HBF Practices the Art of Giving

By: Dave Astor Herblock died in 2001, but the editorial cartoonist is still having an impact.

A prime reason is the $50 million-plus he left to start the Herb Block Foundation (HBF), which dispensed about $1.5 million in grants by the end of its first full fiscal year of giving this past fall. The biggest grant, $150,000, went to the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC).

"Most of our work is not in the cartoon area," says HBF President Frank Swoboda. "But one of the things Herb specified in his will was that he wanted to encourage editorial cartooning and make it accessible to people."

A "huge portion" of the grant will be used for educational purposes and a major redesign of the AAEC Web site, says Bruce Plante, chair of the AAEC Herblock Committee. The AAEC (www.editorialcartoonists .com) will improve its existing capability of offering downloadable lesson plans incorporating editorial cartoons; provide a massive, searchable database of editorial cartoons; and list editorial cartoonists by region who are available to speak. "It will be an active, educational, and very entertaining site," says Plante, editorial cartoonist for the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times Free Press.

The AAEC grant was a special one; others were given to nearly 70 organizations fighting poverty, "encouraging citizen involvement," and "defending basic freedoms." The HBF (www.herbblock foundation.org) is also offering scholarships to community college students living in and near Washington, D.C. ? with a media-related major not required.

Other cartoon aspects of the HBF's work include the annual $10,000 Herblock Prize, which started last March, and choosing the Library of Congress as repository of 14,000 original Herblock cartoons.

Herblock, who joined The Washington Post in 1946, amassed his fortune by buying Washington Post Co. stock and living a modest lifestyle. He chose Swoboda, a former Post editor and reporter, and 17 others to manage the money and start the HBF.

"What we do with the foundation over the next 10 years," says Swoboda, "will probably go a long way to determining how Herb will be remembered. "