Thank you Senator Elaine Bowers for honoring RCACF in the Kansas Senate. We are happy to be partners in improving rural Kansas. You made our day!

We surprised the Russell Community Theater with a $250 Random Grant of Kindness to celebrate their 40 years of entertaining the community with great plays. Thank you for putting smiles on our faces all these years.

With great enthusiasm, Delta Sisters is pleased to establish an endowment with the Russell County Area Community Foundation to continue their legacy of supporting the community they live in and love.

Delta Sisters was established in 2025 following the disbandment of a long-standing sorority from its international organization. The Beta Sigma Phi Sorority, Delta Mu Chapter, has been an active presence in the Russell community for more than 30 years. The chapter hosts an annual charity golf tournament, holds monthly gatherings, and remains committed to staying informed about developments in Russell while welcoming new women to the community.

Delta Sisters is comprised of 21 women representing a wide range of ages and life stages, united by a shared commitment to mutual support and community engagement. The organization seeks to create lasting awareness of its presence and impact within the Russell community. Grants from their permanent endowment will ensure the women’s inspirational legacy continues to make a difference, forever.

Interested in adding to the Delta Sisters Fund? Tax-deductible donations can be made at any time at www.rcacf.org or by contacting the Russell County Area Community Foundation at 785.445.3611.

We’re over here doing the happy dance!

Thanks to our generous donors, RCACF in 2025 had a million-dollar impact in our communities in the form of 332 grants and scholarships. Our endowed assets are now $32 million with nearly 100 named funds doing good in Russell County, forever.

To top it off, we’re celebrating our 25th anniversary and about to make even more things happen!

Would you like to be a part of the legacy in the making? When you leave a gift to the community foundation now or through your will, your life’s work and what you care about most live on forever, creating your legacy.

We can help you create a charitable fund to ensure that the things YOU are passionate about continue to be funded, such as our schools, churches, hospital, parks, and museums. We create funds in all sizes. There are many ways to give, including gifts of stock, grain, property or farmland, business holdings and more. A solution can be tailored to best fit your needs.

If you’d like to talk about your options, contact Angie Muller, RCACF Executive Director, at 785.445.3611 or stop by our office at 507 N. Main Russell. Visit us on the web at rcacf.org

RCACF’s mission is to fund the good. As an affiliate of Greater Northwest Kansas Community Foundation (501c3), we join a collective of area community foundations aimed at increasing philanthropic giving in rural Kansas.

Thanks to a generous outpouring of contributions, the Russell County Area Community Foundation (RCACF) raised $167,630 in November, setting a new match month record. With matching gifts from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation and Patterson Family Foundation, this will result in $367,630 to the community foundation for permanent endowment building and local grant-making.

“Match month shows how deeply Russell County friends and neighbors care about each other and their communities. Our goal was to raise $100,000, and we are enormously grateful that so many donors, businesses and government entities invested in match month and helped us exceed that goal,” said Angie Muller, RCACF Executive Director.

Monies raised will support the Fund for a Better Russell County Area, a permanent endowment that is the foundation’s community grant fund. The fund allows RCACF to make impactful grants to support the arts, education, park development, hunger relief, downtown revitalization, historical preservation, public safety, recycling and community clean-up, the hospital, libraries and more throughout Russell County area. A portion of the funds will also go toward the foundation’s administration and the SPARC Fund (Strategic Partnership for the Advancement of Russell County), which allows the foundation to make large, impactful grants.

“We greatly appreciate the generous investment in Russell County by our partners at the Dane G. Hansen Foundation and Patterson Family Foundation who provided matching incentives. They see the potential in rural Kansas and want to help us grow,” said Muller.

Since Match Month began nearly a decade ago by the generosity of the Dane G. Hansen Foundation, nearly $1.5 million has been raised and invested in RCACF to widen community grant-making. RCACF celebrates 25 years of serving the Russell County area in 2026.

RCACF’s mission is to fund the good. As an affiliate of Greater Northwest Kansas Community Foundation (501c3), we join a collective of area community foundations aimed at increasing philanthropic giving in rural Kansas.

When you leave a gift to the community foundation through your will, your life’s work and what you care about most live on forever, creating your legacy. We can help you create a charitable fund that ensures more good things are funded in Russell County. Contact Angie Muller, RCACF Executive Director, at 785.445.3611 or stop by our office at 507 N. Main Russell. Visit us on the web at rcacf.org

The Russell County Area Community Foundation (RCACF) has awarded $92,980 in grants to support a broad range of community projects, including the childcare, housing, youth, the arts, and libraries.

