Center on Rural Innovation selected to join portfolio of Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation

DRK Foundation to Provide Strategic and Financial Support for CORI’s Mission

HARTLAND, Vt. — The Center on Rural Innovation (CORI) is excited to announce that it has been selected to join the portfolio of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation. CORI’s selection comes as part of DRK’s mission to support the next generation of world-changing social entrepreneurs.

“We are humbled and honored to join the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation community,” said Matt Dunne, Founder and Executive Director of CORI. “The DRK portfolio includes some of the most inspiring and impactful social change-makers in America. DRK’s expertise and network will provide critical capacity as we scale our model of rural digital economies across the country.”

Under the terms of DRK’s investment, managing director Stephanie Cornell will join CORI’s board of directors, where she will provide extensive strategic guidance and partnership. “We’re so excited to be investing in an organization like CORI,” Cornell said. “Their systems-focused approach provides a real path forward for scalable change in addressing the rural economic crisis.”

DRK selected CORI for one of its highly competitive investments because of the strength of CORI’s innovation-focused model for addressing the economic crisis gripping rural America. DRK’s funding is aimed at supporting CORI’s work to build the strong digital economies that will allow rural communities to chart their own courses toward prosperity and move our country toward geographic equity.

To accomplish that mission, CORI will receive $300,000 in unrestricted funding over three years intended to build capacity, expand CORI’s network, and scale CORI’s digital economy model across rural America.

About DRK

The Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation is a global venture philanthropy firm supporting early stage, high impact social enterprises. We believe that with early funding and rigorous support, exceptional leaders, tackling some of society’s most complex problems, can make the world a better place. Since 2002, DRK has invested in 164 organizations, representing some of the most exciting new initiatives in the social sector. With the support of 50 donor partners, we are currently deploying our third fund: $65 million dedicated to supporting the next generation of 100 social entrepreneurs who will change the world.

About CORI

The Center on Rural Innovation (CORI) is an action tank dedicated to addressing the challenges of rural American economies. CORI’s work centers around three activities: building models for economic development that make sense for the 21st century, creating data and mapping tools so that rural stakeholders can do more impactful work, and directly investing in rural startups to empower communities to build wealth and jobs.