|
- Assets: $948,757,866 (2005)
- Grants Awarded: $39,413,997 (2005)
Howard Heinz's widow established the Howard Heinz Endowment (HHE) in 1941 from the estate of her husband, who died that year. Howard Heinz (born 1877) was the son of Henry J. Heinz, who founded the Heinz food processing company in 1869. Howard began working in his father's business in 1900; over time, he was promoted to positions as Advertising Manager, Sales Manager, Vice President, and eventually President in 1919. Under his stewardship, the company developed a reputation for its outstanding advertising and sales force. Howard Heinz's philanthropic endeavors included directing post-World War I food relief efforts in southeastern Europe, and endowing the Howard Heinz Students' International Fund at Yale University.
The Howard Heinz Endowment and the Vira I. Heinz Endowment together comprise the entity known as the Heinz Endowments; they share the same website, e-mail address, physical address, and telephone numbers. They also share the same grant-making program areas and priorities, though they file separate 990-PF forms with the IRS. They are linked to the Heinz Family Philanthropies, whose chairman is Teresa Heinz Kerry, the wife of John Kerry.
The President of the Howard Heinz Endowment is Maxwell King, who also serves as President of the Vira I. Heinz Endowment. Similarly, Jack E. Kline is the Chief Financial Officer of both HHE and the Vira I. Heinz Endowment.
The Howard Heinz Endowment's philanthropy is directed toward five main program areas:
Arts and Culture: This program "works to promote the overall vitality of Pittsburgh's cultural sector and its relevance to civic life." Its specific goals are to expand opportunities for arts learning and participation; build creative capital; and advance Pittsburgh as a cultural center.
Children, Youth & Families: This program "seeks to ensure that the region's young children and adolescents are given the educational preparation and support they need to succeed in school and in life."
Economic Opportunity: This program aims to bring new jobs to the Pittsburgh area, with particular emphasis on racial and ethnic preferences, or affirmative action, which HHE characterizes as policies that bring about "equitable prosperity" and "improved demographic balance."
Education: This program "seeks to improve educational outcomes for the region's children by working with schools and communities that face significant learning challenges and demonstrate a commitment to overcoming them." The focus is predominantly on African American children.
Environment: This program "seeks to counter the trend toward uncontrolled, environmentally-degrading urban decentralization"; "encourages greater private sector involvement in environmental protection and restoration"; and "works to protect the integrity of critical ecosystems and watersheds as complex, integrated systems." The recipients of HHE support through this program are generally opposed to the use of land for such endeavors as logging, mining, and oil exploration; many are hostile to a capitalist economic model as well.
The Howard Heinz Endowment opposes "suburban sprawl," a term that refers to people relocating en masse from urban to suburban or rural areas. According to Heinz, such migrations have a negative impact on natural ecosystems. "The revitalization of existing urban areas," adds Heinz, is "as important as controlling growth in rural and suburban communities."
HHE's funding of radical environmentalist groups increased markedly during the 1990s. In 1994 HHE formally established its Environment program, focusing on ecological restoration and urban design. In 1995 it launched a Green Neighborhood Initiative to "help revitalize the region's urban fabric." Two years later it created the Green Building Alliance, which promotes the construction of what it calls "buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work." In 1998 it created Penn Future, for the stated purpose of "building a future that nourishes environmental and economic resources." A year later HHE formed the Riverlife Task Force to "guide the development of a 'master plan' for the region's three rivers."
Today the majority of the Howard Heinz Endowment's philanthropy is concentrated within southwestern Pennsylvania, though its funding does extend to groups in other states and other regions of the United States. Some of the notable recipients of HHE support are: the League of Conservation Voters; the Tides Foundation; the Tides Center; the Environmental Defense Fund; the Rocky Mountain Institute; the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation; the National Environmental Trust; the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy; Redefining Progress; the Sierra Club; the Consultative Group on Biological Diversity; the Toxics Action Center; the Union of Concerned Scientists; the World Resources Network; Sustainable Communities Northwest; the American Farmland Trust; Waterkeeper Alliance; the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN); Earth Force; the American Farmland Trust; the National Urban League; the Izaak Walton League of America; the Environmental Law Institute; Clean Water Action; Rails to Trails Conservancy; the American Jewish Committee; the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment; Action Against Crime and Violence Education Fund; the Black Contractors Association; the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund; the Green Building Alliance; the Negro Educational Emergency Drive; the Riverlife Task Force; the Three Rivers Community Fund; the Urban Redevelopment Authority; and Women of Visions, Inc.
|
