Western Slope Rural Philanthropy Days®

Fruita | June 5-7, 2024

Register Now!

Early bird registration closes on Monday, May 6 at 5 PM MDT.

This unique conference provides a forum for quality professional development opportunities close to home as well as networking with other community leaders in the region and relationship building opportunities with statewide funders. RPD® not only creates the space to educate each other on regional needs but also works towards collaboratively addressing community-wide issues in the region. This opportunity only occurs once every four years in the Western Slope region which is composed of Delta, Eagle, Garfield, Mesa, and Pitkin counties.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2019 RPD’s

  • Over $118,000 economic impact between the communities that hosted the conferences
  • 630 attendees between the two conferences
  • 93% of grantseekers reported that RPD increased their personal & organizational capacity
  • 96% of funders felt that the roundtables established a relationship between grantmakers and grantseekers
  • 90% of RPD participants attended a Funder Roundtable Session
  • 97% of funders agreed that as a result of RPD they have a better understands of the assets and collaborations in the region

Western Slope Rural Philanthropy Days

June 12 – 14, 2019 | North Fork Valley, Colorado

From June 12 – 14, 2019 over 300 nonprofit professionals, grantmakers, community leaders, distinguished speakers, and elected officials united in Paonia to exchange knowledge and expand professional networks at the Western Slope Rural Philanthropy Days conference.

This opportunity only occurs once every four years in the Western Slope region which is composed of Delta, Eagle, Garfield, Mesa and Pitkin counties. To become involved in the Western Slope’s Regional Leadership Committee to help plan interim programming please contact email hidden; JavaScript is required.

About the Program

The goal of RPD is to bring increased access to resources to support sustainable rural nonprofits, increase the engagement of funders in rural communities, and encourage effective collaboration on a regional scale.

Meeting the needs of rural Colorado communities is what RPD is all about. Western Slope nonprofit professionals in attendance at the 2019 conference were able to participate in more than 30 professional development opportunities over the 3-day conference.

In addition, the Western Slope RPD Conference provided a powerful opportunity for the state’s most influential funders to meet one-on-one with local and regional grantseekers in a series of Funder Roundtable discussions. This exchange helps to break down barriers and ultimately results in stronger partnerships, increased access to resources and the development of long-term relationships.

Regional Steering Committee

RPD conference activities are collaboratively coordinated by a Regional Steering Committee comprised of rural nonprofit, government and business leaders, Community Resource Center, and local foundation staff.

For more information, please contact:

Katy Sawyer, Director of Capacity Building, at email hidden; JavaScript is required.