DURHAM - Gov. Mike Easley wants a nonprofit group tasked with overseeing $600 million in public money to be more aggressive in helping rural areas win jobs.

Easley, speaking after an event in Durham on Wednesday, said the Golden LEAF Foundation needs to use more of its money to build infrastructure and buildings in distressed communities so they're more attractive to industry.

The foundation was set up in 1999 to manage half the money the state receives from a master settlement with cigarette manufacturers. Its primary mission is to help tobacco-dependent counties build new business foundations for their communities.

Golden LEAF has the "responsibility of building economies in areas where we didn't have economies," Easley said after speaking at the annual meeting of the N.C. Chamber. It needs "to get involved more, to get busy."

The foundation has awarded about 560 grants since 2000, totaling $205 million. They have gone to fund a variety of projects, from increasing tourism in rural communities to funding new educational programs.

Recent grants included $150,000 to help create an East Coast Drag Racing Hall of Fame Museum in Vance County and $1.5 million to N.C. State University to build a pilot plant that can convert sweet potatoes, switchgrass and loblolly pines into ethanol.

Foundation President Valeria Lee said Easley's remarks were consistent with private conversations she has had with his staff. She said that the foundation has been aggressive in its efforts to help struggling communities and has "done a good job."

What's more, it's planning a new initiative to go into communities and identify needs.

"We know we have more to do in North Carolina, and Golden LEAF is certainly ready to do more," she said.

Easley has made recruiting new companies and expansions a priority. Since the start of the year, his office has announced more than 1,000 new jobs from companies that will invest more than $750 million in operations.

Those in rural areas say that Golden LEAF can be instrumental in helping them.

Elizabeth City, for instance, got a $250,000 grant for airport improvements that benefited a defense contractor's expansion. DRS-Tamsco, which upgrades and overhauls large planes, has hired more than 200 workers.

"It's real important, especially for a small community like ours, because we have to put multiple sources of funding together," said Elizabeth City manager Rich Olson. "We would always like to see them be more aggressive."

Easley didn't offer many specific steps for Golden LEAF.

He did say that the organization is limited by the restrictions of its nonprofit status and may need to reduce the size of its board to be more effective.

And the foundation should be more involved with Commerce Department efforts to land corporate expansions, he said.

"We need to stay more engaged with them and keep them in the loop," Easley said. "They've indicated a willingness to step up on a couple we have in the hopper."

Lee said she has not talked directly with the governor about the issues he raised but said the foundation's nonprofit status doesn't crimp its efforts.

Golden LEAF was created by the General Assembly, and the legislation requires that grants be used for charitable, public purposes, Lee said.

That means using the money to directly recruit private businesses might violate the language and the nonprofit's standing.

"In particularly poor counties, it is possible the IRS could say that bringing in a business of any sort would be considered a public purpose," Lee said. "But they might not say that, which is why some say we are limited."

The size of the foundation board is not something the group has discussed, she said, mostly because the board and its appointments are established by lawmakers. The governor, president pro tem of the Senate and Speaker of the House each appoints five members to the board.

Those political ties hurt the foundation, said John Hood of the John Locke Foundation, a conservative think tank in Raleigh. Hood said he would welcome changes at the foundation.

"If the governor is talking about infrastructure investment, he's on to something," Hood said. "If you used the money to improve the road system or address water and sewer capacity, you are implementing a policy that has a large number of potential beneficiaries."