Head of rural community foundation wants laws to encourage localized rural philanthropy

Philanthropy has been instrumental in shoring up causes based in metropolitan areas, but not so much in rural America. "Historically urban-centered, wealthy people have created legacies directed at specific regions or institutions, or coveted areas of individual passion. But there aren't many examples of such magnitude devoted to comprehensive community development," Gerry Roll, above, executive director of the Community Foundation of Hazard and Perry County, Kentucky, wrotes in an op-ed piece for the Lexington Herald-Leader and The Courier-Journal of Louisville.

Roll advocates legislation to encourage creation of, and investment in, community foundations. "They are rarely in rural areas, and certainly not in the rural counties of Kentucky," she notes. Rural areas are still the places where many of the state's resources are spent on programs like Medicaid for the poor and disabled, and that's one reason Kentucky ranks near the bottom of most national lists, Roll writes.

"A relatively new national movement in rural development philanthropy is a promising model for helping community foundations and other community-based initiatives engage in convening, fund-raising, endowment-building, grant-making and other community-building opportunities to strengthen and supplement the limited resources provided through state and local general funds for education and other services," she explains, adding that community foundations engage a broad range of institutions and individuals to build stronger and healthier communities. Those include rural expatriates who may want to help their hometowns but don't know of a vehicle that they consider trustworthy.

Roll says 2006 legislation in Iowa to stimulate local endowment building has led to an endowment in every county in the state, "and they are growing exponentially." Roll's foundation started last year, and she writes that it still has a long way to go, but it is "building an endowment, making grants and working with the community to create ways to improve our schools, our environment, our health, our housing and our culture." She calls for the state legislature to encourage donations to local endowments to allow "people to contribute to the communities they love." Roll's article also appeared in the Messenger-Inquirer of Owensboro.