One year at the Rural Futures Lab blog

By Jennifer Jensen, RUPRI Research Analyst, Rural Futures Lab

I have been managing this blog for just over one year (happy birthday, RFL blog!), and I wanted to take a break from our usual programming to take a look back at... our usual programming.

We have been proud to publish posts on a wide variety of topics of interest to rural American communities. The blog has featured researchers, students, policy experts, and community development practitioners of all stripes.

In the past 13 months, the blog has attracted readers from every state in the union except one (anyone have advice on how to break into the elusive Rhode Island market?), and from all over the world. Especially Canada.

Rural Futures Lab Director, Brian Dabson, laid out our vision for rural America in our very first post. We believe that rural America will continue to be an important contributor to national prosperity, but there is lots of work ahead to fully engage and develop our rural assets.

And what are our "rural assets"?

Photo courtesy of Jeff Yost and the Nebraska Community Foundation.

Many of our blog contributors have made the point that rural Americans themselves are a major asset. In particular, rural youth and young adults are the hope for our collective future. Our bloggers tackled this topic from many angles.

• Craig Schroeder of the RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship notes that supporting youth entrepreneurship is actually a successful economic development practice.
• Mary Snow and Noah Wilson (Rural Support Partners) and Darryl Birkenfeld (Ogallala Commons) offer personal accounts of how communities can invest in the next generation of rural leaders, right now.
• Katie McCaskey, a young entrepreneur shares her Micropolitan Manifesto.
• And Tim Collins (Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs) envisions rural schools as a vital tool for community development.

Photo courtesy of David Kay.

Another asset in rural America is our vast and diverse base of natural resources. A key question that the Rural Futures Lab is asking is how we can better manage the use and stewardship of our natural resources to benefit rural Americans, the national economy which relies on those resources, and the environment itself.

This question has led to an interesting mix of blog posts that feature the intersection between natural resources and economic development, energy, and governance issues:

• Research on economic issues ranges from how to quantify the "New Natural Resource Economy" to how the "green economy" is faring.
• In two posts, my colleague at Cornell, David Kay, explores how energy development questions get to the heart of democracy in the U.S.
• Shanna Ratner (Yellow Wood Associates) argues for new stewardship approaches across the rural-urban divide.
• A student blogger relives his research trip to West Texas and wonders how the growth of the wind industry affects community development there.

Agriculture is as important to rural America as any other industry. These days, food system research, policy, and practices are innovative and vibrant, as our bloggers have shown:

• Rich Pirog (C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems) documents the emergence of the local food movement.
• Young farmers find a chance and a voice through the work of Jan Joannides and Renewing the Countryside.

Resources and ideas

An important feature of the blog is acting as a place to share workable ideas for communities. Our own RUPRI colleagues are a wealth of resources on the future of healthcare, defining "rural", rural-urban interdependence, resilience, and why rural America matters to the national economy.

Some of our most encouraging (and popular!) blog posts came from the rural philanthropy crowd. They have good news to offer:

• Jeff Yost (Nebrask Community Foundation) explains how "rural places have an unprecedented opportunity to transform their communities by harnessing the massive transfer of intergenerational wealth".
• Racheal Stuart (Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund) describes how social connections are making philanthropy work better in rural New Hampshire.

Are you looking for connections with movers-and-shakers in rural policy at the national level? Two of our guest bloggers offer an "inside the beltway" perspective:

• The National Association of Counties (NACO) has a Rural Action Caucus that is one voice for rural counties in Washington DC.
• Sandra Rosenblith (Stand Up for Rural America) discusses a challenge for rural communities: senior housing.

Other rural-specific resources featured on the blog include:

• The Entrepreneurship Fund offers professional support for small businesses in rural America.
• Have you heard of the Internet? Tim Collins has, and he's trying to make it work for rural community building.
• Rural places are unique, and Dewey Thorbeck sees the need for a new design discipline for rural America to call its own.

