Page 152 - 1-Entrepreneurship and Local Economic Development by Norman Walzer (z-lib.org)

Building Communities through Entrepreneurship Development 141

next 20 or more years. Most rural communities are familiar with charitable
giving. It is what sustains youth athletic teams, church building campaigns,
and efforts to expand libraries and recreational facilities across rural Amer-
ica. What is more unusual is to see charitable assets dedicated to support-
ing economic development activities.
Through the work of the Nebraska Community Foundation, rural com-
munities throughout the state have created affiliated community funds to
focus local fund-raising efforts (Anft 2003). Using a wealth-transfer analy-
sis tool, the foundation completed a study that provided an estimate for
each county of how much wealth will be passed between generations in the
community in the next ten years. Local leaders were then asked to consider
the impact of retaining just 5 percent of the wealth through a local com-
munity foundation. More than 100 affiliated funds have been created in the
state since 2001, putting together endowments of almost $6 million, with
pledges of almost $13 million. These local foundations have the capacity to
generate locally controlled resources that can be used to support the goals
of the local community.
A further innovation bringing community philanthropy together with en-
trepreneurship development is the Home Town Competitiveness (HTC) ap-
proach developed by the Nebraska Community Foundation, the RUPRI
Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, and the Heartland Center for Leadership
Development. HTC brings together leadership development, youth engage-
ment, community philanthropy, and entrepreneurship development into a
long-term sustainable strategy for community development. From the per-
spective of providing sustainable financial support for the creation of an
entrepreneurship development system, the important innovation in this
model is the connection between community philanthropy and entrepre-
neurship—a key goal of the local community funds is to create a source of
funds for investing in entrepreneurship development.
For example, in the small rural community of Ord, Nebraska, economic
development grants made by the local foundation have spurred the creation
of an “investors group” to continue and strengthen the entrepreneurship
development activities in the community (see chapter 8). This marriage of
community philanthropy and entrepreneurship is an important lesson
learned for building sustainable systems of support for entrepreneurs in ru-
ral America.

CONCLUSION

A successful entrepreneurial venture is not built on financial capital alone. It
takes a system of support to help a rural entrepreneur identify, develop, and
realize the dream of building a business. Access to the right kind of capital