Clara Miller and George Overholser

Over the past few months I have started talking with Clara Miller, Founder and CEO of the Non-Profit Finance Fund (NFF) in New York City, and George Overholser, a VC and former banker and management consultant who recently joined NFF to found and lead NFF Capital Partners.

Clara has been one of the leading lights in the field of non-profit finance over the past two decades. Now she and George are doing some powerful new work on the capital structure of non-profits, and how non-profits can leverage private sector financial flows, accounting practices, and management approaches to grow their organizations sustainably while sharpening impact.

As their site notes here "We are now in the midst of another
development phase... Our holistic approach to
facilities has led us to expand to address the broader capitalization
needs of nonprofits. Our loans are increasingly being made for purposes
beyond facilities, such as working capital and “ventures,” and we have
added non-debt financial products, including asset-building services
and credit enhancements."

Read some of Clara's articles here and George's here to get a better sense of their thinking.

Update 8/31/06: Clara has been selected by the Non-Profit Times as among the Top 50 Most Influential Leaders in the sector. NPT says (pdf):

"She is arguably the most influential voice in the ongoing effort to reshape thinking and practice about nonprofit capitalization and relationship to debt. She has built NFF into a clear leadership position in the CDFI Loan field and does stellar capacity-building with great intelligence and savvy."