Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Communities of Hope Fund


On June 5, 2010, Rural Action, a non-profit dedicated to revitalization of Appalachian Ohio and I announced creation of the Communities of Hope Fund. All royalty proceeds from sales of Hope and Hard Times will flow to this fund which will be looked after by Rural Action. Yes, all! The fund will spend down rather than build endowment.  If we meet marketing targets, beginning in 2011 or 2012, in collaboration with Rural Action, I will invite proposals from communities like those in this book to seed fresh and promising sustainability initiatives. My hope is our grants will be used by communities to leverage other funding for projects that are likely to have long-term outcomes. To get things going, I'll make a startup deposit later this year. Readers and friends here can help by: 1) suggesting friends follow and contribute to this blog and my Facebook site; 2) putting notice out on other blogs and sites; and 3) helping us market: the more books we sell, the sooner this fund can begin to underwrite good ideas for community-based solutions for the coming post-carbon era. In time I'll also need suggestions about to circulate our RFP. Feedback?