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Supporting creative solutions to the unique challenges associated with rural culture and landscapes of the Pacific Northwest

10/30/2026

A care center for the Willamette Valley’s non-human neighbors 🦇

When the public finds an injured bat or sees a bird lying below their window, they often want to help but don’t know how to do so safely—for them or the wild animals. Since 1989, the Chintimini Wildlife Center in Corvallis has been taking care of the Willamette Valley’s injured and orphaned wildlife while also doing important work to educate the public.

Chintimini is now the only place south of Portland and north of Grants Pass licensed to take mammal patients. In early years, Chintimini only saw a few hundred patients a year. In 2026, they’re on track to field 9,000 phone calls from the public while taking in 1,800 patients.

Learn more on our news blog: https://roundhousefoundation.org/grant-stories/chintimini-wildlife-center-a-care-center-for-the-willamette-valleys-non-human-neighbors/

10/29/2026

Erin Nunes is a Battalion Chief with the Lebanon Fire District, which covers a 450 square mile area south of Salem, Oregon. Women like Nunes make up just 5 percent of paid firefighters in the country. Nunes started the Young Women’s Fire Academy which brings girls together to build confidence and learn about fighting fire and all the career opportunities that can come with those skills. The Roundhouse Foundation is a proud supporter of the Girls Fire Camp, as Nunes affectionately calls it.

“If they walk out of this program just knowing that they can do something that previously they didn't think they could do, it's a success, right? It's not just about becoming a firefighter. It is about looking at your options and knowing that you could be a police officer. You could be in the military. You could do these non-traditional jobs, and you should if that's something that appeals to you.” –Erin Nunes

Rural firefighting districts are vital resources protecting people and property across huge stretches of the West. They rely on a combination of volunteers and paid staff and they also provide critical emergency medical and ambulance support for the communities they serve.

Rural fire districts continue to face a unique set of challenges, with a stagnant tax system and rising equipment and personnel costs. Philanthropy has an opportunity to step in and help.

Hear more from Battalion Chief Erin Nunes on Funding Rural Season 4, Episode 7. Available wherever you get your podcasts.

https://roundhousefoundation.org/funding-rural-podcast/season-4/episode-7-season-4-erin-nunes-fighting-fire-like-girl/

10/23/2026

Savannah Barrett is on the Funding Rural podcast this week 💬

Savannah Barrett’s deep Kentucky roots have guided her entire career. She’s the Exchange Director for Art of the Rural, a nonprofit that uses creative connection and storytelling to build relationships and bridge divides between urban and rural communities. 🌾

A 12th-generation Kentuckian, she co-founded the Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange in 2014, and leads this work alongside hundreds of Kentuckians to combine grantmaking, leadership and network development, narrative change, and institutional bridging to strengthen Kentucky’s communities across racial, economic, and geographic divides.

“There aren't cultural competency trainings, for people who have urban-normative viewpoints about rural people, and so they tend to care about rural communities only in terms of how they impact their own opportunity or quality of life, and that tends to really only be connected to the ways that rural people steward food resources, water resources, and elections.–Savannah Barrett

🎧 Hear more from Savannah Barrett by listening to Season 4, Episode 6 of Funding Rural. Available wherever you get your podcasts

https://roundhousefoundation.org/funding-rural-podcast/season-4/episode-6-season-4-savannah-barrett-stories-build-relationships/

📻 The Funding Rural podcast is a production of the Roundhouse Foundation. Each week, show host and executive director Erin Borla delivers fresh, heartfelt conversations about how philanthropy can better serve rural and Indigenous communities.

10/22/2026

A weekend food program for Jefferson County students

Every Wednesday during the school year, Wendy Dove’s class is busy putting boxes of food together. Each box gets main dishes, proteins, snacks, fruits and vegetables, breakfasts, and one dessert—enough food to last a student over the weekend. Roughly nineteen percent of kids in Jefferson County are food insecure, one of the highest rates in Oregon. This weekend food program, known locally as “Backpack Buddies” started roughly a decade ago to bridge that gap.

Learn more on our news blog: https://roundhousefoundation.org/grant-stories/a-weekend-food-program-for-jefferson-county-students/

10/16/2026

This is a devastating time for many of our friends and neighbors in Central Oregon. Our hearts and thoughts are with all the families from Silver Rail Elementary and the broader Bend-LaPine School District.

We are reassured by the outpouring of support happening in Central Oregon. Community members are showing up for each other. Local businesses, places of worship, and libraries are opening their doors to comfort the community. These gestures of care are backstops against the devastation. That's the Central Oregon we know, where people show up for and stand with each other during difficult times.

Roundhouse is a member of the Fund for Safer Future, a donor collaborative working to bring together funders to support Gun Violence Prevention strategies across the country. And we will continue to connect with and mobilize resources we work with from that national stage to support our communities at home. We will share community resources and events on our blog and on our stories today.

