The Southwest Initiative Foundation is celebrating 40 years of existence in 2026. SWIF staff has been touring their 18-county region. This week, the group had events in Yellow Medicine, Lyon and Lincoln counties. SWIF President Scott Marquardt spoke to attendees on Tuesday at the Tyler Golf Club and Brau Brothers in Marshall at separate events.
Marquardt told the crowd that his mantra is, what got us here, won’t get us there.
“We are very grateful for what the past means, but I am more excited about what the future could mean for us and about what our relevance is,” he explained. “The theme that my team designed for our 40th anniversary event is ‘For the Love of Rural.’” Marquardt said that at the end of the day, they are our rural community foundation.
“We were founded 40 years ago to hopefully have this convening of philanthropy and economic development in the region. Fast forward 40 years and we have 31 amazing community affiliates. I’m excited because I think we have just scratched the surface about what the power of philanthropy can mean to this region going forward.”
Marquardt said communities can solve things like business retention, elder housing, transportation, childcare, all the things that he said he knows are weighing on residents.
“Southwest initiative Foundation can do a lot of things with our affiliate partners, with our Community Banks to leverage philanthropy to get money in the hands of small business, and nonprofits in ways that a lot of other places can’t do,” he said. “We know there are folks out here who have had success in southwest Minnesota. Do you remember what it’s like to be starting out? To be young and scrappy and broke and looking for somebody to take a chance on you. That is the person who can retain your grocery stores, retain your child care centers, retain your veterinary clinic. If we can find folks who with those values, we could leverage their generosity and as an example set up a donor-advised loan fund at one of the community foundations focused on growth in your community.”
Marquardt asked that everyone talk to those neighbors who have a generous heart.
“Talk to people who have a passion for their community as we think about the next 40 years ‘For the Love of Rural.’ How can we create a place for all people to be in partnership with our local community foundations?”
Marquardt mentioned that SWIF just launched its new strategic plan that will guide the area through the next threeplus year plan.
“As we share that out, I think you are going to see some things that are not only back to basics, but are also very forwardthinking about the intersection of community philanthropy and economic mobility,” he said. “My commitment to all of you who are donors or foundation affiliates, we want to hear your feedback we want to know how we can show up. If you have a wild and crazy idea, I want to hear it, because I don’t think good growth happens in a comfort zone. That’s the kind of conversations we have and we want to be ready when that person with head and heart in alignment with our vision for the region is ready to make an adjustment in your community. We think we can take next-level community philanthropy in partnership with all of you. If you might have here is going to do things we’ve never dreamed of.”
