General operating support can provide nonprofit organizations with the flexibility to plan, innovate, and pivot in their work. So, why don’t more foundations provide general operating support as part of their grantmaking strategies? In this post, we chat with Mary Jo Mullan, a former and longtime member of the Heron team, about the importance of general operating support.
In 2018, Dana Bezerra became the new president of Heron. However, Dana has been at Heron for 13 years in total, starting as a program officer in 2006. She’s seen Heron grow and change and is now sharing her guidance, leadership, and lessons learned as we focus on the intersection of communities and capital markets. In this podcast episode, we ask Dana to reflect on her first year as president, and share what’s next for Heron.
When Heron declared its intention to invest 100% of its assets for mission, we needed to find new ways to track and visualize the portfolio as it changed over time. Six years later, we want to share where we stumbled in the process, what we have learned from our attempts, and where we are today.
We’re launching a new series called “Questions We’re Asking This Week” that catalogs some of the inquiries we’re chasing in order to help people and communities help themselves out of poverty.
Pension liabilities can be a detriment to community prosperity, while pension funds can be a source of power for workers. With those dynamics in mind, here are a few pension-related questions we’re asking this week.
The Aspen Institute has released a report on Impact Investing featuring an essay written by Heron president Clara Miller.
Philanthropy advisers warn that foundations’ structure may hinder their mission success--and urge them to optimize for mission success via impact investing.
A brief case study on impact management features Huntington Capital’s efforts to maximize impact on job quality in their third fund.
The Council on Foundations drew ire from nonprofits when it planned a “Shark Tank"- style grant competition.
The Aspen Institute's Judy Samuelson and Maureen Conway detail six steps that corporations can take to advance equity for their employees and society.
A REDF report discusses its mission-driven business investments and assesses their impact on beneficiaries, as well as on society as a whole.
Heron’s Clara Miller was recognized by Institutional Investor Magazine with the Small Foundation Award.
The Global Impact Investing Network offers up their first analysis of 310 impact funds, demonstrating a focus on finance, basic services and employment.
GIIN and J.P. Morgan have teamed up again to produce their fifth annual global impact investor survey.
Two articles in the Stanford Social Innovation Review delve into the difficulties of impact investing and why the traditional investment structure remains an obstacle.