The YNPN Boston Chris Herron Professional Development Fund has been established in honor of the life and legacy of Chris Herron, a former board member and co-chair of YNPN Boston from 2009-2011. In celebration of Chris's life and impact, this fund will assist young nonprofit professionals in the Greater Boston area with grants up to $500 per calendar year. Online applications for the first round of funding will be made available in the fall of 2018.

YNPN Boston is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and your donation is tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.

About Chris Herron

Chris Herron's passion for social justice and his generous, collaborative spirit were evident in the work he did and the life he led. Chris was born in 1976 in Boston, MA, and graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy, Amherst College, and the School of Management of Yale University. Following college, Chris joined and eventually ran a Facebook predecessor called The Daily Jolt and was instrumental in creating its unique approach to building online student communities on many college campuses.

In the summer between his two years of business school, Chris's eyes were opened to the power of social entrepreneurship when he worked for an entrepreneurial start-up in Kenya called One Acre Fund—an organization dedicated to helping African farmers lift themselves out of poverty. After business school, he worked as an independent consultant for a range of nonprofits, including Root Cause, the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, and Nonprofit Finance Fund's Capital Partners. Most recently, Chris was an Associate Partner at New Profit Inc., where he assisted organizations with strategic support as they worked to promote the progress of low-income families across the country. He was deeply concerned about inequity and social justice and sought opportunities to invest in sustainable efforts to solve issues of hunger and basic issues of self-reliance.

From 2009-2011, Chris served on the board and as co-chair for the Boston Chapter of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN). As co-chair, Chris devoted much of his time to mentoring the professional development of his peers, while leading the creation of the chapter's first strategic plan. Chris merged his interests in games and philanthropy by founding a game league, 'Yes We Catan’ that brought people together in a community to compete, discuss philanthropic goals, and support nonprofit organizations. It continues in his memory with game players in San Francisco, Boston and New Jersey.

Chris Herron passed away after a courageous battle with brain cancer in 2017. Chris touched the lives of many and left an enduring mark on the nonprofit community and all who knew him.

For the past several years, YNPN Boston has been conducting an annual survey to increase our understanding of the needs and opinions of Boston’s young nonprofit professionals. This annual survey informs our programming and advocacy work by providing critical information on the constituents we strive to serve (aka: YOU).

Here are the top three reasons you should participate in the 2015 Young Nonprofit Professionals Survey and also share the survey in your network:

Empower and connect Boston's young nonprofit professionals by donating to YNPN Boston today!

Your support will enable our entirely volunteer-run organization to remain focused on our mission. Together, we'll ensure that emerging nonprofit leaders have the support and connections they need to develop professionally and create positive impact and change in Boston and beyond.

YNPN Boston is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and your donation is tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.

This week kicked off with Nonprofit Awareness Day and we were honored to celebrate young nonprofit professionals as part of this statewide recognition day highlighting the impact of nonprofit organizations. All of us at YNPN Boston applaud the thousands of individuals of all ages in Greater Boston working in the nonprofit community, making both visible and quiet contributions to programming, external presence, internal operations, and organizational sustainability.

Wow! It happens every year. One minute you’re relaxing on the beach in the middle of July and next thing you know, we’re bundled up on Boylston Street and only two weeks away from ringing in the New Year! This year has been nothing less than exhilarating for YNPN Boston thanks to our outstanding members and leadership team. In February, we welcomed a new team of over 20 ambassadors who have helped us not only dream big, but go after those dreams with outstanding success including:

When Jodi Benenson joined YNPN Boston at its first-ever Knowledge Manager, she found the all-volunteer organization in a position many organizations find themselves in: They knew that data was important, but they didn't know how to strategically collect & use it.

Jodi is now the Director of Research at YNPN Boston and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University. She facilitated a Lunch & Learn Oct. 15 about Creating a Data-Positive Culture at Nonprofit Organizations. Here's what we learned: