KACF News
Kansas Experiment: Application of Sustainable Development Goals by Small and/or Rural Community Foundations
9/8/2021 - KACF
Five Kansas community foundations are pioneering in the KACF Learning Collaborative and Community of Practice: “Application of Sustainable Development Goals by Small and/or Rural Community Foundations – a Kansas Experiment” supported by the C. S. Mott Foundation and implemented by the Kansas Association of Community Foundations in partnership with the Community Engagement Institute.
Rice County Community Foundation, Legacy, A Regional Community Foundation, Peabody Community Foundation, Western Kansas Community Foundation, and Bird City Century II Community Foundation will explore how their community foundations would embrace SDGs in the work they are already doing or planning to advance to benefit their communities.
Community foundations have proven their catalytic role in leading their communities by finding local solutions to challenges that are experienced globally. Issues like poverty, education, and hunger are common around the world, but are best addressed at the local level. Although the SDGs naturally align with the work community foundations are already doing and offer community foundations a blueprint to assist with asset development, community engagement, investment strategies, operations, impact tracking, and communications, community foundations in the USA are only beginning to discover and adopt the SDG framework, mainly due to a low level of field-wide awareness.
The two-year Kanas program commences on September 30th. The launch of the Kansas experiment will be celebrated at the 2021 Annual National Conference for Growing Community Foundations on October 14.
“Eyes” are on Kansas! The learning from the Kansas experiment will be shared with community foundations in Kansas and the rest of the USA as well as abroad to inform and encourage more community foundations to incorporate SDGs into their work, regardless of their size or location.
To learn more about community foundations in Kansas visit https://kansascfs.org/
