Pat's Top Five Reasons to Use (and Love) the BRL Thinking and Action Framework!

1. Ascend the learning curve—quickly! Use the Framework's Step 3—"Know yourself"—or one day, you'll wish you had.
   
   
2. Avoid re-inventing the rural development wheel. Before you start, know the active players in your rural community economic development milieu.
   
   
3. Reduce on-the-ground experimentation. Think carefully through your entire project. Rural communities are not guinea pigs—they are your neighbors! Flexibility is a good thing; experimentation is not.
   
   
4. Reduce risk: Plumb the depths of your commitment to rural development. The Framework is akin to a business plan. It will help you gauge whether or not to launch your RDP program "product."
   
   
5. Prudently steward your philanthropic resources. Whatever resources you have, it's likely they've been entrusted to you by someone else—a donor, many donors or another private source. The Framework will help you use resources wisely so as to maintain this trust.

Excerpted from remarks by Pat Vasbinder, former VP & COO, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, at Building Rural Livelihood, July 25-02. Read the full transcript.

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