From Non Profit Quarterly:
This article comes from the summer 2013 edition of the Nonprofit Quarterly, “New Gatekeepers of Philanthropy.” It was first published online on August 16, 2013.
The F. B. Heron Foundation is an investor—a capital investor—in enterprises where we see opportunity for mutually productive social and financial gain. As is the case with most foundations, our work includes nonprofits but is not exclusive to them: we invest across the spectrum of legal forms of organization, in public and private for-profits, governments, cooperatives, nonprofits, and hybrids. Our approach differs from that of most foundations in that all our investing is done to further our mission—the typical approach being that only grants to nonprofits are mission focused. We look for opportunities to make a positive difference through the power of finance and enterprise, skillfully deployed. Lately, we have been encouraged that a growing number of our foundation colleagues are finding ways to make the powerful combination of financial tools (debt, equity, grants, performance contracts, and more), enterprises (nonprofits, for-profits, and others), and program savvy work together to further their philanthropic agenda.
