Description

📌 Registration is separate. Each Show-Me Philanthropy Conference week program requires its own registration: this Rural pre-conference, the Policy pre-conference, and the conference itself. Registering for one does not register you for the others.

Pre-conference programs are available in person and on Zoom, and they're open to any Missouri funder, even if you can't attend conference. This program is free for all eligible Missouri funders, thanks to grant support from the Patterson Family Foundation. 

Join PhilMO’s Rural Funder Network for lunch and conversation as we kick off Show-Me Philanthropy Conference week! 

After talking with Network Member-Advisors, we’ve simplified this year’s plans to a lunch and hybrid Network meeting at the Delmar DivINe. We look forward to offering site visits in rural Missouri again in 2027. 

At this gathering, you will:

✅ Connect with fellow rural funders over lunch and share grantmaking updates.

✅Hear from Jess Mullins Fullen, program lead at the Appalachia Funder Network, on what it takes to respond when rural communities face urgent needs, and how funders are building pooled funds to meet them together.

✅ Help shape the Network’s priorities and plans for the year ahead.

How it works: We hope you’ll join us in person for lunch and connection at the Delmar DivINe. If you can’t make it to St. Louis or are arriving later, you can join the meeting portion on Zoom [specific start TBA]. Please select your attendance type when you register so we can plan catering.

🧁Stay for dessert! Our second pre-conference program, the Public Policy & Civic Engagement Briefing, begins at 2:30 PM (separate registration required here).

AUDIENCE & REGISTRATION

This program is for funders* only. We welcome any funder who invests in Missouri, whether you are currently fund in rural communities or are interested in learning more. You don’t need to be a regular Rural Funder Network participant to join.

Registration is free for all eligible Missouir funders, PhilMO Members and non-Members alike. It is separate from conference registration, and conference registration isn’t required to attend. After registering, you’ll receive a basic confirmation. Wayfinding details (in person participants) and Zoom detail (virtual participants) will follow. 

Questions about this program or your eligibility? Contact Sarah Moody at sarah@philmo.org. 

*Eligible participants include community foundations, private and family foundations, donor-advised funds, health conversion foundations, corporate foundations and giving programs, public religious charities, tax-supported funders, and federated funds (e.g., United Way).

GUEST SPEAKER

Jess Mullins Fullen

Programs & Learning Manager

Appalachia Funders Network 

Jess is the daughter of Kimberly Ellen, the granddaughter of Phyllis Jean, and the great-granddaughter of Wonnie Francis. A community organizer from southeastern Kentucky, she now lives just over the mountain in far Southwestern Virginia.

As Manager of Programs and Learning with the Appalachia Funders Network, Jess builds the relationships that make collective action possible. She brings together foundations, government agencies, banks, CDFIs, and community development leaders who might not otherwise share a table, and helps them find common purpose toward a just economic transition in Central Appalachia. Through the network’s Action Teams, Learning Journeys, Communities of Practice, and Annual Gathering, she works alongside member leaders, regional associations, and partners to turn shared learning into shared action. For Jess, collaboration is civic infrastructure: the trust, relationships, and shared stories that let a region solve problems no single institution could solve alone.

Above all else, she is a mommy to two little babies.

ABOUT THE NETWORK

PhilMO Networks are smaller groups of funders, within and beyond PhilMO membership, who meet at least twice a year over multiple years around a shared interest. Often a Network receives sponsorship to support speakers, staff time, etc. 

The Rural Funder Network supports Missouri funders who invest in — or are exploring — rural communities. This Network meets quarterly virtually or in rural communities across the state to build and deepen trusted relationships, share effective and innovative practices, and explore opportunities for collaboration. Participants gain a deeper understanding of rural communities and equitable philanthropic practice, strengthen partnerships, help bring more resources and visibility to rural Missouri.

Special thanks to the Patterson Family Foundation for providing grant support for the Rural Funder Network.