Overall, it's been a great year, and we look forward to the next one. Thank you to all our guest bloggers, and to you, our readers!

If you have an idea for a blog post, please let me know (jensen@rupri.org). In the meantime, keep on reading. And please consider commenting on how your own work or community relates to work and ideas you see featured here.



About the Author

Jen Jensen grew up in suburban Washington State but fell in love with farm life as a kid during yearly summer visits to the Champlain Islands in Vermont. Later, two years in a village as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali, West Africa, forged the link for her between community development and rural issues. Working at RUPRI as a graduate student and now a research analyst has taught her even more reasons to admire and support the diversity, beauty, and resilience of rural people and places.


Visit the Rural Futures Lab website to download informative papers on many of the issues you read about here.

The Intergenerational Transfer of Wealth: A Rural Development Priority

By Jeff Yost, President & CEO of the Nebraska Community Foundation

I get asked frequently, “Why are you trying to save these small towns?” The answer is – I’m not. The only folks who can save a community or change a community are the people who live, work and sleep there.

I grew up on a farm near Red Cloud, Nebraska, the youngest of six children. My parents and two sisters still live there. I graduated from high school in 1986 with 23 classmates. Then, like many other small-town kids, I left.

I followed my five older siblings to the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, earned a B.S. in economics and agricultural business. Before joining the Nebraska Community Foundation in 1998, I spent several years working for then-Nebraska Governor Ben Nelson as a gubernatorial aide and strategic initiative manager for community and economic development. It was important work, but frustrating as well.

Politics is a zero-sum game. I prefer win-win solutions to community challenges. And that’s why I am such a strong advocate for rural development philanthropy.

Rural giving and the transfer of wealth

Right now, rural places have an unprecedented opportunity to transform their communities by harnessing the massive transfer of intergenerational wealth. In 2011, the Nebraska Community Foundation worked with the RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship (CRE) to update its original Transfer of Wealth Study conducted in 2002. That study was the nation’s first statewide county-by-county analysis. This groundbreaking work changed the mindset of philanthropic leaders across the country. Since then CRE has conducted numerous studies on cities, regions and states all around the U.S.

Young people in Shickley, NE (pop. 341) will benefit from $3 million in endowed assets and planned gifts. The community has already secured 20% of its estimated 10-year wealth transfer, and is working to build a $12 million endowment over the next 20 years.

New scenarios for the transfer of wealth opportunity in the U.S. for the period of 2010 through 2060 range from a high of $91 trillion to a low of $43 trillion. The CRE’s most likely scenario estimates $75 trillion. This wealth may be held in real estate, securities, retirement accounts and other assets.

If we set a charitable giving goal of just 5 percent, nearly $3.8 trillion in new community endowments could be built over the next five decades. Once fully capitalized, these endowments could generate nearly $200 billion annually in new grant making! With the decline in local government spending, philanthropic assets could prove to be a community’s most reliable source of funding in the future.

The transfer of wealth is of critical importance to rural places that continue to experience outmigration. In Nebraska, more than 70 percent of our 534 communities lost population in the last decade, according to the 2010 Census.

A local example

For generations, frugal Nebraskans worked hard and saved money for the future. Most lived their entire lives close to their birthplace. One family might occupy the same property, even the same home, for multiple generations. As we are well aware, this is no longer the case.

Over the next 50 years, our state will experience the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in its history. The World War II and the Baby Boom generations own more private wealth than at any time: more than $600 billion in Nebraska.

Some of this wealth will go to taxes. Most will go to heirs. Due to outmigration, many of those heirs no longer live where the wealth was built, and may no longer feel connected to those places. Once intergenerational wealth leaves our communities, it is likely gone forever. However, if it is endowed in community funds, it stays in the community forever, with the earnings available each and every year for emerging needs and opportunities.

The exigent issue for Nebraska and other Great Plains states is timing.

In more than half of Nebraska’s 93 counties, the peak years for wealth transfer are happening now or in the next 10 years.