“This grant season highlights the important role the foundation serves in helping Russell County area communities thrive. To help us increase grant-making in future cycles, we encourage people to give to our ongoing November Match Month campaign, where donations are tripled in impact to support the Russell County area. This is thanks to a generous match by the Patterson Family Foundation and Dane G. Hansen Foundation for total gifts up to $100,000 made to the Fund for a Better Russell County Area,” said Angie Muller, RCACF Director.

Funds available through RCACF are the result of generous donors and regional funders since establishment of the foundation in 2001. Today the foundation holds $30 million in endowments used to fund scholarship and community projects to better Russell County and beyond. Grant applications typically span projects involving community revitalization, school education, cultural arts, economic development, and quality of life.

RCACF is pleased to award these grants to organizations that benefit the Russell County area. Funding comes from the Kansas Health Foundation Children’s Fund, Russell County Disaster Relief Fund, Dane G. Hansen Foundation, and Strategic Partnership for the Advancement of Russell County (SPARC) Fund. A grant was also made through the generosity of the Fred and Joan Weigel Fund.

City of Russell

Fire Department Drone Project, $5,000

Crosspoint Church/Russell County Childcare Coalition

Daycare Center, $26,370

Kansas Big Brothers, Big Sisters

Russell County Youth Mentoring, $1,000

Lucas Public Library

Programming Support, $1,000

Post Rock Family Services

Feeding the Future Summer Lunch Program, $2,000

Russell Development Incorporated

Appliances for Brickstone Lofts, $50,000

Russell Arts Council

AED Device for Dream Theatre, $2,200

Russell County Economic Development and CVB

Support for Russell County Events, $5,000

USD 407

National Honor Society Materials, $410 (courtesy Fred and Joan Weigel Fund)

Applications for the next grant season open February 1 and close March 30. For more information, contact Angie Muller, RCACF Executive Director, at 785-445-3611 or [email protected]

Welcome Back Broncos! We hope you will enjoy visiting your old stomping grounds and rekindle memories with classmates, teachers and friends. While you are celebrating, will you also consider giving back to the community to support a new generation of Broncos?

You can make a big difference by giving a tax-deductible gift at the community foundation to support one of our amazing education funds. Go to rcacf.org and click on the Donate Now button to make an easy credit card donation. Use the search tab to find a fund to support.

Funds that give directly to the school include the Bronco Foundation Fund, Bronco Vocational Training Fund, Russell Schools Appleseed Fund, the Bill Gilpin Fund for Russell Youth Activities, the Kay Shank Fund, the Roy Miller Legacy Fund, Nancy G. Holland Fund for the Arts, the Russell Area Youth Activities Fund, and many more.

RCACF can also help you create your own charitable fund that boosts education for the Broncos. Create a fund in honor of your class, in memory of a teacher, or to support your favorite thing about being a Bronco, like the arts, athletics, or music. Call RCACF Executive Director Angie Muller at 785.445.3611 to get started.

Honoring the legacy of Roy Clark Miller, his family established a charitable fund in his memory to benefit the Russell County area. Roy was born in Gove County, Kansas and attended Fort Hays State University, but his time was cut short when he joined the United States Air Force during the Korean War and was stationed in Japan. After being honorably discharged from the Air Force, Roy attended Ottawa University where he received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics. Later he attended Emporia State University and earned his master’s degree in mathematics.

In 1965, Roy and his family moved to Russell where he began a long and inspiring career teaching math to students at Russell High School. He loved mathematics and enjoyed teaching his students how to advance their math skills with his famous blackboard math exercises. Roy worked for USD 407 for 30 years before retiring in 1994. He inspired generations of students to pursue their dreams.

Roy’s passion for teaching resulted in the Roy Miller Legacy Fund which will provide annual income to USD 407 Russell Jr/Sr High School for mathematics, computer science and science. Projects may include materials, equipment, field trips, competitions and other teacher-approved uses that enhance the curriculum. Grants from this fund will ensure Roy’s inspirational legacy continues to make a difference, forever.

Interested in adding to the Roy Miller Legacy Fund? Tax-deductible donations can be made at any time with a credit card at www.rcacf.org or by contacting the Russell County Area Community Foundation at 785.445.3611.

It’s Feel Good Friday, and today we have a lot to feel good about. Listen to us talk with USD 407’s Katrina Woelk on KRSL radio about the $700,000+ grant from the State of Kansas for new student computers. It is a tremendous investment in rural education and RCACF is proud to be the community partner.

www.krsl.com