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Greetings of the summer!
I had intended to write much sooner, but we have so many projects going on it can be hard to carve out time to sit down and talk about them in a reflective way. But that’s what I intend to do here today… forgive the length, but our list is long.
Let’s start with the numbers that show up in the rear view mirror. Fiscal year 2007-08 (which ended March 31, 2008) was a milestone year for us in a number of ways:
A graph of awards we've made since our 2000-01 fiscal year illustrates these trends: the growth in total amount awarded, directly related to a rapid increase in our PRI program, while the dollar amount in grant awards has leveled off in the last three years.
My last message focused on our recent efforts in Mission Investing. (Mission-Related Investing is defined as financial investments made with the intention of furthering a foundation’s mission while recovering the principal invested or earning financial return), so I’ll begin with an update on that effort. You may recall that MMT engaged representatives of Equilibrium Capital LLC, a private equity investor located in Portland, to assess the state of the MRI market and develop a practical MRI implementation strategy for institutional investors. This unconventional partnership reflects an emerging willingness among financial services professionals and institutional investors to forge new relationships and collaborate as the financial services industry looks to innovate through MRI.
Today we are sharing the outcome of Equilibrium Capital's work with you. Mission Related Investing: Building a Portfolio explores current obstacles to MRI development and sets forth an implementation plan. While originally intended as an internal document, we decided to share it with others because we find it to be a remarkable summary of the state of the field that also provides a map for actions MMT and other foundations can take next. This work also inspires the Meyer Memorial Trust’s deep dedication to the issues of sustainability.
Traditionally, investors work with consultants or so-called “gatekeepers” to identify investment products. The study found that these “gatekeepers” are not aware of the many products and MRI opportunities being developed in the marketplace and therefore institutional investors have become the market drivers for MRI opportunities. That puts them at the forefront of influencing the development of MRI and sustainability domain expertise across the traditional investment value chain. The report suggests a four-step implementation process: 1) objectives setting; 2) investment; 3) evaluation; and 4) integration. The fourth step achieves mission implementation across all organization tools, programs and assets.
MMT was an integral part of the effort to convince Cambridge Associates to develop a MRI research initiative. Cambridge's focus on MRI brings credibility to the movement, given the firm's large market share. This project could have tremendous effect on increasing MRI.
Cambridge intends to expand its knowledge of key players in MRI and build a manager database. The firm will produce annual performance reports for each type of MRI strategy, such as Sudan-free and clean technology. It will define best practices for institutions regarding the establishment and implementation of an MRI program.
As we announced earlier, MMT is partnering with Annie E. Casey and F. B. Heron foundations to issue a challenge to foundations to increase mission related investments to 2% of all U.S. foundation assets over the next five years. Our MRI approach was featured in a recent article in Alliance Magazine, "news and analysis of the latest developments in philanthropy and social investment worldwide."
At this point, MMT has $40 million in investments aligned to its mission, largely in local venture capital, clean tech and buyout funds. We expect that amount to increase significantly in the future.
The past six months has been devoted to intensive learning about the people, organizations and issues already involved in restoring the health of the Willamette and to designing a fund that will respond directly to recognized needs while catalyzing a new level of commitment to the river. We have held or attended dozens of meetings (and paddled, hiked along and flown over the river) and are working closely with public agencies, local watershed groups, other nonprofits and scientists to ensure that our Willamette restoration strategies address critical needs and priorities.
Over the summer, we will begin implementing two major strategies in support of this goal:
In both cases, MMT funds will be targeted to project areas in the middle and upper sections of the basin (above Willamette Falls).
We are still working out the final details of these and other strategies and will announce our decisions soon. Over the next several months we will also continue our efforts to engage other funders in the Willamette so that private and public commitments at least triple MMT’s average annual investment in improving the health of the river. Watch our website to learn more about this initiative, including funding opportunities within and outside the geographic target areas described above.
In March we announced the first prong of MMT’s affordable housing initiative, a $5.225 million investment. It included disbursing $4.66 million to support the Housing Acquisition Fund, administered by the Network for Oregon Affordable Housing. The Fund will make loans to finance purchase of buildings and bare land to be used for rental and homeownership projects and will support site acquisition for preservation and new construction efforts. MMT is working with project partners to grow the fund to $50 million. The Fund will begin financing site acquisition this summer. In the current credit environment, as competition for affordable apartments grows and access to permanent-financing decreases, the fund’s buy-hold capacity is more crucial than ever.
This month, MMT’s trustees approved the second prong of the Housing Initiative at $2.42 million, intended to increase affordable housing access in rural Oregon by strengthening providers. MMT has elicited input from 25 experts from the public, nonprofit, and private sectors to help shape this multi-year strategy. The strategy will:
In the third prong, MMT will work with others to promote financially sustainable delivery of tenant support services. MMT has funded the Bridges to Housing project, the Washington Families Fund, and a Neighborhood Partnership Fund resident services project, all of which seek to demonstrate the utility and cost-effectiveness of financing delivery of tenant support services. MMT’s nonprofit partners intend to use outcome data from these efforts to catalyze long-term realignment of public and private resources to fund tenant services. In December 2008, MMT will consider potential follow-on funding for these projects. MMT may also support one additional demonstration project.