Andy Anderson of McCook, NE has established an endowment
through NCF to support youth entrepreneurship in his hometown.

That is why we are working so hard to promote and facilitate philanthropy in more than 200 communities across the state. We must act now to encourage charitable investment in the future of our hometowns while the window of opportunity is still open. We must teach, encourage and inspire our citizens to give back today, and include their community in their estate plans for tomorrow.

If only a small portion of our wealth transfer – just 5 percent – were given back through charitable gifts and endowed in community funds, Nebraska would have more than $30 billion within 50 years, generating millions of dollars each year to invest in hometowns where young families can prosper.

The Nebraska Community Foundation

The Nebraska Community Foundation (NCF) is helping people across the state achieve this vision.

Ten years ago, 51 communities were building endowments through NCF with total assets of $4.6 million. Today there are 121 with nearly $40 million endowed. Another $43 million in planned gifts will benefit Nebraska’s communities and organizations in the future.

These communities range in size and geography. What they share in common is local leadership committed to building a future for their hometown.

The Nebraska Community Foundation envisions our state as a place where people can reach their highest potential. Where we can live and work close to family and friends and still stay connected to the world. NCF affiliated funds are using their endowment earnings for grants that make this possible:

• Non-traditional scholarships for adults working in the community
• High-quality affordable childcare to help working parents
• Small business development and transition
• Leadership development and volunteer training
• Value-added curriculum for K-12 schools
• High-quality, accessible health care
• Facilities and programs to help our seniors to age in place
• Arts, recreation and public safety to make our communities places where young families can thrive

I am proud that my hometown of Red Cloud is part of the NCF family of community funds. And that it has launched a community-wide effort to foster leadership, entrepreneurship development, youth engagement, and philanthropy. I am especially pleased that my parents are considering their hometown as a seventh child, by including Red Cloud in their estate plan.

Harnessing 5 percent of the transfer of wealth for the future of our rural places is a reasonable, achievable goal!

For more information about NCF and community giving, visit www.NebraskaHometown.org or check out their videos on YouTube. Join the discussion on Facebook, too!

Visit the Rural Futures Lab homepage here.

Photos provided by the author. 

Urban Escapees: The Future of Rural Communities?

By Katie McCaskey, Urban Escapee and small town grocer

Face it: the "city folk" are moving here.

As we enter an increasingly dense urban future, more urbanites will seek solace in calmer quarters—and, instead of embracing fear, rural residents should grab this opportunity with open arms. "Urban escapees" bring a variety of assets to rural America.

I speak as an urban escapee myself. I lived in three major cities before returning to my rural roots. It's a move that did not appeal to me in my twenties but, as I entered my thirties, grew increasingly enchanting. The move allowed my husband and me to buy property and start a business on Main Street, two things that were fiscally out of reach living in a large metro area. And, unlike previous generations, I had the added advantage to bring my job with me thanks to telecommuting.

In short, retirees are not the only city people who are discovering new opportunities in smaller locations. Mid-career professionals are starting to see untapped value in rural areas, and in the "micro urban" pockets of rural downtowns.

Many have mourned the decay of rural downtowns. But people like me—urban escapees who appreciate compact, city living—see a blank canvas of opportunity improved by several intersecting trends in technology, economy, and ecology.

Micropolitan Manifesto

Staunton, Virginia (population 23,000), where I live, is doing an excellent job of recruiting urban escapees with ambitions to start independent businesses. George Bowers Grocery, our business, was the first loan recipient of the Staunton Creative Community Fund, a microfinance organization. The fund was initially financed by the city. It has grown through a combination of public, private, and grant monies from the state and federal level and supported the start of several businesses.

I strongly believe entrepreneurship is the primary way forward for rural downtowns. I also believe that encouraging urban escapees to apply their experience and resources toward revitalization should be encouraged, not feared. My experience working with my husband to build our business prompted me to write the "Micropolitan Manifesto", a call to artists, change makers, and entrepreneurs.

