Community Heart & Soul™ Empowers Rural Communities

Since receiving a two-year, $160,000 grant from the Orton Family Foundation in late 2014, the Community Foundation has been working to implement Orton’s Community Heart & Soul™ method in the Foundation’s six-county rural affiliate region, beginning with the community of Monticello, Iowa.

For the last five years, Orton has invested $10 million to test the Community Heart & Soul™ community engagement process with the goal of developing a better way to help small communities shape their futures. Heart & Soul reconnects people with what they love most about their town and translates those personal and emotional connections into a blueprint that serves as the foundation for future community decisions.

This barn-raising approach to planning and development is designed to empower residents to shape the future of their communities while upholding the unique character of each place. The strategy is based on the belief that the strength of a community lies in the hands and the hearts of the people who live there.

Since beginning the Heart & Soul process, community members in Monticello have embraced the program and are actively gathering stories to discover what matters most to everyone—not just the perceived leaders and decision-makers. Taking time to understand their core values will help residents strengthen the impact of philanthropy in their community.

CFGD matched the Orton grant with a $150,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Community Development Initiative (RCDI) program, which is funding community engagement efforts to grow philanthropy in rural communities.  

The Foundation will hold a seminar in May 2016 for other communities in the region that are ready to undertake the Heart & Soul process.

To learn more about Heart & Soul, visit www.dbqfoundation.org/heartandsoul.

This story originally appeared in the 2015 Winter Giving Matters (pdf).

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