Maxine Moul and the Nebraska Community Foundation are inextricably linked.

Like Nebraska's cornfields and the endless blue summer sky.

Like a small town and its high school football team.

Like 56-year-old Maxine Moul and her rural Nebraska roots.

"I tell people I've lived 35 years of my life in towns of less than 1,600," she said. "That's why I have this real love for Nebraska communities."

It's why, she said, she and other leaders devote their time to making sure it stays vital.

"We were supported and sustained by our rural communities," she said. "It's because of them we have been able to have incredible experiences."

Don Macke, who headed the Rural Development Commission under Gov. Ben Nelson, helped Moul build the foundation in the early 1990s.

At the time, he said, some people considered it an impossible task.

Moul - who has recently assumed the title of president emeritus with the foundation - didn't see it that way.

"Her role has been fundamental. She not only helped craft the vision of what this could be but then in so many ways enabled it to happen," he said.

The foundation is a privately funded organization that helps Nebraska communities with charitable fund raising.

Its architects wanted to find a way to help communities believe in themselves and give them a way to improve the quality of life there. To stem the tide that was flowing out of rural Nebraska.

Their work is paying off.

The net assets of the foundation, with 150 affiliated funds in more than 100 Nebraska communities, have grown from $23,870 in 1993 to $16.3 million.

"Expectancies" - the money people leave in their wills - have grown from $16 million, a 10 percent increase in the last year.

Ron Parks, current chairman of the foundation, said Moul inspires trust and loyalty in people, a vital part of convincing people to leave money to a cause, or devote time to it.

Jeff Yost, the foundation's president and CEO, said Moul is passionate about helping people help themselves.

"She is one of the most giving people I know," Yost said. "Not just in time and talents but giving of herself. She invests in people."

An Oakland native, Moul and her husband, Francis, founded Maverick Media in 1971 and bought the Syracuse Journal-Democrat.

She was a reporter, editor and publisher of the company's newspaper, and president and CEO from 1983-1990.

Moul, who has been an advocate for women as well as rural Nebraska, has been involved with projects and organizations over the years working for both causes. She ran for lieutenant governor on a rural development platform and was elected in 1990.

In 1993, then-Gov. Ben Nelson appointed her director of economic development.

Earlier this year, she was one of five Americans selected to participate in an international community foundation exchange.

"Max has a passion for rural Nebraska that is very personal and as a result she has been driven to find strategies that are going to make a real difference," Macke said.

Moul was volunteer chairman, then president of the foundation, a position that didn't pay anything until last year.

That part-time pay will continue with a new title, which will also allow her to slow down when she's ready, which isn't yet.

Because giving her time hasn't been a burden.

"I consider my volunteer time as part of the legacy that I will leave to people," she said.

Reach Margaret Reist at 473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com.

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