The Rural Youth Voter Fund is a left-of-center advocacy group which promotes collectivist economic, liberal social, and environmentalist activist ideas in rural communities in the Midwest through grantmaking and funding community organizing activities. It is the project of the connected Heartland Fund and the Rural Democracy Initiative, which are both managed by the nonprofit management firm Arabella Advisors, whose director of advocacy, Scott Nielsen, has stated specifically that former President Donald Trump’s electoral success in the Midwest in the 2016 presidential election served as a wake-up call for the need for more rural left-of-center activism and involvement. ^{1 2}

Background

The Rural Youth Voter Fund was created in 2022 by the Rural Democracy Initiative and launched in 2023. The project was launched with a statement from the Rural Democracy Initiative: “rural young people are among the most persuadable and least contacted voters of any demographic group, and young rural voters of color lean strongly towards progressive candidates and issues.” The group further stated that “activating” such voters could “be the difference in many close elections.” ³

The Rural Youth Voter Fund is a joint project of both the Heartland Fund and the Rural Democracy Initiative (RDI), both of which are operated by left-of-center consultancy Arabella Advisors. In 2021, RDI granted $10.2 million to at least 112 organizations across 23 states and committed an additional $3 million in aligned investments to other organizations. Groups that receive funding from RDI, the Heartland Fund, and the Rural Youth Voter Fund adhere to the critical race theory-influenced concepts of racial equity and anti-racism and be strategically aligned with RDI on other issues such as economic justice and climate justice to receive funding. ^{4 5}

The Rural Youth Voter Fund also receives support from the Movement Voter Project and Clean and Prosperous America. ⁶

Activities

In November 2022, the Rural Youth Voter Fund posted a job listing for a program manager to operate the Fund’s programming as an employee of the Heartland Fund (which is operated by the Windward Fund) with part time responsibilities on behalf of the Rural Victory Fund, “under a resource sharing agreement between the Windward Fund and RVF fiscal sponsor Sixteen Thirty Fund.” ⁷

The job listing described the organization as a “funding collaborative that connects rural leaders with funders to build powerful, permanent civic infrastructure in small towns, small cities and rural areas.” The listing further stated that the goal of the organization is to promote critical race theory-inspired ideology in rural areas to “challenge the stereotype of the conservative white rural voter, and instead center racial justice, while partnering with groups working in rural communities of color and modeling groundbreaking anti-racist organizing in majority-white communities.” ⁸

The focus states of the Rural Youth Voter Fund include “Alaska and Montana in the Northwest, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio in the Midwest, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire in the Northeast, Arizona and Texas in the Southwest, and North Carolina and Georgia in the Southeast.” The goal of the fund was to deploy at least $10 million in funding to targeted groups and causes between 2023 and 2026. ⁹

1. Strode, Ryan, and Scott Nielsen. “Building Communities—and Working for Change—in America’s Heartland.” ArabellaAdvisors.com. Accessed May 3, 2023. https://www.arabellaadvisors.com/blog/building-communities-working-change-americas-heartland/
2. “Rural Youth Voter Fund Program Manager.” Startup Jobs. November 21, 2022. Accessed May 3, 2023. https://startup.jobs/rural-youth-voter-fund-program-manager-clover-search-works-3886596
3. “RDI Kicks Off 2023 Grantmaking with Webinar.” Rural Democracy Initiative. March 16, 2023. Accessed May 3, 2023. https://ruraldemocracyinitiative.org/rdi-kicks-2023-grantmaking-webinar
4. ^[1]“RDI Fuels Rural Progress.” Rural Democracy Initiative. Accessed October 15, 2022. https://ruraldemocracyinitiative.org/rdis-approach
5. “Grants from RDI.” Rural Democracy Initiative. Accessed October 15, 2022. https://ruraldemocracyinitiative.org/grants
6. “Rural Youth Voter Fund Program Manager.” Startup Jobs. November 21, 2022. Accessed May 3, 2023. https://startup.jobs/rural-youth-voter-fund-program-manager-clover-search-works-3886596
7. “Rural Youth Voter Fund Program Manager.” Startup Jobs. November 21, 2022. Accessed May 3, 2023. https://startup.jobs/rural-youth-voter-fund-program-manager-clover-search-works-3886596
8. “Rural Youth Voter Fund Program Manager.” Startup Jobs. November 21, 2022. Accessed May 3, 2023. https://startup.jobs/rural-youth-voter-fund-program-manager-clover-search-works-3886596
9. “Rural Youth Voter Fund Program Manager.” Startup Jobs. November 21, 2022. Accessed May 3, 2023. https://startup.jobs/rural-youth-voter-fund-program-manager-clover-search-works-3886596