Most Recent Publications

h Magazine - Spring 2008 Issue Category: Organizational Date: 5.30.2008 Magazine Issue: Spring 2008 The Spring 2008 issue of h Magazine contains the following stories: "Wild Things"  documents the difficulty in balancing healthy state forests and healthy deer populations "A Promising Path" about how the Endowments and other funders and community groups are working on new strategies to help motivate district students to do better in school as the Pittsburgh Public Schools roll out classroom reforms "Robot Economics" tells how local foundations are banking on driverless robots not only making car travel safer but also opening up new economic opportunities in southwestern Pennsylvania  "Here & There" items include: Pittsburgh 250 History Makers Gala 45th Anniversary of NEED Borders Books and the Encore on 7th receive LEED certification Bobby Vagt joins the Endowments NOTE: This is a large file and will require a few minutes to download. Individual sections are also available to download from this Library (below). View PDF

A Promising Path Category: Organizational Date: 5.28.2008 Magazine Issue: Spring 2008 As the Pittsburgh Public Schools rolls out reforms in the classroom, the Endowments is working with other funders and community groups on new strategies to help motivate district students to do better in school.  By Christine H. O'Toole; Photography by Joshua Franzos View PDF

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Wild Things Category: Organizational Date: 5.28.2008 Author: Jeffery Fraser Magazine Issue: Spring 2008 Balancing healthy state forests and healthy deer populations is no easy task, especially when one tends to feed on the other.  By Jeffery Fraser; Photography by Joshua Franzos View PDF

Robot Economics Category: Organizational Date: 5.28.2008 Author: Carmen J. Lee & C.D. Johnson Magazine Issue: Spring 2008 Local Foundations are banking on driverless robots not only making car travel safer but also opening up new economic opportunities in southwestern Pennsylvania.  By Carmen J. Lee and C.D. Johnson; Photos by Tartan Racing View PDF Related Resources:   Carnegie Mellon University - Tartan Racing

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Message by Teresa Heinz - Spring 2008 h Magazine Category: Organizational Date: 5.28.2008 Author: Teresa Heinz Magazine Issue: Spring 2008 View PDF

Here & There - Spring 2008 Issue of h Magazine Category: Organizational Date: 5.28.2008 Magazine Issue: Spring 2008 Items in the Here & There section: Making History NEED Growing Greener Welcoming Bobby Vagt View PDF

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Feedback - Spring 2008 Issue of h Magazine Category: Organizational Date: 5.28.2008 Magazine Issue: Spring 2008 View PDF

Inside and Table of Contents - Spring 2008 Category: Organizational Date: 5.28.2008 Magazine Issue: Spring 2008 View PDF

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2008 Grantee Perception Report Category: Organizational Date: 4.14.2008 To our Web site visitors: Last fall, the Center for Effective Philanthropy, a widely respected, independent surveyor of grantee opinions for foundations, conducted its second survey since 2005 of Heinz Endowments grantees. The results compiled by the Boston-based center are reported in detail here but the overall assessment is mostly positive. It is gratifying to see that so many of the participants perceive our involvement to be beneficial. However, we also see very clearly that there are a few areas, particularly with respect to our written communications with you, where we were not rated above the median – and we are working diligently to better our performance. Our goal is to see opinions of our grantees in line with or exceeding national benchmarks in every area. Since 2003, the center has surveyed more than 40,000 grantees of 208 foundations on their perceptions of their funders. These surveys have been compiled into a set of norms that the center uses to help individual foundations interpret feedback from grantees relative to how other foundations are viewed by their grant recipients. The center conducted a survey of 265 Endowments grantees and compared the results with norms for all foundations and for a comparison group of 15 large, regional foundations. According to the resulting Grantee Perception Report, “grantees rate the Endowments higher than the median foundation on the quality of their interactions with the Endowments – fairness of treatment of grantees, their comfort approaching the Endowments when a problem arises, and the responsiveness of foundation staff. Grantees refer to interactions as ‘overwhelmingly positive and productive’ when commenting on their relationship with the foundation.” The CEP research team also reported that the Endowments is rated above the median foundation for its effectiveness in creating social impact. “Grantees also rate it higher than typical for its impact on grantees’ fields, local communities and organizations, for advancing knowledge in their fields, for its effect on public policy, and for its understanding of their goals and strategies.” The survey points to helpfulness of written communications as a specific area for improvement, although personal communications with grantees by Endowments’ staff is rated higher than the typical foundation. Overall, on the measure of clarity of communications of goals and strategy, grantees rate the Endowments above the median foundation. The Endowments staff considers the responses on its communications performance important and will be contacting grantees for ideas on how to improve its written materials, especially those connected to application and evaluation. We are adding enhancements to our Web site this year that we expect to help in our effort to improve how grantees communicate with us. To help grant applicants understand what we look for in organizations that we consider funding, we have posted assessment guidelines and evaluation planning questions on our Web site. And in an effort to promote even greater organizational transparency, it now also features the Endowments’ financial audits and 990-PF forms. We also will continue to use our award-winning h magazine to share stories about our successes and lessons learned in our effort to improve the lives of residents in the region. I invite you to read this report and send any comments or questions to our Web site information address: info@heinz.org; Sincerely, Robert F. Vagt View PDF