Grant foundation sets up shop in Buffalo
BUFFALO — Despite being home to one-fifth of the nation’s population, rural America receives only about 3% of philanthropic funding. Aiming to help close that gap, the LOR Foundation is expanding its work to Buffalo.
The LOR Foundation, whose name reflects its core values of Livability, Opportunity and Responsibility, works with residents to identify local priorities and fund community-driven projects. The organization currently operates in communities in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming.
“The foundation was established to help people in rural communities in the Mountain West improve their quality of life,” said Jenn Burden, Buffalo community officer with the foundation. “This is a phenomenal opportunity for Buffalo.”
Buffalo is the second Wyoming community to be selected by the foundation. It is winding down its commitment in Lander after working in the community for six years. Burden said that after foundation representatives visited Buffalo last fall, they felt the community would be a good match because there was already a lot of grassroots support for community improvement.
“They saw a lot of people already rolling up their sleeves and getting to work,” Burden said. “There is a strong base of volunteers already getting things done and investing in the community.”
The LOR Foundation was established in 2007 by Swiss-American philanthropist Amy Wyss and her husband Edward Jaramillo. To date, the foundation has invested over $80 million in the region, including awarding grants to fund local projects.
One of the foundation’s distinguishing characteristics is that it takes a highly localized, boots-on-the-ground approach, embedding local community officers in towns to fund grassroots solutions rather than waiting for unsolicited proposals.
Rather than operating out of a central home office, LOR hires local community officers who live and work in the target towns. Burden is the face of the LOR Foundation in Buffalo.
In the two months since the foundation launched in the community, she’s been busy meeting with community organizations, nonprofit organizations, businesses and individuals about how the foundation can help meet community needs.
To that end, there is no formal grant application process or set funding cycles. Instead, anyone can pitch an idea for a solution to a community problem.
“We’re not coming in with an agenda,” Burden said. “This is 100% community-led projects, and we want to hear from the community because they know what we need in Buffalo.”
The foundation has funded a broad array of projects, with its sweet spot being projects requiring less than $10,000 – everything from signage for a VFW to a Girl Scout troop providing birthday cake supplies to food pantry patrons to a passenger van for riders with disabilities.
“When folks have an idea, they can come to us,” said Aedan Hannon, communications manager for the foundation. “It can really run a whole range.”
The foundation doesn’t have a single cause, Hannon said. Instead it works across eight core focus areas intended to improve the quality of life in rural communities: economy, education, engagement, environment, health, housing, transportation and water.
Burden said another distinguishing feature is that the foundation prioritizes moving quickly to help solve problems community members have identified.
“From the time we talk about a problem and decide to fund it, it’s usually like three weeks,” she said. “We want to act quickly and we want the solutions to be sustainable.”
In addition to funding projects, the foundation also sponsors events designed to promote community engagement.
The foundation has already committed to sponsoring Saturdays in the Square, pool pass scholarships, the Bighorn Bluegrass Camp, the Johnson County Healthcare Center’s golf tournament, and the Friends Feeding Friends golf tournament.
“It’s another avenue for the foundation to help with some needs in the community,” she said.
For larger problems that require more complicated solutions, the foundation can help by funding feasibility studies or research that an organization might need in order to apply for larger federal or state grants.
Housing supply and affordability, for example, is a community need that Burden has heard about from multiple individuals and agencies. So that is a need that is being explored locally to determine how the foundation could help get local housing solutions off the ground.
As part of the foundation’s commitment to helping communities throughout the Mountain West, the foundation commits to working in a community for five years and then winds down operations and moves on to another community.
“We’re here for five years, so it’s important for Buffalo to utilize the foundation,” Burden said. “And I’m excited to see the ideas that people have.”
To learn more about the foundation, visit lorfoundation.org or follow the foundation’s local Facebook page facebook.com/ LORFoundationBuffalo.
Community officer Jenn Burden can be reached at jburden@lorfoundation.org or 307-204-3612.
This story was published on June 25, 2026.
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