About Us

Heron champions the people who believe profoundly in the promise of their community and who dare to chase the shared dreams for the place they call home. We work directly with local organizations that are embedded in, deeply trusted by, and inherently driven by the voice and vision of their neighbors. We invest in their know-how, skills, and determination to build a community that reflects and honors the dignity of all and where prosperity is shared.

Heron does not operate as a traditional “funder.” Heron partners with communities to source relevant and actionable research, nurture a learning collaborative of peers, help communities reclaim their narrative of place and self, foster stronger collective agency and social bonds, and provide long-term financial support.

We aspire to be, first and foremost, an organization that nurtures a network of local people advancing their communities and achieving the transformation they seek. Heron works mainly in rural communities experiencing persistent poverty, systemic challenges, historic disinvestment, and a legacy of disenfranchisement. We also believe that this model is applicable across all geographic regions, all socio-economic classes, and in urban, rural, and exurban communities alike.

What do we believe?

• The welfare of people and society depends upon the health and resilience of communities.
• We must do a better job of moving financial and other capital into disadvantaged communities.
• The power to control and deploy funds for community welfare must reside in communities themselves.
• Power must be held collectively by an engaged citizenry.
• An understanding of the community’s history, current health and external trends and threats is necessary to guide decision-making.
• “Mother Trees” (well-connected, highly resourceful anchor institutions) play a critical role in helping to nourish, inform and lead community activity.
• A robust population of local enterprise together with other essential social, civic, physical, and enabling systems, is essential in a healthy community.
• The community must invest in those enterprises and projects that build the stores of human, natural, civic and economic capital the community requires.
• All serious philanthropic institutions must consciously and aggressively seek to devote all of their assets to the pursuit of their missions.
• The field of philanthropy needs new models and methods to deploy its capital more effectively.

“At its core, Heron is about empowering people and institutions. We empower collections of people because it’s fundamental to the success of our society.” 

– Buzz Schmidt, Heron Foundation Board Chair

What do we do?

• Over the next eight years, we will transfer the bulk of our financial capital to a cohort of deeply embedded local anchor institutions that are (1) active in rural communities that have faced generations of persistent poverty, (2) committed to building the “collective agency” of increasingly knowledgeable, trusting, and engaged citizens in their communities, and (3) keen to learn and use data and research to help guide their decisions and track their progress.
• We will provide our community partners with extensive data and research, technical assistance, communications support, and networking opportunities.
• We will share its growing knowledge broadly to help increase capital flow to the direct control of rural communities.
• We will invest all our retained financial capital directly into enterprises and projects that benefit these communities.
• We will leverage all our internal capabilities and experiences to continue indefinitely as a highly effective builder of healthy communities.