The Future is Bright!
Nate Franzen
The SD Ag Foundation is going places.
As Chairman of the Board, I’d like to share some updates. The Foundation has much to be proud of with our short history. We are still a very new Foundation accepting endowments for the benefit of South Dakota’s number one industry, agriculture. To date, we have built an endowment in excess of $3 million. This makes us viable for the long term. We thank all our investors and early supporters for helping make this happen. We also thank Chris Maxwell and the Maxwell Strategies team for helping us along the way.
In June, we announced the appointment of Kyle Holt as our first Chief Executive Officer. Kyle’s extensive background in agriculture, leadership, and advocacy makes him uniquely suited to lead the Foundation into a new era of growth and impact. Throughout his career, he has held key leadership positions, including Deputy Secretary at the South Dakota Department of Agriculture, Director at the South Dakota Secretary of State's office, and Senior Policy Advisor to the Commissioner of School and Public Lands. His roles have involved managing operations, fostering partnerships to advance the goals of the organizations, and coordinating legislative efforts for the organizations he has served.
The Board of Directors also took time to go through a comprehensive strategic planning process. This was time well spent! We have a much clearer plan and path for the future.
First, we refined our mission and vision which will help us more clearly communicate our activity this day forward. Our new mission is: Enriching Agriculture for generations to come. Our new vision statement is: To be the South Dakota Ag community’s trusted philanthropic partner.
We expanded the size of the Board and established several committees to help the Foundation make the most of our efforts and resources. These committees include the Asset Development Committee (fundraising), Asset Management Committee (fiduciary to assure proper investment of our funds), and Asset Distribution Committee (grant making). I’m excited about the new talent that has joined our Board to further leverage our strong existing Board member group.
Finally, we set a new goal for our endowment. We want to reach $6 million by the end of 2026 (6 by 26).
The Ag Foundation Board and staff have a new level of excitement as we move to our next phase. I’ve never been more confident we will reach new heights and be a growing asset to South Dakota’s Ag community. The future is definitely bright!
Opportunities and Challenges
Kyle Holt
If you’re from South Dakota, agriculture has always had a unique impact on your life. Maybe you grew up on a family farm, just as I did, and understood that family vacations would be planned around planting season and harvest. Maybe it meant that Saturday was only a day off if it was raining. Even if you didn’t grow up directly involved with agriculture, you knew that slow moving farm equipment on the highway would regularly test your parents’ patience when they were already running late. That’s part of living in our wonderful state. While we have grown used to those consistencies, agriculture is changing, right before our very eyes.
Advancements in technology have made agriculture look much different than what previous generations could have imagined. Autosteer and the use of drones are now commonplace on the farm. It’s just as important for an operator to be part tech support as it is to be part mechanic. These advancements have led to great opportunities in agriculture for the next generation. Families are finding ways to diversify their operations to ensure opportunities for one child, or possibly two or three, to be supported by the family farm or ranch. Much like advancements in technology, the trend of seeing operations transition from one generation to the next isn’t going to slow down in the coming years. Over the next decade, a significant number of farms and ranches, along with billions of dollars in assets, will change hands.
Although change brings new opportunities, it also brings new challenges. These challenges mean growing pains for farms and ranches. The next generation will be tasked with taking advantage of new opportunities while navigating through a very different world than the one their parents and grandparents operated in. As the ag community’s trusted philanthropic partner in our state, the South Dakota Ag Foundation is committed to changing and evolving right along with the industry. Since forming in 2015, we’ve awarded over 100 grants totaling more than $165,000. With more than $3 million in endowed funds, we are looking to build on our momentum and expand our impact.
As agriculture continues to evolve in our state, so will the South Dakota Ag Foundation through renewed partnerships and creative initiatives. We are excited to find new ways to make a difference, helping to preserve the way of life we all know and love, while ensuring success for generations to come.
South Dakota Ag Foundation Awards $27,250 in Grants
The South Dakota Ag Foundation is proud to announce the recipients of the Foundation’s 2023 Ag Innovators (AI) and Building Rural Community (BRC) grants.
South Dakota Ag Foundation Awards $24,500 in Grants
The South Dakota Ag Foundation is proud to announce the recipients of the Foundation’s annual Ag Innovators (AI) Youth Education and Building Rural Community (BRC) grants.
South Dakota Ag Foundation Now Accepting Grant Applications
The South Dakota Ag Foundation (SDAF) is accepting applications for the Ag Innovators (AI) grant and the Building Rural Communities (BRC) grant. Applications are due by November 1, 2021.
SD Ag Foundation awards 14 grants to youth ag education program sand rural community projects
The South Dakota Agricultural Foundation is proud to announce the recipients of the organization’s annual Building Rural Communities (BRC) and Ag Innovators (AI) Youth Education grants. This year, the Foundation has awarded 14 grants totaling $28,770.00 to support innovative youth ag education programs and rural community projects.
SD Ag Foundation awards 21 grants to youth ag education projects
The South Dakota Agricultural Foundation is proud to announce the recipients of the organization’s annual Building Rural Communities (BRC) and Ag Innovators (AI) Youth Education grants. This year, the Foundation has awarded 21 grants totaling $29,021 to support innovative youth ag education programs and rural community projects.
SD Ag Foundation now accepting applications for grant programs
The Building Rural Communities (BRC) and Ag Innovators (AI) grants are designed to support ongoing agriculture-related community and safety projects along with innovative ideas in youth agricultural education. Applications must be submitted or postmarked no later than November 15, 2019. Grant awardees will be announced by the end of December.
SD Ag Foundation awards grant funding to 19 innovative youth ag education programs
The South Dakota Agricultural Foundation is proud to announce the recipients of their annual grant programs to support youth ag education. This year, the Foundation awarded grant funding totaling $21,500 to 19 innovative projects.
SD Ag Foundation accepts $4M challenge from Governor Dennis Daugaard
On National Ag Day, the South Dakota Agricultural Foundation accepted a five-year challenge to raise $4 million for future support of South Dakota's agriculture industry. Funds raised by the SD Ag Foundation will be matched by an additional $1 million in funds from the South Dakota Community Foundation (SDCF) and SD Governor Dennis Daugaard.
SD Ag Foundation awards 23 grants totaling $34,165 towards youth ag education
The South Dakota Agricultural Foundation awarded 23 grants totaling $34,165 as part of their goal to support youth ag education and invest in the future of agriculture. A year ago, a local non-profit organization, Ground Works - Midwest (GWM), stepped up where then-recently dissolved South Dakota Ag in the Classroom (SDAITC) left off.