CEO of Independent Women's Voice, a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, chairman of the Independent Women's Forum, co-founder of the Alliance For Charitable Reform, and has been president and director of New York's Randolph Foundation since 1991. She was also the executive director of the Council on Culture & Community. In addition to helming the above organizations, Higgins' non-profit experience includes her position on the executive committee of the board of overseers for the Hoover Institution and her membership in the Council on Foreign Relations. She is also a trustee of the Committee for Economic Development, vice-chairman of the Washington, D.C.-based Philanthropy Roundtable and a former member of the W.H. Brady Foundation's board of directors. In November 2013, Campaigns & Elections named Higgins to their list of top fifty political influencers to watch in 2014. Responses to 2010 special elections After Republican Scott Brown defeated Democrat Martha Coakley in the special election to select Ted Kennedy's successor, Independent Women's Voice commissioned a survey which Higgins cited as demonstrating that voters were motivated by the potential impact that the election was perceived as playing in healthcare reform and other national policy debates. Higgins also reported that the survey showed that, "while women overall voted 53%–45% for Coakley, Independent women voted 67%–33% for Brown. Given an option between reducing taxes and regulations on small business or increasing government spending, 51% preferred tax cuts while 30% chose infrastructure." In the May 2010 special House election in Hawaii's 2nd congressional district, Independent Women's Voice ran advertisements critical of former Democratic Congressman Ed Case. The advertisements asserted that Case "had voted to raise taxes 72 times and had received failing grades from anti-pork barrel spending groups such as the National Taxpayers Union." According to Politico, the group spent "more than $200,000" on the anti-Case advertising campaign. Federal Election Commission filings indicate that the organization spent $237,500 on the effort as of early May 2010. ACR advocacy for private foundations In a letter published in The Hill, Higgins and fellow Alliance for Charitable Reform co-founder Dan Peters responded to discussion of legislative regulatory proposals, saying that, "ACR believes that every dollar of tax increases on foundations is to the federal government rather than a dollar to charities, and the ACR is troubled by that notion.... We cannot adopt a one-size-fits-all solution that disadvantages smaller organizations. We must do everything possible to encourage philanthropy and not create barriers