We are sending love and care to all during these difficult days.

10/15/2026

Sweet Potato’s Closet on Main Street in Hermiston is a clothing resource for anyone in need, with a special focus on foster children. Many children don’t have time to collect their things before entering foster care, leaving them without clothing, toiletries, or other essentials.
That’s where Sweet Potato’s Closet can help.

The store is on call 24/7 for foster parents, and get calls in the middle of the night to open up the store when there’s a need. They currently serve over 300 people a month.

Learn more on our News blog: https://roundhousefoundation.org/grant-stories/an-umatilla-county-clothing-closet-for-foster-kids-and-others-in-need/

Photo credit: Good360

10/14/2026

Cory Carmen of Carman Ranch and Carman Ranch Provisions is a fourth-generation rancher in Eastern Oregon who is thinking differently about the animals she raises, the products she distributes and how that impacts the community she lives in.

She is working to uplift the region and industry she’s in - noting that rural places are willing to take risks and be creative. But those risks take investment - often from out of the area. Cory encourages philanthropy to come alongside ranchers to help further inspire that innovation. 🌾

“I really believe that philanthropy has an incredible opportunity to be this sort of catalytic investment in pilots; try new things, right? That sort of higher risk tolerant capital that can come in and help uncover what's possible in some of these systems.” — Cory Carman

🎧 Hear more from Cory Carman by listening to Season 4, Episode 5 of Funding Rural.
Available wherever you get your podcasts

https://roundhousefoundation.org/funding-rural-podcast/season-4/episode-5-season-4-cory-carman/

📻 The Funding Rural podcast is a production of the Roundhouse Foundation. Each week, show host and executive director Erin Borla delivers fresh, heartfelt conversations about how philanthropy can better serve rural and Indigenous communities.

10/07/2026

🎙️Governor Tom Vilsack is on the Funding Rural podcast today!

Governor Tom Vilsack started out as a small-town lawyer, then Mayor of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and went on to serve as governor of Iowa for 8 years. He ran the US Department of Agriculture under President Obama and President Biden.

Gov. Vilsack is now the CEO of the World Food Prize, which presents an annual award of $500,000 to individuals who have increased the quality, quantity and availability of food in the world.

Deeply committed to serving rural folks and rural communities, Gov. Vilsack dives deeper into the importance of and opportunities for rural philanthropy in this episode.

“If people are serious, truly serious about poverty elimination and dealing with some of the consequences of rural poverty and things of that nature, it starts with farmers. It truly does.”—Gov. Tom Vilsack

🎧 Hear more from Gov. Vilsack by listening to Season 4, Episode 4 of Funding Rural.
Available wherever you get your podcasts

https://roundhousefoundation.org/funding-rural-podcast/season-4/episode-4-season-4-gov-tom-vilsak-a-career-in-office-serving-rural-folks/

📻 The Funding Rural podcast is a production of the Roundhouse Foundation. Each week, show host and executive director Erin Borla delivers fresh, heartfelt conversations about how philanthropy can better serve rural and Indigenous communities.

10/07/2026

Welcoming Nez Perce back to their ancestral land:

Thirty years of cultural gatherings in celebration of the Wallowa Band Nez Perce has contributed to the formation of Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland, a nonprofit that now stewards over 320 acres in Eastern Oregon.

This land is set aside as space for anyone with a connection to Wallowa. The Homeland also uses the land to host multiple events to bring Native youth and adults back to their ancestral land.

Every year, thousands of people come to the Homeland for the Tamkaliks Celebration and other events. To help with lodging logistics, Homeland is now building a tipi encampment which will offer additional options for visitors.

Learn more on our News Blog: https://roundhousefoundation.org/grant-stories/welcoming-nez-perce-back-to-their-ancestral-land/

10/06/2026

We are hiring for a Grant Program Associate. Do you know anyone who would be a good fit?

The Grant Program Associate will work closely with the grant team at Roundhouse Foundation headquarters. They will assist in supporting incoming potential grant partners with technical support, advice and direction for applications. This position will learn how grant team members work collectively and collaboratively – both internally and externally with data sourced from local, regional, state and federal agencies along with philanthropic partners to identify gaps in service to help Roundhouse make informed decisions about community support needs. They will strive to engage deeply as a partner not just a funder. They will work to understand the intersections of the work that the Foundation does within its grant program as well as PMRCAA.

‣ This job is full-time
‣ Based on-site in Sisters, Oregon
‣ Apply by 11/02/26
‣ Please help us spread the news

The full description is available at https://roundhousefoundation.org/jobs/

Address

PO Box 2078
Sisters, OR
97759

Telephone

+15419040700

Website

http://www.RoundhouseFoundation.org/

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