Explore Our History

1886

Frederick "Fritz" Grubmeyer is born in Germany.

1889

Young Grubmeyer emigrates with his family from Germany to New York, settling in Brooklyn, where the family ran a small grocery store.

1909

Grubmeyer Comes to Town

After an unsuccessful stint at gold mining in Alaska and a job driving for a grocery store in Seattle, he comes to Portland and builds a coffee cart business into a retail outlet in a downtown street market.

1911

Grubmeyer opens a brick-and-mortar coffee stall on Washington Street.

1920

A Name Change

With a name change to Fred G. Meyer, he opens the first "all package" grocery store, eventually combining supermart with drugstore, fine jewelers, home decor, home improvement, garden center, sporting goods, electronics, toys and clothing.

1930

A Growing Concern

Fred Meyer, Inc. will eventually grow into a chain of stores and restaurants employing more than 13,000, with annual sales of more than $1 billion.

1978

A Powerful Legacy

Fred G. Meyer dies at the age of 92, leaving 2 million shares of stock (then valued at $63 million) for a charitable foundation with few mandates. "Realizing as I do the uncertainties of the future, I want my trustees to be able to exercise broad discretion in shaping and carrying out charitable programs which can be tailored to fit changing conditions and problems."

1981

The Value Doubles

The company is purchased by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, KKR, in one of its first leveraged buyouts. The value of Meyer's stocks doubles.

1982

Foundation Doors Open

Fred Meyer Charitable Trust is established with five trustees and about $120 million during a deep recession. Charles Rooks is named Executive Director of the new Trust, which represented over half of the foundation assets in Oregon and about a quarter of those in the Pacific Northwest.

1983

After the first year of operation, Meyer awards more than $2.3 million in grants to 34 organizations in Oregon and Clark County, Wash., ranging from $4,000 for a family-centered therapy program at Infant Hearing Resource to $1,000,000 to help construct the Portland Center for the Performing Arts.

1986

As Assets Grow, So Do Awards

Meyer's assets top $222 million, and awards 91 grants totaling $7.4 million.

1990

Our Name Changes

We change our name to Meyer Memorial Trust to make clear the foundation is not connected to Fred Meyer Inc., the commercial enterprise.

1991

1,000th grant awarded.

1995

Our Longest Serving Trustee

Debbie Craig joins Meyer’s board of trustees.

1996

Innovating Online

With the launch of mmt.org, Meyer becomes the first foundation in Oregon to create a website.

1998

After the death of trustee O.B. Robertson, Orcilia Zúñiga Forbes is named a Meyer trustee, serving until her death in 2015.

2001

3,500th grant awarded.

2002

New Leadership

Charles Rooks retires after two decades. Doug Stamm, formerly of Nike and Friends of the Children, steps into the role on the 20th anniversary of the Trust's inception.

2007

Along with the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Heron Foundation, Meyer helps launch a campaign to encourage more mission related investing by foundations.

2008

With Oregon battered by the Great Recession, Meyer focuses on the health of struggling nonprofits, shelving the most ambitious aspects of the redesign.

2010

Rethinking Investment

The Harvard Kennedy School of Government publishes a study about Meyer's use of mission-related investing.

2013

Meyer begins to focus on equity with full-staff equity training programs.

2014

A New Definition of Equity

Meyer embarks on a second strategic redesign process and refines its definition of equity to mean "the existence of conditions where all people can reach their full potential." We release our equity statement.

2015

Pausing to Re-focus

Meyer takes a "working hiatus," continuing to engage and invest in efforts aligned with our current priorities while also planning for future programs. To date, Meyer has paid out nearly $692 million through more than 8,200 grants and program related investments.

2016

New Look, New Programs

Meyer emerges from hiatus with a new visual identity and a new website, resuming full program operations within four new issue-focused, equity-based portfolios: Building Community, Equitable Education, Healthy Environment and Housing Opportunities.

2017

Meyer Marks 35 Years

Meyer Memorial Trust turns 35. Doug Stamm announces he will step away in 2018.

2018

A New Steward

After a six-month national search process, Michelle J. DePass joins Meyer as its third president and chief executive officer. A former dean at The New School and administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency under the Obama administration, DePass is the first woman and woman of color to serve in the position.

2019

Debbie Craig, Meyer’s longest serving trustee, retires in April 2019.

2020

Unprecedented Challenges

Oregonians face a series of unprecedented and overlapping crises in 2020, including a global pandemic, racial justice reckoning and devastating wildfires. Staff and board work remotely to provide emergency and response funding, while easing reporting and other requirements for grantees.

2021

Janet Hamada becomes Board Chair in April 2021.

2022

A New Mission

Meyer adopts a new mission: to accelerate racial, social and economic justice for the collective well-being of Oregon’s lands and peoples.