Thursday, June 5, 2008
8:00 am to 4:00 pm
Hotel Mead
451 E. Grand Ave.
Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin

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Wisconsin Rural Partners, Inc. (WRP) and its partners will present a one-day conference for rural community and philanthropic leaders on the topic of growing community wealth as an economic development strategy. The topic stems from findings of the Wisconsin’s “Strengthening Rural Families” policy team that identified community philanthropy as a growing opportunity for rural areas to maintain and grow local wealth and to put that wealth to use in enhancing the local economy.

Concurrent with the work of the Strengthening Rural Families team (Fall, 2006), the Donors Forum of Wisconsin commissioned a study on wealth transfer in Wisconsin that concluded: “If just five percent of the wealth being transferred over the next 10 years were pledged to community-based endowments, a cumulative endowment of $5.3 billion could be created. Such a collection of endowments prudently invested and managed, could generate $263 million of charitable investments into communities each year. These endowments could mean new resources essential to building stronger communities throughout Wisconsin. This estimate assumes a conservative five percent payout rate annually.”

To pursue our educational mission of building networks, leadership and voice for rural Wisconsin, WRP seeks to present an educational agenda for rural community leaders across Wisconsin that will:

1. Inform participants on the concept of community philanthropy – what it is and how it works
2. Present participants with data and information about the status of community philanthropy in Wisconsin (where it is, where it isn’t) and the opportunity presented by wealth transfer (where it could be)
3. Share stories and best practices of community philanthropy working to grow local economies
4. Engage participants in generating ideas for growing community philanthropy in rural Wisconsin

8:00 am Registration and Refreshments

8:30 am Welcome, Kelly Lucas, President, Community Foundation of South Wood County, Wisconsin

8:40 am Keynote Presentation, Jane Hetland Stevenson, President, St. Croix Valley Community Foundation, former director of Arizona Community Action Association and Minnesota Governor’s Rural Development Office

9:30 am Wisconsin Transfer of Wealth Study, Don Macke Center for Rural Entrepreneurship

10:15 am Break

10:30 am Panel Discussion on Rural Community Philanthropy Moderator: Don Macke, Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, author of the Wisconsin Wealth Transfer Study

Noon Networking Lunch – Presentation of Wisconsin’s Top Rural Development Initiatives and Community Leadership Awards

1:00 pm Status of Community Philanthropy in Wisconsin Kelly Haverkampf, University of Wisconsin - Extension

1:15 pm Break

2:00 pm Models for Building Community Philanthropy
Small Group Exercise and Plenary Session
Facilitator: Don Macke, Center for Rural Entrepreneurship

4:00 pm Adjourn

Conference sponsors include....

• Wisconsin Community Action Program Association
• Wisconsin Economic Development Association