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F.B. Heron Foundation

Annual Giving
$19.5M

F.B. Heron Foundation

Quick Stats

  • Annual Giving: $19,480,286 (2023)
  • Total Assets: Approximately $326.9 million
  • Grant Range: Average $148,704 (131 grants in 2024)
  • Application Method: No public application process - invitation/relationship-based
  • Geographic Focus: United States (domestic poverty focus)
  • Decision Structure: Community-led with foundation support

Contact Details

Mailing Address:
PO Box 9438, New Haven, CT 06534

Phone: (475) 250-1020
Email: info@heron.org
Website: www.heron.org

Note: Given their small team, Heron receives more requests for information and individual guidance than they can respond to. Contact is welcomed but response is not guaranteed.

Overview

Founded in 1992, the F.B. Heron Foundation is a pioneering private foundation that exists to help people and communities help themselves out of poverty and thrive. With approximately $327 million in total assets and annual giving of nearly $19.5 million, Heron has fundamentally reimagined philanthropy by investing 100% of its endowment for mission-aligned impact since December 2016. The foundation is currently transitioning from a traditional grantmaking private foundation into a rural community advancement agency. Under the leadership of President Felecia Lucky (appointed October 2025), Heron is focused on empowering distressed rural communities across the United States through a network-based model centered on Community Capitals Partners (CCPs). The foundation is recognized as a leader in impact investing, general operating support, and enterprise capital grants, with a distinctive philosophy of ceding decision-making power to communities themselves.

Funding Priorities

Grant Programs

Heron does not operate traditional grant programs with defined parameters. Instead, the foundation uses multiple financial tools including:

  • General Operating Support Grants: Core funding directed to organizations as a whole rather than specific projects, allowing grantees maximum flexibility
  • Enterprise Capital Grants (ECGs): Specialized grants designed to provide nonprofits with capital for large expenses and organizational growth, focused on achieving more reliable revenue streams (earned or contributed) where growth enhances mission performance
  • Community Capitals Partners (CCPs): 75 CCPs have received investment (25 funded directly by Heron, 50 by capital Heron attracted from other funders), with $250 million from Heron and $500 million from co-investors deployed
  • Various Financial Instruments: Not confined to grants alone - also uses loans, private equity investments, cooperative shares, and other tools as appropriate to community needs

Priority Areas

Primary Mission: Reducing poverty and improving material and social well-being for disadvantaged people and communities in the United States

Current Strategic Focus (2024-2032 Eight-Year Plan):

  • Empowering distressed rural communities across the country
  • Supporting Community Capitals Partners (deep community practitioners)
  • Building a better economy where reliable employment and income are available to every willing worker or household
  • Advancing innovations that help low-income communities and workers be economically resilient

Capital Evaluation Framework: Heron uses a "net contribution" lens examining:

  • Human Capital (30%)
  • Civic Capital (30%)
  • Natural Capital (20%)
  • Financial Capital (20%)

Community Characteristics Heron Seeks:

  • Communities that demonstrate agency and dense networks
  • Members already thinking about solutions and forming key partnerships
  • Not dependent on a single funder (avoiding cycles of dependency)

What They Fund

Heron's method of investing is not confined to any one:

  • Program area (education, health, arts, employment, etc.)
  • Legal form of organization (nonprofit, for-profit, cooperative)
  • Financial tool (grant, loan, private equity investment)

Organizations must contribute more than they consume across human, natural, civic, and financial capitals.

Sample Past Grantees: World Wildlife Fund, SASB Foundation, California Harvesters, Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), Fresno Metro Black Chamber of Commerce, Allied Media Projects, Borealis Philanthropy, Common Counsel Foundation, Hawai'i Peoples Fund, Haymarket People's Fund, Headwaters Foundation for Justice, Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL - $2 million enterprise grant)

What They Don't Fund

  • International projects (domestic U.S. focus only)
  • Organizations or communities demonstrating single-funder dependency
  • Enterprises that do not demonstrate net positive contribution across all four capital types

Governance and Leadership

Board Leadership:

  • Buzz Schmidt, Chairman - Also leads Retreat Farm, Ltd., a nonprofit conserving an historic farm in Vermont. Schmidt has described his board tenure as part of "Heron's long tradition of seeking excellence, inventing practices, and reinventing philanthropy," noting they are "a deeply non-institutional institution." The board has been "throwing elbows at the business model of the private foundation" and calling on staff to be more innovative.

Executive Leadership:

  • Felecia Lucky, President & CEO (appointed October 1, 2025) - Previously led the Black Belt Community Foundation throughout its entire 21-year history, deploying nearly $100 million into the Black Belt through partnerships with more than 200 regional nonprofit organizations. Schmidt called Lucky "a visionary leader whose work has consistently demonstrated the power of community-driven change." Lucky stated: "I am honored and thrilled to join the Heron Foundation at this pivotal moment. Heron has long been a beacon of innovation in philanthropy, boldly reimagining how capital can better serve people and the places they call home."

Previous Leadership:

  • Dana K. Bezerra, President (2017-2022) - Oversaw Heron's reimagining of its community practice "to be one rooted in abundance and reciprocity with a goal of ceding decision-making and control to deep community practitioners." Bezerra stated: "Since its founding nearly 30 years ago, Heron's goal has been to help people and communities to help themselves, and it has been an honor of a lifetime for me to carry the torch in support of that mission."

Application Process & Timeline

How to Apply

The F.B. Heron Foundation does not have a public application process.

Heron operates on a relationship-based, place-based model where, as they state, "the place picks us, and not the other way around." Rather than accepting applications from anywhere, Heron proactively identifies and engages with communities and organizations that align with their mission.

