By Benya Kraus
President and CEO, SMIF
June 25, 2026 – In a world that often asks us to be in a hurry, Wendell Berry – a Kentuckian farmer poet – asks us to slow down and to pay attention. “We have the world to live in on the condition that we will take good care of it,” he writes in one of his essays. “But to take good care of it, we have to know it. And to know it and to be willing to take care of it, we have to love it.”
In my role, I’m often asked what we can do to inspire the next generation of local leadership to get involved in community life. The University of Minnesota Extension reports that in our rural communities, 1 in 9 adults must serve in a formal civic or nonprofit role to keep the community operating. That means serving in roles like your city council and economic development authority boards, nonprofit boards, county commissions — and close to our heart at Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF), your Community Foundation boards. As our our region’s population ages, there is increased pressure for the next generation to carry the previous generation’s legacy of service.
But what calls us to serve?
As Wendell Berry reminds us, the answer is love.
When I speak with our most active Community Foundation board members about why they serve, they often tell me about the neighbors who helped their family through a difficult time. About the coach or teacher who saw their potential before they found it for themselves. About a parent who dragged them to every church pancake breakfast or food drive as a kid, forced away from an afternoon of solitude at home with the cartoons and made to encounter their neighbors in real life, face to face. Their love for place flows out of the experiences of knowing their neighbors – and being known in return.
At SMIF, we are the backbone support to 35 small town Community Foundations. Practically, they are 35 volunteer boards who raise money locally in order to fund the things that grow, beautify and serve the needs of the people who live in their community today and for generations to come. In Berry’s eyes, these Community Foundation board members are people who are committed to “truly looking at” their community. They are people who pour their time and attention to noticing who lives in their towns, where they spend their time and what struggles they may be experiencing. They notice when families can’t afford a summer pool pass, which downtown alleys have the potential to be revitalized with seating and murals, which fairground barns need an upgrade. They help a community focus their attention to these things, too, and through that knowledge, offer opportunities for people to care in real, practical ways.
Yes, as Wendell Berry says – to know a place and to care for it requires love. But at the same time, knowing a place and caring for it also makes you fall in love with it.
Perhaps that is the greatest purpose of our Community Foundations: to invite your neighbors to fall in love with their places, over and over again.
To learn more about the Community Foundation in your area, visit smifoundation.org/affiliatefunds or contact Alissa Oeltjenbruns at alissao@smifoundation.org.
As always, I welcome your comments and questions. You can reach me at benyak@smifoundation.org or 507-455-3215.
About Benya Kraus
Benya Kraus is the President & CEO of Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation. Benya is the co-founder of Lead for America and served as the Network Advancement Director at Resource Rural.
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