The Center For Rural Strategies Inc

What The Center For Rural Strategies Inc does

The Center for Rural Strategies, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2001 and headquartered in Whitesburg, Kentucky, that produces media, convenings, and advocacy initiatives addressing issues facing rural communities across the United States. Founded by veterans of Appalshop, the organization operates a portfolio of interconnected programs: The Daily Yonder (a digital news platform reaching over one million people annually and republished by approximately 1,800 news organizations in 2024), the Rural Assembly (a national advocacy movement with registrants from all 50 states), the Rural Remix podcast, the Rural Faith Initiative, the Living Traditions multimedia project documenting Appalachian folklife, and Yonder Radio (a free weekly radio show distributed to rural stations).

The organization's business model relies entirely on philanthropic funding: foundation grants from 15+ major funders (Lilly Endowment, Ford Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, Henry Luce Foundation, LOR Foundation, Chorus Foundation, and others) supplemented by more than 300 individual donors to the Daily Yonder. Documented recent grants include a $1.5 million Lilly Endowment award in January 2025 for the Rural Faith Initiative and an earlier $1.5 million Ford Foundation grant (2003-2007) for the Community Philanthropy Initiative. Programs are offered at no direct cost to the public, and the Daily Yonder maintains editorial independence from funding sources under a publicly disclosed editorial policy. The organization employs between 11 and 50 staff working across rural America from North Carolina to Oregon, with no proprietary software products — its underlying technology consists of journalistic workflows, multimedia production, and community facilitation methodologies such as story circles.

Name

The Center For Rural Strategies Inc

Legal name

Center for Rural Strategies, Inc.

Website

https://ruralstrategies.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Center for Rural Strategies is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit producing rural-focused journalism, advocacy, and convenings for rural Americans, operating The Daily Yonder, Rural Assembly, Yonder Radio, and Rural Faith Initiative through foundation grants and individual donations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Rural Media and Advocacy

NAICS

Social Advocacy Organizations (8133), Civic and Social Organizations (813410)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Rural Livelihoods & Economic Empowerment (BPAGABAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Infrastructure, Housing & Community Development (BPAGABAL)

Keywords

• Rural journalism media
• Community coalition building
• Rural policy advocacy
• Nonprofit media production
• Digital news publishing

Headquarters

HQ city

Whitesburg

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: The organization accepts tax-deductible gifts from individuals of any size through their website and by mail.
2. Foundation Grants: Major funding comes from foundations including Acton Family Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, Chorus Foundation, Hearst Foundations, Hearthland Foundation, Henry Luce Foundation, Impact Assets, Lilly Endowment, LOR Foundation, Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Scripps Howard Foundation, and others.
3. Lilly Endowment Grant: The organization received a $1.5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to document rural faith communities through its Rural Faith Initiative.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Center for Rural Strategies is a nonprofit organization that produces and distributes original rural-focused media content and convenes advocacy coalitions to improve conditions in rural America. Its core outputs include the Daily Yonder digital news platform, the Rural Assembly advocacy movement, podcast and radio programming (Rural Remix, Yonder Radio, The Yonder Report), and content syndication through Rural Newswire, all offered at no direct cost to the public and supported by foundation grants and individual donations.

Product overview

The Center for Rural Strategies operates a suite of interconnected media and communications programs focused on improving conditions for rural America. The portfolio includes the Daily Yonder (core digital news platform), Rural Assembly (advocacy movement), and Rural Remix (podcast) as flagship programs, supplemented by Rural Faith Initiative (faith community storytelling), Living Traditions (Appalachian folklife documentation), Yonder Radio (weekly radio show), The Yonder Report (radio newscast), and Rural Newswire (news syndication platform). Documentary projects like A Place in the Country and Donors Ourselves extend the organization's reach. The programs work together to amplify rural voices, build coalitions, and strengthen connections between rural and urban communities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The Daily Yonder The preeminent online platform for news, information, and storytelling about and for rural America, reaching more than a million people each year through original reporting, a radio newscast, and partnerships with other news organizations.
• Rural Assembly A vibrant movement of people and organizations advocating for a more inclusive nation, amplifying diverse rural voices across platforms locally and nationally through media, policy, relationship-building, and convenings.
• Rural Remix A podcast co-produced by the Daily Yonder and Rural Assembly that spotlights unexpected rural stories and pushes back on stereotypes surrounding rural communities, featuring series on rural politics, recovery courts, recreation economies, and food traditions. Available on Spotify and other podcast platforms.
• Yonder Radio A free, hour-long weekly show featuring news roundups through a rural lens, in-depth reporter conversations, human-interest stories about rural lives, and regional music performances, designed to fill programming gaps for rural radio stations and distributed to radio stations nationwide.
• Rural Faith Initiative A multi-year project documenting the novel and long-established ways rural congregations serve their communities, using audio storytelling, documentary work, and written stories to show how rural faith communities bring people together and serve as anchors in small towns.
• Living Traditions A multimedia storytelling project about folklife in central Appalachia, producing videos, audio stories, and written articles about traditional cultural practices including basket weaving, music, drag performances, and seed saving.
• The Yonder Report An audio newscast distributed to radio stations each week, covering rural news and issues, and broadcast on hundreds of radio stations.
• Rural Newswire An online platform for syndicating rural journalism, making rural-focused news content available for redistribution by other news organizations under republishing guidelines.
• A Place in the Country A one-hour television documentary narrated by Ray Suarez examining the impact of seven rural community development organizations throughout the United States, co-produced with Appalshop and Rural LISC.
• Donors Ourselves A book and documentary telling the story of how people in East Africa and East Tennessee built on assets of leadership, local knowledge, and capital to create brighter futures for their communities, produced through the Community Philanthropy Initiative.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reaches over 1 million people annually through original reporting and partnerships
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and major.

• AppalshopcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAppalshop is a cultural organization founded by veterans of Appalachian cultural work. The Center for Rural Strategies was founded by Appalshop veterans, and the organizations collaborate on media projects including Living Traditions and documentary work. Rural Strategies' work documenting folklife in Appalachia carries on Appalshop's legacy.
• West Virginia UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with West Virginia University's Reed School of Media and West Virginia Public Radio for projects including 100 Days in Appalachia and Appalachian Just Transition initiatives.
• Rio Grande Borderlands MinistryminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMinistry team of the Diocese of the Rio Grande working on immigration and migrant support, featured in Rural Faith Initiative border reporting.
• Rural Broadband Policy GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational coalition established by Rural Strategies in 2009 comprising grassroots, regional, and national organizations working together to create better broadband access for rural America. Founded on principles of communication as a human right, rural diversity, local ownership, and network neutrality.
• Broadband Connects AmericamajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoalition working for increased broadband across rural America. Rural Assembly participates on the steering committee.
• Rural LISCmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-production partner for the documentary 'A Place in the Country' examining rural community development organizations.
• 100 Days in AppalachiamajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDigital publication dedicated to sharing diverse stories from Appalachia, created in collaboration with West Virginia University College of Media and West Virginia Public Radio.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Appalshop: Appalshop is an Appalachian cultural and media arts nonprofit founded in Whitesburg, Kentucky. It is the founding organization of the Center for Rural Strategies—Rural Strategies was founded by Appalshop veterans—and the two continue to co-produce documentaries like 'A Place in the Country', making it the most direct comparable peer.
• Rural LISC: Rural LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation) is a national rural community development organization that finances and supports rural CDCs. It is an active co-production partner with Rural Strategies on the 'A Place in the Country' documentary and shares the rural community empowerment mission.
• Housing Assistance Council: The Housing Assistance Council is a national nonprofit focused on rural affordable housing and community development. It shares Rural Strategies' rural community empowerment mission and similar funder base (national foundations), but operates more in housing finance than media/advocacy.
• Center for Rural Affairs: Center for Rural Affairs is a Nebraska-based nonprofit that combines policy advocacy, community organizing, and rural-focused media to advance rural livelihoods and economic opportunity. It is closely comparable in mission (rural economic/community empowerment) and model (advocacy + communications) to the Center for Rural Strategies.
• 100 Days in Appalachia: 100 Days in Appalachia is a digital nonprofit news publication co-created with West Virginia University. It is a direct partner of Rural Strategies through '100 Days of Appalachia' and shares the regional rural-Appalachian storytelling and journalism focus, though at smaller scale.

Emerging players

• Type Investigations: Type Investigations (formerly The Investigative Fund) is a nonprofit investigative journalism organization that supports reporting on undercovered issues. It is comparable to Rural Strategies in being a nonprofit media organization that pairs journalism with a mission-driven social focus.
• The Bitter Southerner: The Bitter Southerner is an independent nonprofit digital media outlet telling nuanced stories of the U.S. South. It overlaps with Rural Strategies' Daily Yonder in storytelling, syndication, and countering regional stereotypes, but with a broader Southern (not exclusively rural) lens.
• Scalawag Magazine: Scalawag is a nonprofit magazine covering politics, culture, and power in the South. It is comparable to Daily Yonder as an independent, donor-funded journalism outlet focused on undercovered U.S. regions, though its lens is Southern progressive politics rather than rural policy.
• The Marshall Project: The Marshall Project is a nonprofit newsroom covering criminal justice, with a stated focus on underserved communities. It is comparable to the Daily Yonder as a mission-driven, foundation-supported nonprofit news outlet producing original reporting and podcasts for undercovered beats.

Broad incumbents

• ProPublica: ProPublica is the largest U.S. nonprofit investigative journalism outlet. It is broadly comparable to the Daily Yonder as a donor- and grant-funded nonprofit newsroom with strong editorial independence, though it operates at national scale and on investigative rather than rural-community reporting.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/ruralfaith_initiative
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/center-for-rural-strategies

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Subsidiaries6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about The Center For Rural Strategies Inc