Map with four square boxes depicting energy/infrastructure/etc

Donate to the Sustainable GeoCommunities Program

A community-based program that is focused on solving local problems facing communities.

Led by the University of Minnesota (UMN) and the University of Buffalo (UB) in partnership with Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK), IIT Bombay (IITB), IIT Delhi (IITD), IIT Goa (IITG), Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (a multicampus Indian university) and others, Sustainable GeoCommunities will help local communities around the world grow and thrive by meeting UN Sustainable Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

Learn more about the Sustainable Geocommunities program, or read the research brief developed after the 2024 Sustainable GeoCommunities Planning Workshop in Kanpur, Noida (India). 

Support the Sustainable GeoCommunities program with your donation
 

Local Problems, Local Solutions, Global Impacts

The Sustainable GeoCommunities framework is built upon thinking that is local but incorporates a global perspective:

  • Principles of geodesign that consider geographic information, culture, demographics, natural resources, and climate in informing the potential solution
  • Active community participation to co-develop solutions, shaping and configuring the evolution of local solutions that are sustainable and resilient
  • Testing, measuring, and validating the effectiveness of solutions
  • Scaling relevant solutions across different regions
  • Informing public policy recommendations on the basis of successful interventions
     
Map with yellow/red ares and lakes.
UMN’s Minnesota LakeBrowser provides satellite-derived data on lake clarity, an indicator of water quality, for more than 10,000 Minnesota lakes. It is an example of community-supporting application of the University’s geospatial capabilities. 
A multi-generational group sits happily under a a grass shelter
Amrita students discuss sustainable practices with a rural family as part of the university’s Live-in-Labs® Program.

Four international research projects were chosen for seed funding in 2024. These projects leverage geodesign thinking, geospatial technologies, and other research tools to help local communities around the world. They include collaborators at universities, tribal nations, and other organizations across the US and internationally.
 

Why Donate?

Your contributions will help researchers at the University of Minnesota to connect and work with more communities in Minnesota, around the nation, and in partner countries. Funds will be used to:

  1. Organize community discussions and workshops to learn about the issues affecting the lives of people and develop partnerships with local organizations. For example, students and researchers spending time in a rural community to first-hand experience the constraints and barriers.
  2. Fund UMN researchers who stay in a community to quantify the problem and learn about the community’s culture, history, and practical implementation scenarios. Use this understanding to co-develop a solution that can meet the needs of community members.
  3. Fund relevant applied research to develop appropriate solutions, testing, and validation. Work with county, state, and federal agencies to advance policies based upon the proven solutions.
     

Support the Sustainable GeoCommunities program with your donation
 

Program Leadership and Expertise

Four images of sustainable energy against an aerial shot of an urban area bordering a lake

The University of Minnesota is a leader in community engagement, extension programs, geospatial information technologies and analysis, with strengths in mapping, satellite imaging, data science, and machine learning, geography, and census and demographic information. As the lead institution for the NSF/USDA AI-CLIMATE Institute, UMN is combining knowledge from agriculture and forestry sciences with unique new methods in artificial intelligence (AI), and working to curb the effects of climate change while also lifting rural economies.

Read the research brief developed after the 2024 Sustainable GeoCommunities Planning Workshop in June, or visit the Sustainable GeoCommunities Program page.