I invite you to read it, share it, and connect with me if you would like to discuss!


Katie McCaskey is author of the forthcoming book, "Urban Escapee: How to Ditch the Commute, Build a Business, and Revitalize Main Street". Sign up at her site to be notified when the book is released.

Photo: Pat Jarrett

Visit the Rural Futures Lab here.

Making Connections for Effective Rural Philanthropy

By Racheal Stuart, Senior Program Director, Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation

When I’m trying to figure out a particularly sticky community issue in my work on behalf of the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund, I stop by Paul Grenier’s garage on the East Side of Berlin, New Hampshire. Paul can be found there on most Sundays, rebuilding vintage Harley Davidsons. He is the Mayor of Berlin, a city of about 10,000 people in Coös County. He is also a Coös County Commissioner—all this while he holds down a full-time job at an automobile dealership.

Paul is a dedicated and persuasive leader in a region that is going through intense community and economic transformation. I count on him for the “unvarnished truth”—not that I always agree with him, but I know I’ll hear an important perspective as well as a get a good hearing of my own. The last time I stopped by Paul Grenier’s garage we discussed the tension between addressing urgent, critical needs and investments that will not pay off for years, maybe even generations. Paul remarked, “If the region takes another body blow, we might not have a future worth investing in.”

Paul recognizes the challenges of his home place. Coös County is physically isolated from the rest of New Hampshire by the Northern Presidential range of the White Mountains. The region has a multi-generational history of large paper mills as the principle employer and a legacy of civic leadership characterized by benevolence, strong local ties and community loyalty. According to research by the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire, Coös is undergoing a major transformation from a resource-dependent manufacturing economy to a future that is still being defined.

Photo: Coös County in late fall.

Building Social Capital and Leadership

My connection with Paul reflects the philosophy and approach of the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund of the NH Charitable Foundation, a provider of philanthropic capital in the region. We believe in order to be successful our work must be jointly owned and led by people on the ground, and that we are at our most effective when we are in true partnerships with community leaders.

There is an ongoing need for more bridging between communities and sectors, and between long-time community leaders and economic development professionals in the nonprofit sector. To address this need, the Tillotson Fund uses multiple methods to strengthen and expand social capital – feelings of trust and reciprocity – across the region:

• We insist on local staff with real ties to the community, reflecting the philosophy of Neil Tillotson, whose generosity created the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund. Mr. Tillotson believed we should personally know the people who are affected by our decisions.
• We engage existing and emerging leaders in the region in all levels of governance and decision making to build a pipeline of leadership for the Fund itself.
• We operate as a social capital broker, using several programs to strengthen “bridging social capital” across communities and sectors, and among those inside and outside of the region.

Photo: Coös Symposium participants, a group of leaders from around the region.

Image: A network diagram depicting the many ties among Coös Symposium participants.

Decisions being made by today’s leaders will determine if Coös County heads toward a vibrant future or persistent poverty. Yet there are promising signs that our work together is paying off.  New Carsey Institute research and our own network analysis suggest that the Tillotson Fund’s work to strengthen social capital has had a positive impact on efforts to advance regional economic initiatives. After years of tireless effort by nonprofit leaders, elected officials, and state and local agencies, Coös County is holding its own and moving forward: 

• re-opening of a major manufacturing plant,
• ground-breaking on a key renewable energy project, and
• experiencing an uptick in tourism revenue for the first time in years. 

There is no doubt we have a ways to go in Coös County, but these are good signs that our leadership is up to the task! I have hope that our work together will pay off for generations to come.

What is your community’s experience with philanthropic organizations? How are you developing strong local leaders and a sense of trust in your rural region?

Racheal Stuart lives and works in the Coös County, New Hampshire. She enjoys biking and hiking in the White Mountains when she’s not building bridges of trust for her work with the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund.

Visit the Rural Futures Lab website here.

Photo and images supplied by author.