This is the fifth year of the Chalkboard Project, a program of Foundations for a Better Oregon. MMT has awarded $2.78 million (including inkind support) to the project since it began in 2004.
Chalkboard’s major accomplishments over the past year include:
Chalkboard measures its progress by the relationships it builds with the public, policymakers and education stakeholders through:
Chalkboard’s priorities over the next year include:
In this education reform project, MMT joined the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to create new, innovative high school models that improve graduation rates, close the achievement gap and help prepare more students to be successful in college and the workplace. The Oregon Small Schools Initiative (OSSI) serves nearly 12,000 Oregon high school students; about 45% are economically disadvantaged and almost 40% represent minorities. At this point, MMT has allocated more than $15 million to the project since 2003.
E3: Employers for Education Excellence is implementing OSSI. The original project plan called for converting 18-20 existing large high schools into multiple small schools within the same building, and creating 10-12 new small schools. Currently, the initiative has helped transform nine large comprehensive high schools into 32 small high schools and helped start six new small high schools, for a total of 38 schools. OSSI discontinued partnerships with two comprehensive high schools and two new-start small schools that did not make adequate progress.
The schools are not just smaller; many are built around themes like science, art, health, technology and leadership and entrepreneurship. Each school is putting in place personalized programs for students and a challenging college preparatory curriculum, including first time Advance Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate and Dual Credit courses. As a result, there has been an 80% increase in the number of students taking AP courses, and the number of students taking AP tests has doubled.
After only one or two years, a number of small schools are already showing improvements in key academic areas. For example, RIT scores (measurements of individual student growth on state assessments) are up in many small schools in Portland; seven small high schools in Portland were the only high schools in the district to show an average RIT gain in math from 8th to 10th grade in 2007. Many students in small schools report a much greater sense of belonging and teachers report improvements in student attitude and behavior. Small schools, on average, are showing increases in enrollment and schools open the longest are showing increases in attendance and declines in the percentage of students disciplined.
In recent weeks, the Oregon Small Schools Initiative has been the focus of quite a lot of media attention, some admittedly negative. The transition to small schools has not been easy for many and they are still at a fragile stage of development. Some of the key challenges they have faced include adopting and implementing new instructional practices, developing and retaining strong principals and teachers, and creating a new culture of learning in an education system that is slow to change. MMT engaged in this strategy to reduce the achievement gap to attempt to address a long standing problem resistant to solution. A number of approaches had already failed. We don't choose to tackle challenging problems because we are guaranteed success, we choose them because they are too important not to try to solve. We expect to learn from our attempts and adjust our strategy as we move forward, with the additional wisdom we gain as we go. We also know we need to be patient, because if it were easy, it would have already happened. To demonstrate our continued commitment, MMT recently made a $3 million award to extend the OSSI project by two years.
In the coming year, the project’s highest priority will continue to be a focus on improving teaching in the classroom. Teachers will continue to implement innovative instructional practices such as project-based learning and arts integration, and use unique approaches to teaching math and literacy. We understand that significant high school reform does not happen overnight, and that not all schools will be successful in making this transformation. That said, we are confident that many of these small schools will become exemplary high school models where all students are graduating with the skills they need to succeed in college and work.
It’s important to point out that –- despite our new initiatives and attention to MRI -- the bulk of what MMT does is still responsive grantmaking. Refocusing our grantmaking was a criticial part of our strategic planning work, which resulted in:
In the coming months, look for us to:
As you can see, we have a full agenda these days. (We have a number of other projects underway that I haven’t mentioned, but will feature in future messages.) Sometimes it might appear we are trying to do too much too fast. But these are urgent times. We don’t have the luxury of waiting to address the critical issues we face in our special corner of the world. Every day we hear from you about how important it is to support your work, and it requires us to bring a sense of urgency with us to the office every day. We have no time to lose.
Have a great summer,
Doug
Meyer Memorial Trust never ceases to amaze me with how dedicated and comprehensive your programs, grants and services are. Such collaboration and innovation, it's a wonderful example of what we should all strive to accomplish as community partners. Thank you to you and your team for all your heart and hard work.
As Director of a statewide association of nonprofits, I have followed the evolution of MMT with great interest. This year's statistics are most impressive, but even more impressive is the Trust's implementation of innovative approaches.
I greatly appreciate the sharing of the report (Mission Related Investing: Building a Portfolio) and will be forwarding it on to our members in Oregon and our national affiliates.
Tim Kral, Executive Director
Oregon Rehabilitation Association