Newswise — Five communities across the state have recently established community foundations, as a result of participating in the MAPPING the Future of Your Community program, a unit of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs (IIRA) at Western Illinois University. By providing training and technical assistance in each community, the MAPPING program allows rural communities to establish a vision, develop a plan and make the vision a reality.
According to Gisele Hamm, MAPPING program manager, establishing a community foundation offers the possibility to structure permanent endowments.
"Community foundations provide rural areas with a way to capture some of the wealth that might otherwise be lost to the community, when the estates of residents are transferred to descendants who live elsewhere," Hamm said. "To address one of the biggest challenges communities face, we encourage them to support projects by creating a foundation. Community foundations make positive growth more feasible, by providing a source of funds specifically earmarked to improve the community."
Schuyler County, among the five communities assisted, established a community foundation, accessing U.S. Department of Agriculture funds through the Rural Community Development Initiative grant program, to assist with legal fees. Stark County Community Fund was established in partnership with the Community Foundation of Central Illinois; Henderson County was created under the Moline Foundation; and Strasburg Community Improvement Fund (Shelby County) was created under the Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation. Dwight Charitable Fund operates through the Community Foundation of Grundy County, which includes both Livingston and Grundy counties.
IIRA has also published three Rural Research Reports discussing various aspects of community foundations. The following reports are available on the IIRA website via PDF files: "Community Foundations and Potential for Community Development" (v. 18, issue 7, Spring 2007) by Karin Spader, available online at www.iira.org/pubs/publications/IIRA_RRR_684.pdf; "Creating Philanthropy Initiatives to Enhance Community Vitality" (v. 18, issue 9, Spring 2007) by Mark A. Edelman, Ph.D., and Sandra Charvat Burke, available online at www.iira.org/pubs/publications/IIRA_RRR_686.pdf; and "Community Foundations Serving Rural Areas" (v. 8, issue 1, Fall 1996) by Karin E. Tice, available online at www.iira.org/pubs/publications/IIRA_RRR_68.pdf
In "Community Foundations Serving Rural Areas," Tice reports that community foundations can play a variety of roles, such as leveraging or brokering funds to meet community needs. This can include building permanent endowments within a specific geographic area, to make grants within that area from income generated by the endowment. Community foundations also work to guide community discussions toward future planning, problem solving, stimulating needed change, responding to community emergencies and assisting in the development of community leaders.
You also can obtain a copy of any of these reports by contacting IIRA at the phone number below.
Western Illinois University is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity institution. For more information about the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, see www.IIRA.org.
If you care to comment about this column, contact Timothy Collins at (800) 526-9943 or [email protected].
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