In the heart of Benzie County, where the seasons are strong and the community even stronger, Grow Benzie has spent more than a decade planting seeds of resilience. What began as a grassroots effort to transform an abandoned plant nursery into a vibrant community greenspace has grown into a Rural Prosperity Incubator supporting dozens of local organizations and initiatives. Our mission is simple but powerful: to help people prosper by strengthening the systems that shape our rural lives.
We do this by providing essential backbone services– fiscal sponsorship, bookkeeping, grant writing, communications support, and more– for partners who are tackling everything from youth mental health to regional food access. We also offer shared program space on our 4-acre campus, which includes a fiber arts makerspace, co-working offices, commercial kitchen, event center, and incubator farm. These spaces don’t just host programs; they spark connection, encourage experimentation, and lower the barrier of entry for small nonprofits, emerging leaders, and community dreamers.
Bridging Efforts, Building Belonging
The value of our work comes to life in projects like Stories That Heal, a new community-led series focused on mental health, belonging, and the power of lived experience. The program is managed by the Garden Theater, a historic non-profit venue in Frankfort, whose team brings youth and seniors together to share personal narratives as a way to break stigma, build empathy, and deepen human connection– a much-needed antidote to the isolation many rural residents feel.
Stories That Heal began with a passionate group of community organizers, but they needed support to bring their vision to life. Because of Grow Benzie’s existing network and cross-sector relationships, we were able to connect them with the Benzie Area Youth Initiative, a collaborative we already fiscally sponsor that works closely with area schools and youth-serving organizations. This partnership helped Stories That Heal reach a broader, more intergenerational audience and secure the necessary resources to get off the ground. It’s a clear example of how our model—working behind the scenes, weaving people and projects together—amplifies efforts that might otherwise be siloed or under-resourced.
Rural Health Requires Rural Infrastructure
When people think about rural health, they often focus on access to care- and for good reason. But at Grow Benzie, we’ve learned that the most effective solutions often begin long before someone walks into a clinic. Rural health is deeply shaped by social drivers: food security, housing, education, economic opportunity, and the relationships that bind communities together. Our work helps strengthen these root systems so that new ideas can take hold.
We know this because we live it. Our staff and board are made up of community members who have raised their kids here, grown businesses here, and navigated the very barriers we seek to solve. This lived experience gives us a unique lens into what rural success looks like: not flashy growth, but sustainable change driven by those who call this place home.
It’s why we’ve seen a growing number of donors and foundations shift their strategies—not just funding individual programs, but investing in Grow Benzie’s infrastructure itself. They’re realizing that by strengthening our framework, they’re not just supporting one initiative, but creating conditions for many projects to flourish. They’re funding readiness, resiliency, and the connective tissue that keeps rural communities nimble, resourceful, and responsive. Grow Benzie is part greenhouse, part front porch, part town square. It’s a place where people come to grow ideas and get support- but more importantly, to feel seen. And we believe every rural community deserves a place like that. Because what makes rural communities strong isn’t just grit. It’s generosity. It’s collaboration. It’s believing in one another’s potential- and building the systems that allow us all to prosper.