Inside grantmaker’s ‘major shift’: Here’s how dreaming big could help rural communities thrive

The Patterson Family Foundation is committed to helping rural communities in Kansas and western Missouri thrive, said Chris Harris, noting the foundation’s new grantmaking strategy expands that access more broadly across its priority region.

The Kansas City-based Patterson Family Foundation — founded in 2007 by Neal Patterson, the late Cerner CEO and co-founder, and his wife, Jeanne — launched its 2025 grants at the beginning of April.

“Prior to this, we had selected what we perceived as being the most urgent needs at that time,” said Harris, senior director of programs, describing a refined but more approachable focus for the influential philanthropic organization. “The reality is there’s urgency in every single one of these sectors, and so we wanted to open it up, scale it, and allow more access to more communities across all of our priority areas at once.”

“So this is a major shift for how we’re doing this,” he added, “and we’re excited that it will enable us to connect with our entire catchment through a more unified structure.”

Available grants revolve around the Patterson Family Foundation’s four interconnected priorities: economic opportunity, education, healthcare, and community engagement.

Click here to explore the Patterson Family Foundation’s grant areas.

“When we say that term ‘thriving rural communities,’ we understand that it encompasses a lot,” Harris explained. “There are so many factors, so many drivers to consider: from economic growth to education opportunities that live there now — and we hope live there in the future — to access to health care and healthy behaviors, to how they engage in the community.”

Organizations (501c3 nonprofits, school districts, and government entities) located in or serving a county or community within the Patterson Family Foundation’s Kansas or western Missouri catchment — 119 Kansas and western Missouri counties with fewer than 50,000 residents — are eligible to apply.

The Patterson Family Foundation serves rural communities in Kansas and western Missouri; courtesy photo

Jessica Hunt, Patterson Family Foundation

“Here at the foundation, our donor intent was to focus on rural communities because rural life is a really important thread in America’s fabric and it’s often overlooked,” said Jessica Hunt, vice president of strategy and programs, who noted that founder Neal Patterson hailed from a rural community himself. “About 20 percent of Americans live in rural areas but only about 7 percent of philanthropy goes back into those rural communities.”

“Then when you think about removing philanthropy that goes into universities in rural settings, that philanthropic investment decreases to about 5 percent of total philanthropy,” she continued. “We see there’s a lot of opportunity in rural communities.”

Letters of intent are due April 18 and full applications are due May 9. The foundation is offering office hours for applicants who might have questions or need guidance.

“We’re looking for organizations and communities that understand the challenge,” Harris explained. “They understand how the problem emerged, what the down-the-line impact might be if it’s not resolved, a vision for how they’re going to solve it, and what it means for the future of their community. They also will know how to mobilize others.”

Chris Harris, Patterson Family Foundation

Rural communities in areas served by the foundation are encouraged to think boldly about what they want to accomplish, he added.

“So much of their work when you’re a leader in a rural community is — we call them — ‘windshield problems,’ things that are right in front of you that need to be addressed,” Harris continued. “What we want to do is create space and resources so they can think about what’s down the road on a longer-time horizon.”

Working at the foundation, it’s exciting to see how inventive these rural communities are, Hunt noted.

“Everybody is solving for similar challenges and there’s more than one way to solve for a challenge,” she explained. “With some of the communities that we have partnered with it has been really interesting and fun to watch how creative and how innovative some communities are in addressing multiple barriers or opportunities for solutions in their hometowns.”

Harris agreed, noting it’s exciting to think what next-level ingenuity might be unlocked with additional resources.

“(Rural communities) have had to make so much progress,” he explained. “We talk about the lack of progress in a rural community, and I want to celebrate the massive progress they’ve made despite the lack of resources other places might have. They had to find ways to make it happen.”

Funding is just one resource the foundation provides, Hunt said, with its network of connections also part of the partnership.

“We share that network of resources to help communities develop solutions that are community-ready and right-sized for the challenges that they’re trying to solve,” she added.

Maria Flynn, Patterson Family Foundation

This is the first new grant cycle under the Patterson Family Foundation’s newest president and CEO Maria Flynn, who took over in the fall. The startup leader, exited executive, and tech advocate has been a great addition to the team, Hunt shared.

ICYMI: Tech champion tapped to lead Patterson Family Foundation; How Maria Flynn plans to ‘make opportunity happen’ for rural communities

“Her entrepreneurial spirit is absolutely stamped in a lot of the work that we were doing, particularly as we think about good places to live and we think about rural economies,” she continued. “Maria has really pushed the team in our thinking on how we help catalyze rural communities and the economic engines that fuel them.”

Tommy Felts contributed to the reporting of this story.