EQUITABLE EDUCATION

Annual Funding Opportunity

The Equitable Education portfolio considers proposals that further our vision of meaningful public education by eliminating the “gap:” the achievement gap, the graduation gap and the opportunity gap.

Our 2018 application window is now closed. Meyer will invite the most promising applicants to submit a Full Proposal in mid-June. Once invited, organizations have three weeks to submit a full proposal, due in July. Meyer makes final award decisions in November, with funding available to organizations in early 2019.

>> See a resource packet for Equitable Education's 2018 Annual Funding Opportunity

About Equitable Education

In a flourishing and equitable Oregon, each of the nearly 600,000 students have the opportunity to succeed in our public education system. They enter school ready to learn; develop a love of learning in a relevant, engaging and supportive environment; and graduate with a plan for postsecondary and career success.

Through the Equitable Education portfolio, Meyer contributes to this vision by investing in the “gap:” the achievement gap, the graduation gap and the opportunity gap. We prioritize students who disproportionately experience these gaps, and we seek to balance our investment between the urgent need of today’s student and the system that must prepare to meet the needs of tomorrow’s student.

This portfolio reflects a mix of rural and urban grantees that offer, through an equity lens, a vision and approach to eliminating the gaps so all students in Oregon have the opportunity to access a meaningful public education.

Equity commitment

Equity is a central tenet in all Meyer’s grantmaking.

All applicants — regardless of where in their equity journey they may be today — must demonstrate a commitment to ongoing growth through the integration of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) principles into both their external programming or services and internal structures and operations.

Learn more about how Meyer thinks about equity at mmt.org/applicant-resources/diversity

Funding goals

All proposals must advance one of the following funding goals:

Build a movement to align community + education institutions to create systems- and policy-level impact
Improve student achievement and college and career readiness

Meyer has identified several intended outcomes under each of these goals. Applicants will be asked to indicate which goal (only one) and which of its associated outcomes (up to two) their proposed work best supports. Applications that do not make a strong and clear connection to at least one of Meyer’s intended outcomes will not be successful.

Read the full details on our Equitable Education core funding goals, intended outcomes and examples of what we may fund in this round.

Available funding

Meyer anticipates awarding approximately $3.4 million for this funding opportunity in 2018 for capacity-building efforts, projects, programs and operating support that will advance our Equitable Education funding goals and outcomes.

Investments in the Equitable Education portfolio will reflect a mix of rural and urban grantees that offer, through an equity lens, a vision and approach to analyzing current disparities and directly addressing how to eliminate those disparities so that all students in Oregon have the opportunity to obtain a meaningful public education.

English Language Learners
First-generation college students
Indigenous students
Students of color
Students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or other sexual/gender identities
Students with disabilities
Students in foster care
Students living on low incomes

Our support for these populations will include investments in rural, underserved communities. See mmt.org/apply/applicant-resources/rural for more information.

What doesn't fit

The following are not strong fits for Equitable Education’s annual funding opportunity:

Education programs with universal, one-size-fits-all strategies not specifically designed for priority students regardless of school and/or district demographics
Direct early education services; rather, we will focus on supporting students during the transition between early education programs and kindergarten as well as preparing public schools to offer a smooth transition from home to school
Building or capital campaigns
Strategies to address college retention and completion
K-12 private schools
New or expanded programming developed without meaningful engagement with the priority population it’s intended to impact
Environmental education programming not specifically designed to meet the academic, social or cultural needs of priority students

Grant Types + Amounts

Capacity Building Support — primarily supports internal organizational and collaborative needs

Capacity building grants will be $10,000 to $185,000 total over one to three years. Generally, larger awards support multiple years
Grants for technical assistance and collaborative planning efforts — two types of capacity building — are generally up to $35,000

*In 2017, the average size of an Equitable Education capacity building grant was $165,950 over 2 years.

Project — primarily supports programmatic work

Project grants will be $10,000 to $185,000 total over one to three years. Generally, smaller awards support grassroots organizations and larger awards support multiple years
For collaboratives, we will consider up to $250,000 total over two to three years (Learn how Meyer defines a collaborative for this purpose)

*In 2017, the average size of an Equitable Education project grant was $160,286 over 2 years.

Operating Support — unrestricted support

Awards will be up to $75,000 per year for two or three years and are sized in relation to the organization’s annual operating budget such that Meyer’s operating grant does not constitute more than approximately 20 percent of the organization’s total annual budget
General operating support will be awarded only to organizations, collaboratives and key intermediaries that address priorities of this portfolio’s priority populations and demonstrate an internal DEI commitment and stability and success in their core work

Who we fund

We seek to partner with organizations that:

Share our goals and vision for change
Are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion in their organizations and partnerships
Have a track record of effective work directly related to our funding priorities or have identified such work as a strategic and mission-aligned priority over the grant period
Collaborate with other organizations in their community, within the same sector and/ or across sectors
Recognize and can articulate the intersection between their organization’s work and broader policies and systems
Have effective leadership that engages a base of community support
Demonstrate the administrative capacity, financial planning and organizational commitment to implement their proposed project
Are committed to understanding and evaluating the impact and effectiveness of their work

Note: Organizations that have an active multi-year grant through a previous Meyer Annual Funding Opportunity are not eligible to apply for a 2018 Funding Opportunity grant except in specific cases. For more information, please see the Eligibility and Alignment section at mmt.org/resources or contact your assigned Meyer program staff.

Eligibility

To determine if your project is a good fit, please review the following information:

Application process

Meyer uses a two-step application process for our annual funding opportunity. Initial Applications are welcome from any eligible organization seeking to advance one of the portfolio’s goals. After reviewing Initial Applications, we will invite the most promising applicants to submit a full proposal.

Applicants should:

Create or update their profile in GrantIS, Meyer’s online application portal. The activation process can take several days, so please be sure to set up your account well in advance of the application deadline.
1. New GrantIS users, please visit: https://grantis.mmt.org/questionnaire to create an account.
2. Applicants with existing GrantIS accounts, please visit https://grantis.mmt.org/ and check that your organization’s information (e.g., mailing address, Board members, etc.) is up to date.
Submit their Initial Application no later than 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 18.
Preview the initial application and questions.

Meyer will notify organizations in mid-June whether or not they are invited to submit a full proposal. If invited, organizations will have three weeks to do so.

After reviewing proposals and following up either in person or over the phone, we anticipate making final award decisions by the end of 2018, with funding available to organizations in early 2019.