Draft:Clara Miller

Clara Miller (born 1949 in Hanover, New Hampshire) is an American entrepreneur, innovator, and author in the field of philanthropy and social sector finance. She was the Founder and President/CEO of the Nonprofit Finance Fund (1984–2011){{cite web|title=History of the Nonprofit Finance Fund |url=https://nff.org/page/history |website=Nonprofit Finance Fund|accessdate=April 6, 2025}}, and President of the F.B. Heron Foundation (2011–2018).https://nff.org/page/historyhttps://nonprofitquarterly.org/the-fb-heron-foundation-appoints-clara-miller/https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/clara-miller-to-lead-fb-heron-foundation-114485414.html

Miller was appointed in 1996 by President Bill Clinton to the first U.S. Treasury’s Community Development Advisory Board of the new CDFI Fund, and chaired it from 1999 through 2001.https://www.cdfifund.gov/about She chaired the Opportunity Finance Network board for six years during her nine-year tenure (1992–2001), and was a member of the Community Advisory Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 2001 to 2007. She also served on the first Nonprofit Accounting Advisory Committee of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (2010–2014), and was an early member of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (2012–2020), serving on the Executive Committee.

During Miller’s tenure, the Nonprofit Finance Fund expanded nationally from its New York City base and played a significant role in helping New York City nonprofits recover from business interruptions and damage resulting from the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center.https://nff.org/page/history

As President of the F.B. Heron Foundation, she led the organization to align 100 percent of its endowment investments with its mission—a first for a foundation of its size. This goal was achieved in 2016.https://www.forbes.com/sites/annefield/2017/03/30/mission-accomplished-how-the-heron-foundation-went-all-in/?sh=3911a9334d17https://ssir.org/articles/entry/arriving_at_100_percent_for_mission._now_what Her work at Heron was the focus of a 2018 case study by the Stanford Graduate School of Business: The Heron Foundation: 100 Percent for Mission and Beyond.

Miller has published essays in The Nonprofit Quarterly, Stanford Social Innovation Review, The Financial Times, New America Blog, The Huffington Post, Alliance, Impact Alpha, Impact Entrepreneur, and The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Her publication, “Hidden In Plain Sight: Understanding Nonprofit Capital Structure,” was cited by Jim Collins in Good to Great and the Social Sectors.https://nonprofitquarterly.org/hidden-in-plain-sight-understanding-capital-structure/ Her essay, “The Looking-Glass World of Nonprofit Money: Managing in For-Profits’ Shadow Universe,” is considered a sector classic.https://nonprofitfinancials.org/resources/the-5-nonprofit-business-models-revealed-a-nonprofit-financial-leaders-guide-resources-list/https://nonprofitquarterly.org/pizza-and-a-laugh-a-reminder-about-your-nonprofit-financial-stress-level/

• “Hidden in Plain Sight: Understanding Nonprofit Capital Structure.” Nonprofit Quarterly (Spring 2003)
• “Risk Minus Cash Equals Crisis.” State of Philanthropy Report (Fall 2004)
• “The Looking-Glass World of Nonprofit Money.” Nonprofit Quarterly (Spring 2005, 2017)
• “The Equity Capital Gap.” Stanford Social Innovation Review (Summer 2008)
• “More from Nonprofits Now Means Less in Future.” The Financial Times (December 2008)
• “The World Has Changed and So Must We.” (2012) in Investing in What Works in America’s Communities, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
• “Building a Foundation for the 21st Century. Part I & II.” (June 2016)
• “Theory of Change or Civic Dumpster Diving.” New America Weekly and The Huffington Post (July–August 2017)
• “Big League: Transforming the Capital Markets with Impact Rigor and Disclosure.” Impact Alpha (September 2017)
• “A Revolution of Capital.” Alliance (April 2018)
• “ESG, The Fancy-ful Narrative.” Impact Entrepreneur (September 2021)
• “$130 for Climate? Brave Talk.” Impact Entrepreneur (January 2022)
• “Be Just a Little Bit Brave…Six Ways Big Business Can Lead on Climate Action.” Impact Alpha (March 2022)
• “If Foundations Want to Encourage Transparency, They Should Look in the Mirror.” Chronicle of Philanthropy (September 2022)

• Interview with Robert Eccles. Forbes Online (October 2021)https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobeccles/2021/10/01/a-critique-of-tariq-fancys-critique-of-esg-investing-an-interview-with-clara-miller/
• Thompson, Matt. “Charitable Giving Is Only a Small Part of What Foundations Do with Their Money.” The Atlantic (June 2017)
• Agovino, Theresa. “This Foundation Wants to Have a Social Impact with its Investing.” Crain’s New York Business (June 2017)
• Gunther, Marc. “Doing Good and Doing Well.” The Chronicle of Philanthropy (January 2019)
• “Reimagining Invisible Architecture,” Edinburgh Culture Summit (2022)
• Speech at UNH Social Innovator of the Year Award Ceremony (2017) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7ll6uCpvw0 YouTube]

Miller was awarded a Bellagio Residency by the Rockefeller Foundation in 2010 and received the inaugural Prince’s Prize for Innovative Philanthropy.https://tocquevillefoundation.org/prize_laureates/2014-clara-miller/ She received the “Shining Star” Award from NYC venue PS 122,https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0588115/news/ and was named Institutional Investor Magazine’s “Investor of the Year” in 2015.https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/2bsv8yip6eg0k1vezcem8/corner-office/2015-investment-management-awards-clara-miller

She appeared on the NonProfit Times “Power and Influence Top 50” list for seven years (2006–2010, 2016, 2017), and was named to Inside Philanthropy’s “50 Most Powerful Women in U.S. Philanthropy” in 2016 and 2017.https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2016/3/10/meet-the-50-most-powerful-women-in-us-philanthropy.html In 2017, she was honored as Social Innovator of the Year by the University of New Hampshirehttps://www.fosters.com/story/news/education/campus/2017/11/13/unh-alumna-to-receive-social-innovator-of-year-award/17069358007/ and named “Foundation President We’ll Miss Most” by Inside Philanthropy.

Miller is married and has two daughters. She is the niece of Robert Meservey.