Foundations across the country, both those who work nationally and those who focus on specific communities, have a long history of engaging in place-based work. Place based learning initiatives have historically used a comprehensive set of strategies to address the multifaceted needs of a specific place and have typically defined that place based on preexisting geographic boundaries of some sort. While place-based initiatives have been used as an investment approach by funders for decades, recent years have seen a new wave of interest and flow of resources from funders toward place-based initiatives.

This literature review for placed based learning aims to provide an overview of knowledge from the field centered around definitions and understanding of place, key principles for place-based grantmaking and considerations for implementation of a place-based funding approach.