What if communities could reinvent our institutions?
Our Vision
Youth, families, and communities transform our systems & institutions to create a more equitable society.
Our Values
Humane
We focus our efforts on the human beings in front of us, and we’re careful to not lose sight of people’s humanity in favor of systems, process, or tradition.
Liberatory
We dismantle systems of oppression and replace them with systems that affirm our humanity.
Community-driven
We create solutions with (not for) communities based on what they really need.
Sustainable
We think in terms of decades, not years, and ensure that our people and our impact live long, meaningful lives.
HNC’s Purpose
HNC is a pathway for community-driven leaders to build high quality, equitable, sustainable institutions.
We believe that empowered community leaders are the most effective and profound force for reshaping our country into a more just, equitable, and humane society.
In our work towards this vision, we have explored many different approaches including creating new programs and organizations, supporting existing innovations, joining collaborations with other organizations, and even helping to launch a community high school. Whatever we do, we do with communities—not for them.
Through all of our experience, we’ve come to realize that the unique value that HNC can contribute is the infrastructure, systems, and practices we’ve built that have allowed us to pull off so many different forms of collaborative impact-making.
We know how vague and nauseatingly buzz-wordy this sounds. It’s easiest to concretely grasp what HNC does through understanding our 4 programs. After the quick programs overview below, you’ll find a mini description of each program and a link to a page that will give you a deeper look at that program.
HNC’s Four Programs
1
Infrastructure & Leader Support (ILS)
Values-aligned fiscal sponsorship that doesn’t break the bank.
2
Boot Camp
A results-focused program for experienced nonprofit leaders to take their organization to the next level.
3
Collective Leaders
Nonprofit leaders working together to remove barriers for the next generations of community leaders.
4
Ecosystem Partners
Philanthropists and funders who are serious about creating a more equitable ecosystem.
1.
Infrastructure & Leader Support (ILS)
Nonprofits should be able to get funding without letting go of the things that make them unique.
HNC's ILS program is a values-aligned approach to fiscal sponsorship. This program gives you the ability to receive philanthropic dollars and frees you up to run your organization your way. We provide a tailored set of supports and infrastructure that meet your organization's unique needs and values. And we do it without it costing an arm and a leg.
"Our partnership with HNC transcends the typical fiscal sponsor relationship. HNC helped to propel our work and their support yielded results immediately.”
— Cory Montalvo, Executive Director, YEBO
2.
Boot Camp
Most nonprofit leaders have to cobble together multiple experiences to try to get the support they're looking for. They apply for fellowships, enroll in trainings, & hire consultants. But nothing seems to really get them what they need. We've built something different.
Boot Camp is an immersive experience in the Rocky Mountains, away from the chaos, that’s focused on one thing: tangible, concrete results.
"The tools and trackers we developed as part of Boot Camp are now part of our weekly team structures, creating momentum to drive both our impact and income.”
— Huma Babak Ebadi, Executive Director, MYPI
3.
Collective Leaders
Many of us in the nonprofit world have been part of collaboratives, coalitions, and multi-organization projects that stick around for a few years and fizzled out without making much impact. These groups often lack a clear purpose, effective leadership, and/or the hours required to get things done.
Collective Leaders are a group of nonprofit EDs and CEOs who collaborate with HNC to build solutions to common issues faced by leaders like them (especially leaders of color). Our ILS, Boot Camp, and Ecosystem Partners programs are each the direct result of Collective Leaders identifying a need and HNC collaborating with them to build the solution they need.
“The community of collaboration and support we experience as Collective Leaders is unlike any other. It is clear at the end of each Collective Gathering that every leader benefited in some way (and most often multiple ways).”
— Jenn White, Co-Executive Director, We Are FARMily
4.
Ecosystem Partners
Many philanthropists and funders want to support their grantees in ways that go beyond dollars. But there is a complex set of dynamics (logistical, political, social, power dynamics, norms, etc.) that make it very difficult to figure out how to do this.
HNC’s Ecosystem Partners program is designed to help foundations, public funders, system-level leaders, etc. bridge the gap and more deeply support the organizations and leaders they believe and invest in.