NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, June 22, 2017

The  F.B. Heron Foundation in New York City has announced that Clara Miller will step down as president at the end of December.

Miller, who has served as director and president of Heron since 2010, will assume the role of president emerita and will continue to write, speak, and undertake research aimed at advancing the foundation’s mission. The widely respected Miller launched a strategic review of the foundation’s grantmaking in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis that led to the adoption of a new operating model focused on impact investments in enterprises that create reliable income streams for people striving to lift themselves out of poverty. Under her leadership, the foundation also pledged, in 2012, to commit all its assets to fighting poverty and by 2016 had aligned about 70 percent of its portfolio investments with its mission, up from 40 percent in 2011. In a 2016 essay, Miller called on her “philanthropic peers to jettison outdated operating models that leave resources untapped in the face of systemic social ills.”