Categories for Thinking On…

A Mighty Giant and An Enduring Legacy

Questions We’re Asking this Week: Pensions & Community Prosperity

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.

Questions We’re Asking This Week: San Joaquin Valley Edition

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.

Thinking Out Loud: Implications of the Small Business ACE Act

This summer, Congressman John Curtis (R-UT) introduced a bipartisan bill called the Small Business Access to Capital and Efficiency Act, also known as the Small Business ACE Act. The point of the Small Business ACE Act is to strengthen the Small Business Administration 504 loan program (SBA 504) by reconciling conflicting requirements and removing unnecessary burdens.

Mission-Related Mortgages: How Heron’s Mission-Driven Investments withstood the 2008 Financial Crisis

In an effort to be as transparent as possible, Heron has been posting the performance of its financial portfolio dating all the way back to 1992. And lately, observant readers have been sending us questions about the way in which Heron’s portfolio performed during the 2008 financial crisis.

Deep Dive: The Muses Apartments Bond

The second in a series of retrospective deep dives into a broad selection of Heron’s early fixed income impact investments, featuring a mixed-income housing community in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Deep Dive: Jonesboro Green Tech Bond

The first of a series of retrospective deep dives into a broad selection of Heron’s early fixed income impact investments, featuring the financing of a wind turbine factory in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Thinking On: The Owner-Labor Tug of War

Profits and wages are often treated as a zero-sum game, but wages play a more complex role in a company’s value creation for all stakeholders, including owners.

Thinking On: Frequently Overheard Grumblings

Heron’s president, Clara Miller, reviews some of the most common misunderstandings she has heard over the past few years in the field.

President’s Letter 2017

Heron’s president, Clara Miller, offers a look back at the past five years of the foundation and offers some lessons learned.