Meyer aims to accelerate racial, social and economic justice for the collective well-being of Oregon’s lands and peoples. But what does that look like in practice?
As a member of our Learning and Grant Operations team, I help administer, manage, and track our grantmaking. As a lover of data and the stories it can tell, I wanted to break down our 2023 funding and share some highlights.
2023 at a Glance
In 2023, Meyer awarded over $38.5 million in total funding and issued 350 grants.
What communities did our grants serve?
- 89% of our 2023 funding went to projects or organizations serving BIPOC communities.
- 27% went to projects or organizations serving rural Oregonians.
- 24% went to projects or organizations serving immigrants and refugees.
- 24% went to projects or organizations serving children and youth.
- 16% went to projects or organizations serving the LGBTQ+ community.
Because so many of the organizations we fund work intersectionally, some grants could appear in multiple categories (e.g., a grant serving both BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities would appear in both figures.)
Where did we fund?
- Nearly half (46%) of our total funding went to grants serving the whole state of Oregon.
- Almost one-third (32%) of our grants served the Portland metro area.
- More than one-fifth (22%) of our grants targeted specific counties outside Portland metro.
Funding highlights
- $9.4 million of Meyer’s 2023 funding went to youth development, education and teachers.
- In 2023, Meyer funded 45 organizations for the first time with over $3.7 million offered to first-time grantees. Many of these new grantees serve Oregon’s Black and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander communities.
- $8 million supported public policy, civic engagement and leadership development.
- Meyer made eight Emergency Response Grants for a total of nearly $400,000 to help organizations in urgent need. (We were typically able to release this funding in less than a week)
- $2 million went to agriculture, food sovereignty, fishing, forestry and clean energy.
As someone born and raised in Portland, I love this place and feel a deep connection to the communities and landscapes of Oregon. Like so many of my colleagues at Meyer, I am hopeful that, in the years to come, we can do even more to engage with, learn from and support organizations tackling inequities and disparities across the state.
I invite folks who are interested in learning more about Meyer's grantmaking data to reach out to me at grantops [at] mmt.org (grantops[at]mmt[dot]org).