and maternal/child health programs in Bangladesh and across Africa. Shares RHC's model of training local women as community health promoters but operates at much greater scale.
• CARE International: Large international NGO operating global health, nutrition, and women's empowerment programs in rural communities across Africa and Asia. Overlaps with RHC's maternal health and community health education work but at far broader scale and across many geographies.

Emerging players

• Possible Health: Builds community health worker networks in rural Nepal delivering maternal and child health services. Comparable in mission, community-led design, and focus on rural maternal health outcomes to RHC's Kekeli Program.
• Health Builders International: Strengthens primary healthcare in rural Rwanda through community health worker support, health facility management, and maternal/child health programs. Comparable community-health-worker-led rural health model to RHC.
• VillageReach: Strengthens health systems in low-resource settings including Malawi, DRC, and Mozambique, with focus on community health workers and last-mile service delivery. Comparable rural health delivery focus to RHC's operations in Ghana's Volta Region.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/rhcollaborative
• Instagraminstagram.com/rhcollaborative
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/rural-health-collaborative

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles17 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Rural Health Collaborative