Key Operational Principles:

  • There is no prescriptive list of projects Heron is willing to fund
  • Heron operates as a service organization responding to community-identified needs rather than imposing top-down interventions
  • The foundation seeks co-created solutions with communities rather than acting as traditional grantmaker

Contact Approach: Organizations interested in engagement may email info@heron.org, though the foundation notes that given their small team, they receive more requests for information and individual guidance than they can respond to.

Volume Perspective: Heron doesn't make many grants relative to its endowment - historically making approximately 10 grants out of 25 total investments across the entire endowment over a three-year period.

Getting on Their Radar

Heron's current strategic approach centers on expanding its network of Community Capitals Partners (CCPs) - deep community practitioners working in distressed rural communities. The foundation has identified and worked with 75 CCPs to date.

What Heron Looks For:

  • Communities demonstrating existing agency and dense partnership networks
  • Organizations with "a multiyear track record," "a solid management team," "a reliable operating model," and "large geographic footprint or ability to show broad influence"
  • Enterprises positioned as net contributors across human, civic, natural, and financial capitals
  • Organizations that articulate their assets and strengths rather than focusing solely on deficits

Decision-Making Power Transfer: In Heron's current model with Community Capitals Partners: "They identify...deployment opportunities. We do due diligence...They decide. We don't ratify their decision." This represents Heron's commitment to ceding power to communities.

Decision Timeline

Not applicable - no formal application cycle. Engagement develops through relationship-building and Heron's proactive community identification process.

Success Rates

Not applicable given the invitation-based model. However, Heron made 127 awards in 2023, 131 in 2024, 163 in 2022, and 168 in 2021, demonstrating relatively consistent grant-making volume.

Reapplication Policy

Not applicable - no formal application process exists.

Application Success Factors

Since Heron does not accept unsolicited applications, traditional "application success factors" don't apply. However, the foundation's publicly shared principles reveal what they value in partnerships:

1. Strength-Based Self-Articulation

Former President Dana Bezerra explained: "We've been trained...to always talk about what we need...We're tired of that because...you start to believe it." Heron seeks organizations that can articulate their assets and capabilities, not just their deficits.

2. Community Self-Determination

Heron asks: "What does the community believe to be true of itself? And what are the levers in changing the potential outcomes?" They value communities with clear self-knowledge and agency.

3. Genuine Power-Sharing

Bezerra noted that traditional foundation models felt "extractive" - seeking community input without sharing power in deployment decisions. Heron has restructured to give CCPs actual decision-making authority, not just advisory roles.

4. Network Density

Heron tends to operate in communities with dense networks where members are already thinking about solutions and forming key partnerships. They avoid situations where they would be the only funder, as this can create dependency.

5. Non-Financial Return Orientation

Bezerra: "If the bulk of the return may be in human capital and less in financial—that's actually OK with us." Heron evaluates impact across multiple capital types, not just financial returns.

6. Service Organization Mentality

Bezerra described Heron's role as: "Our job...is to be a service organization" responding to community-identified needs. Organizations that approach partnerships as mutual service rather than transactional funding tend to align with Heron's philosophy.

7. Transparency About Failures

Bezerra: "We're very quick to write about our failures...we have an obligation to be as transparent as we can." Heron values learning partnerships where honest reflection and improvement matter more than perfection.

8. Enterprise Readiness for Capital

For Enterprise Capital Grants specifically, Heron looks for nonprofits that:

  • Require capital to achieve more reliable revenue
  • Demonstrate that growth will enhance mission performance
  • Have been quietly reserving pieces of general operating grants for large, lumpy expenses
  • Are building net assets strategically rather than being "too bloated"

9. Net Contribution Demonstration

Organizations should demonstrate positive net contribution across:

  • Human Capital: How they treat employees, invest in workforce development
  • Civic Capital: How they impact communities and engage stakeholders
  • Natural Capital: How they manage environmental resources and waste
  • Financial Capital: Their economic sustainability and value creation

10. Rural Community Connection

Given Heron's current eight-year strategic plan (2024-2032), organizations with deep connections to distressed rural communities facing persistent poverty are particularly aligned with current priorities.

Key Takeaways for Grant Writers

  • No traditional application process exists - Heron operates on a relationship-based, invitation model where "the place picks us." Do not submit unsolicited proposals expecting a traditional review.

  • Focus on strengths, not deficits - Heron explicitly rejects deficit-based narratives. If engaging with Heron, emphasize your organization's assets, agency, and capabilities alongside challenges.

  • Community power matters more than funder control - Heron has restructured to cede decision-making to Community Capitals Partners. Demonstrate your organization's commitment to community-led solutions rather than funder-directed programs.

  • Think beyond grants - Heron uses loans, equity investments, cooperative shares, and other financial tools. Be prepared to consider various capital structures that match your organizational needs.

  • Enterprise capital approach is distinctive - If your nonprofit needs capital for growth, infrastructure, or achieving more reliable revenue streams, Heron's Enterprise Capital Grant model may be relevant. This goes beyond typical project grants to support organizational capacity.

  • Net contribution framework is evaluative - Be prepared to articulate your organization's impact across human, civic, natural, and financial capitals. Heron evaluates whether enterprises contribute more than they consume across all four dimensions.

  • Rural community focus is current priority - Heron's 2024-2032 strategic plan centers on distressed rural communities. Organizations working in these contexts with strong track records and community embeddedness align with current strategic direction.

  • Small team, high selectivity - With a small staff and approximately 127-131 grants per year from a $327 million endowment, Heron is highly selective. Recognition that response to inquiries is not guaranteed reflects their capacity constraints.

  • General operating support is valued - Heron has been a long-term leader in providing flexible core support rather than restricted project funding. They understand nonprofits need capital for the organization as a whole.

  • Transparency and learning orientation - Heron values partnerships with organizations willing to share failures, learn together, and be transparent about challenges and evolution.

References

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