For Funders
Invest in rural AI capacity that communities can own.
The Center for Rural AI helps rural communities build practical AI skills, deploy useful tools, and publish reusable resources that extend beyond a single organization. Philanthropic support lets us deliver training, run pilots, document what works, and make those resources available as public-good infrastructure for rural communities.
Want to give now, or make a smaller gift? See our Donate page.
What a funder can verify in five minutes
Why fund CRAI now
AI adoption patterns are being set now. The communities that gain early access to training, tools, data practices, and implementation support will shape how AI changes local economies. Rural communities cannot wait for urban systems to trickle down.
Funding CRAI helps rural communities participate early, build local capacity, and retain more of the value created by AI.
Current funding priorities
Seven concrete ways philanthropic support moves rural AI capacity forward. Dollar ranges are being finalized against current-year budget assumptions.
General Operating Support
Flexible, unrestricted funding for the staff, systems, and day-to-day capacity that keep every program running. This is the most valuable support for a lean, growing organization: it lets us respond to opportunity, sustain what works, and build the foundation the rest of this work depends on.
Rural AI Pilot Fund
Practical pilots inside rural organizations and the creation of open playbooks others can replicate.
AI Wayfinders: High School Edition
A peer-built AI literacy program where each cohort of high school fellows researches, builds, and teaches the curriculum to the students coming up behind them — keeping the material current and community-owned.
AI Wayfinders: Workforce Edition
Employer-validated, role-anchored AI training co-designed with the incumbent workers being trained, producing reusable Applied AI Playbooks that grow across participating employers.
Rural AI Training Access Fund
Hands-on workshops for rural businesses, nonprofits, educators, and community-serving organizations.
Open Playbook Library
Documentation, editing, publishing, and maintenance of reusable AI workflows.
Research and Development
Research, interviewing, and development of the model to analyze the effectiveness of frontier models when representing rural data.
Development of a verified memory layer that creates a vetted source of rural information for internal use or external licensing.
Giving Levels & Recognition
We recognize our supporters with care and restraint. Recognition reflects our gratitude and builds public trust in the work — it never conveys editorial control, influence over research findings or benchmark results, or any claim over community or tribal data. Any donor may choose to remain anonymous at any level.
Community Supporter
- ·Listed by name in our Supporters section below (or anonymous by choice).
- ·Rural AI News (RAIN) and our annual impact update.
Field Builder
- ·Everything above, plus recognition on the relevant program page.
- ·Early access to new open playbooks as they publish.
Pilot Partner
- ·Everything above, plus named recognition on a specific pilot or training cohort you help fund (“This pilot supported by [Name]”).
- ·An annual briefing with CRAI leadership.
Regional Anchor
- ·Everything above, plus the opportunity to underwrite and be named as lead supporter of a program for its funding period — for example, the Open Playbook Library or an AI Wayfinders cohort.
- ·Acknowledgment in related press and program materials, with your approval.
Founding Circle
- ·Everything above, plus founding-supporter recognition across the site and in major announcements.
- ·Named support of a flagship priority for its funding period — for example, General Operating Support or a Research & Development track.
- ·Direct roadmap briefings with the Executive Director, and a standing invitation to advise. (Advisory input is welcomed; consistent with our Independence Without Dependence value, it does not confer control over programs, research, or data.)
Foundations & institutional funders. Institutional supporters are recognized following our partner taxonomy and co-branding standards: logo placement on our Funders/Partners page and relevant program pages, with the relationship labeled accurately and only after mutual approval. We provide grant-specific acknowledgment language as your requirements dictate.
A note on naming: at our current stage we offer named recognition for a program's funding period rather than permanent naming. As CRAI matures, we will expand naming and endowment-style recognition accordingly.
Our Supporters
With gratitude to the individuals, families, foundations, and institutions whose support makes this work possible.
[Supporter names and institutional logos listed here, grouped by giving level; donors who have asked to remain anonymous are honored as such.]
Governance & transparency
Leadership & advisers
[Confirm board / advisory members to list.] See our Team.
Financial basics
Current-year operating budget range: [confirm range]. Funds are received and administered through our fiscal sponsor, SW Community Foundation.
Data sovereignty
We build AI with rural and tribal communities through a four-step review process — ask first, agree in writing, community holds the controls, and revisit on a schedule the community sets — designed to be compatible with the CARE Principles and OCAP®. Data gathered from, about, or with a community belongs to that community, and consent can be revisited or withdrawn. Read the full process →
Donor assurance
CRAI accepts philanthropic, public, and partner support without ceding community ownership, data rights, or editorial independence. Our work is designed to strengthen local capacity and publish reusable public-good resources wherever appropriate.
Ready to learn more?
Schedule a funder briefing with CRAI leadership to review current programs, pilot opportunities, funding priorities, and the organization's near-term roadmap.