STRONG — People routinely leave money in their wills to their local animal shelters, clubs, colleges and nonprofit groups. One small town is asking, “Why not us?”

The Strong Investment Committee has crafted a challenge they’ll to present fellow residents at the Forster Memorial Building at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 12. Their plan could provide a way to make life better for those they leave behind.

Jeff O’Donnell is a carpenter and drives low-income individuals to medical appointments. Tom Piekart is a retiree who moved to the area. Dean Stanley has been Strong’s postmaster for many years, while Dr. David Dixon continues his long career with Franklin Memorial Hospital.

With the help of Tanya Swain, executive director of Western Mountains Alliance, they will explain the benefits of establishing a community endowment fund and ask for ideas to make it happen. The common thread among all of them, Stanley said, is a love for their community. They want others to become inspired as well.

“We don’t want to take this ball and run with it for the long term,” Stanley said. “We want to engage other community members to carry this forward.”

This endowment concept is not new. The Aspen Institute, a national association of grant makers, cites Frederick Goff, a Cleveland banker and attorney, who created such a plan nearly century ago. His Cleveland Foundation accepted “endowed contributions and bequests, large and small, from many donors who cared about their community and wanted to give back.”

Mary Ann Hayes, executive director of Orono-based Maine Rural Partners (www.mainerural.org), says research shows that over the next 10 years Mainers are likely to transfer $29 billion to the next generation. She published a study, “Realizing Maine’s Worth,” that supported the concept.

If people choose to invest only 5 percent of their estates in community endowment funds and if those funds’ investments generate 5 percent returns, the long-term benefits are there,” she said.

She was inspired to make something happen in Maine after she attended a presentation in 2005 by the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, part of the Rural Policy Research Institute.

Although Maine’s government and nonprofits are struggling, she noted, towns can look past the current downturn and invest for the future.

The community fund conceivably could accept cash or property from individuals, families, groups or businesses, then could invest and manage a community savings account, retaining the original investment.

“Strong used to have everything here, including a hospital, grocery store, canneries, lumber mills and a healthy economy,” O’Donnell said. “I’d like to see us be able to help more students with scholarship money, which is something the town used to do years ago.”

Dr. David Dixon said management details will be an important part of the endowment strategy.

“We are trying to make things better for generations to come, long after we’re gone,” he said. “We hope the community will support this idea.”

If the community had a fund of seed money available, it would be a better candidate for matching grants from other nonprofits.

For more information, contact [email protected] or O’Donnell at 684-3198.