MT 43 News Articles View a Published Article

Rural Community Builders Gather in White Sulphur Springs

Author: Rachael Elliott-Brug Rachael Brug: MT43 News Vice President and Copy Editor

Rural Community Builders Gather in White Sulphur Springs

Rachael Elliott-Brug

I recently drove to White Sulphur Springs to spend the day at Two Bassett Brewery for the Community Builder Summit, an annual gathering hosted by the Montana Nonprofit Association, the Montana Community Foundation, and MSU Extension Community Vitality. Now in its third year, the summit pulled together a roomful of people from rural towns across the state — board members, executive directors, business owners, foundation leaders, ranchers, and volunteers — for a day focused on the work of making small Montana towns thrive.

The morning opened with introductions, and the room reflected just how broad “community building” really is. Folks were there from community foundations, ski areas, libraries, schools, mental health agencies, hotels, restaurants, hardware stores, and chambers of commerce. Almost everyone shared the same reasons for coming: connection, networking, and the hope to leave with new ideas to take home.

One of the most striking sessions of the day came from MSU Extension, which laid out research showing that Montana ranks second in the nation for organizational leadership demand. According to the data, roughly one in thirteen Montana adults needs to hold some kind of volunteer leadership position to keep our towns running — and in our most sparsely populated counties, that ratio can be as steep as one in five. Volunteers don’t just decorate Main Street and run the Fourth of July parade; in many of our towns they staff the EMS, the fire department, the food bank, the library board, and the school board.

That stretch is what attendees described as the “STP” problem — the “same ten people” who keep showing up. The presenters didn’t pretend there was an easy fix, but they pointed to research showing a strong link between feeling connected to a place and being willing to step up in it. People who report a high sense of community cohesion are dramatically more likely to organize gatherings, host events, and take on leadership roles. The takeaway: the parades, the rodeos, the music nights, the art alleys — those aren’t fluff. They’re how rural towns build the trust and connection that fuel everything else.

A morning panel of community builders from across central and southwest Montana shared what that work has looked like in practice. One panelist described how her small downtown formed a six-person volunteer organization, hosted Reimagining Rural workshops with MSU Extension, completed two mural projects and a town cleanup, kicked off a historic district designation, and was eventually awarded a state Community Tourism Grant.

Another panelist, who runs a ski area and a historic hotel in central Montana, talked about how her business addresses staff mental health with daily morning huddles and end-of-shift dance parties, and how a memorial scholarship now puts a free season pass in the hands of every school-aged kid in town.

A third panelist, who runs a housing nonprofit near Yellowstone, walked through how her board pivoted from chasing million-dollar properties to placing modular homes on school district land — delivering three units for about $565,000 to be used as teacher housing.

The threads running through every story were the same: pivot when you need to, ask everyone you can think of for help, and never underestimate how much your neighbors want to be invited in.

The afternoon turned to storytelling, with a session from the Montana Nonprofit Association’s community programs team. The argument was simple and worth repeating: every other piece of the work — recruiting volunteers, asking for major gifts, getting the public to show up to your event — depends on telling the story of what you’re doing well. The Montana Nonprofit Association, which serves as the statewide association for Montana’s nonprofits, offers training, resources, and a rural ambassador program designed to put those tools within reach of small-town organizations that don’t have the staff to chase them down on their own.

Earlier in the day, the Montana Community Foundation walked the room through the basics of cultivating major donors — a reminder that more than 90 percent of charitable giving in this country comes from individuals, not foundations or corporations, and that the wealth in our own counties is a great deal larger than most of us assume.

Lunch and the closing “tangible takeaway” table conversations gave everyone a chance to compare notes, swap contact information, and — for those of us who drove a couple of hours to get there — be reminded that we are not alone in this work. Across rural Montana, in towns most people pass right through, there is a quiet, persistent group of neighbors who keep showing up. The summit was a chance to recognize them, learn from them, and head home a little less tired and a little more sure of what comes next.