Important Updates from the HFF Board

operational pause

August 29, 2023

Dear Partners, Colleagues, and Friends of HFF,

When we emailed you on August 2, we shared that the Horning Family Foundation has entered a period of organizational transition, and we promised to update you as our timeline and next steps became more clear.

After several months of hard conversations about our collective and individual commitments to our mission and strategic plan, we have decided to pause HFF operations, effective October 31, 2023.  We want to use this pause as a time for reflection and discernment about whether and how to move forward with the foundation. At a minimum, the pause will last one year.

We have worked with HFF Director of Power Building, Jordan Curry Carter, and come to what we believe is a fair transition as we end their engagement as our staff. Their last day will be Thursday, August 31. Jordan has been an invaluable member of our team for the past two years, first joining as a Program Officer, serving as Interim Executive Director for 10 months, and most recently as Director of Power Building. Jordan has consistently lived into the values of our four core beliefs–justice and power, equity, collaboration and continuous learning–and advanced our strategy to address anti-Black racism. They have led the Racial Justice Initiative, the Neighbor to Neighbor grantmaking portfolio, and the creation of the Power Building portfolio. Furthermore, they have shared guidance and expertise grounded in their–and their family’s–lived experience, while always emphasizing the “fierce urgency of now.” We sincerely wish Jordan well in their next steps ahead.

During this time of operational pause, we want to be clear that we will continue to honor our existing multi-year commitments to HFF partners. This includes grantees in our Power-Building Portfolio and our Racial Justice Initiative (RJI), as well as our commitment to fund another RJI grant cycle beginning in 2026.  

After many years of HFF grantmaking, we recognize that this operational pause is a big change. We have not come to this decision lightly and we believe that it is a necessary step in order to best serve the community in the long-term. Please reach out to me [via our contact form] if you have any questions.

Missy Young, on behalf of the Horning Family Foundation Board

executive director transition

August 2, 2023

Dear Partners, Colleagues and Friends of HFF,

On behalf of the Horning Family Foundation board, I'm writing to let you know that Ryan Palmer's last day as the Executive Director of the Foundation is tomorrow [August 3, 2023]. After completing our new strategic plan in 2021, we knew that our vision was bold and that we would need a dynamic leader to help us bring it to life. Ryan’s alignment with our four core beliefs – justice and power, equity, collaboration, and continuous learning – has been evident across her career, and the collection of her experiences aligned very well with the pillars of our strategic plan. She has brought energy and intentionality to the work that we do and we are especially grateful to her for leading the re-design of our grantmaking strategy. She has also started us down a path to address some key components of our organizational infrastructure that will leave us better positioned to carry out our mission in the years to come.

One key component of our infrastructure that we have begun to examine is ourselves. As a white family foundation board, we’ve come to realize that we still have much to learn and un-learn around the realities of ceding and sharing power. The words of our strategic plan were ambitious and we are becoming more clear on the extent of the work that we need to do to be truly aligned with those words. Since April, we have been working with a consultant who is guiding us through some critical—and at times, challenging—discussions. The path has not been linear, but we are embracing our value of continuous learning and we are committed to doing the hard work.

During this time of transition, we want to be clear that we will continue to honor our existing multi-year commitments to HFF partners. This includes grantees in our inaugural Power-Building Portfolio as well as organizations who are entering their third year as Racial Justice Initiative grantees. We sincerely wish Ryan well in her next steps and we will update you as our timeline and next steps become more clear. In the meantime, please reach out to me if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Missy Young on behalf the HFF board