WealthWorks is a framework with the goal of building a more inclusive economy in which economically marginalized people and places build wealth through market engagement. WealthWorks is not theoretical; since 2008, it has been tested and refined through the experiences of people and organizations putting it to use in communities and across regions. It has been successfully applied in sectors such as housing, energy efficiency, renewable energy, food and agriculture, fisheries, forestry and wood products, financing, tourism, health care, and transportation. We are continuously reminded that WealthWorks looks different in every community and gets talked about in different ways. However, regardless of sector, place, culture, and organization, it is making a difference and improving livelihoods for those on the economic margins. 

Yellow Wood Associates, one of the earliest WealthWorks partners, succinctly captured our history: “WealthWorks began as a Ford Foundation initiative called Wealth Creation in Rural Communities. In 2008 and 2009, members of the Triple Bottom Line Collaborative and others conducted research on the status of rural development activities and outcome measures used in the field. Practitioners with experience in four distinct approaches to development: value chains, clusters, triple bottom line finance, and entrepreneurship convened multiple times to begin to formulate what has become the WealthWorks approach.”

In 2011, the Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group (Aspen CSG) was engaged by the Ford Foundation as a lead coordinator and national partner for the WealthWorks approach. Aspen CSG’s primary role in this work has been to develop materials, curriculum, and engagements that make the WealthWorks approach to building livelihoods understandable and doable by any and all interested and motivated people, organizations, and places doing community and economic development. 

WealthWorks is an evolving community of practice that is continually exploring, implementing, and testing innovative regional wealth-building strategies. Today, the community is self-organizing, led by a group of regional hubs and national partners, including Aspen CSG, the National Association of Development Organizations, and the Rural Community Assistance Partnership.