The Heron Blog

A Mighty Giant and An Enduring Legacy

Few others have left as indelible a mark on Heron as Ambassador James “Jim” Joseph, who served on Heron’s board of directors for many years. Our hearts are heavy as we mourn the loss of a dear friend whose legacy continues to be a source of great inspiration within our organization.

Networks of Abundance

Dana K Bezerra announces her departure as Heron President and reflects on Heron's work still to come.

Dare to Change

At Heron, we champion the people, places and enterprises who challenge broken conventions and dare to change.

Optimizing Our Fixed Income Portfolio

Last year, Heron decided to pull $30 million of our fixed income portfolio in-house, to be managed by an internal fixed income manager, Barbara VanScoy. In this blog post, we chronicle the experiences that led to and came from that decision.

A Note on COVID-19

At Heron, we try to champion people, places, and enterprises who challenge broken conventions and dare to change. In light of COVID-19, we remain committed to our work in communities across the United States.

Aug 26, 2019

Nuts & Bolts: The Uses & Limits of Data as We Work in the San Joaquin Valley

In this post, we discuss our efforts to better integrate data as we try to understand the opportunities and challenges facing the San Joaquin Valley.

Jul 19, 2018

Nuts & Bolts: How We Visualized Our Evolving Portfolio

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.

May 3, 2016

Nuts and Bolts: Transitioning Into Impact

A few key lessons Heron learned as we began the process of transforming our portfolio toward 100 percent impact.

Sep 17, 2015

Nuts and Bolts: Goodbye to the Lil Website That Could

Heron’s Toni Johnson explains the achievements of the foundation’s interim WordPress site and why it gave us a much needed digital voice.

May 13, 2015

Investment Policy Statement, May 2015

Heron’s Investment Policy Statement, updated May 2015.

Sep 18, 2014

Nuts and Bolts: Re-imagining an Investment Policy Statement

Heron updated its investment policy statement to articulate how we plan to align social and financial performance into a single investment strategy.

Sep 10, 2014

Nuts and Bolts: A New Ecosystem for Workforce Development

Heron’s Amy Orr shares current thinking on how collaborations can benefit low-wage workers, employers and our economy as a whole.