When I think about the Building Community portfolio, I think of the many and complex ways nonprofits support our communities. Taken together, their work is much like a large tree with dozens of roots reaching out in every direction under the earth. Some of those roots run long and deep, some less so. But each one supports something greater and bigger than itself.

The 2018 Annual Funding Opportunity grants awarded by this portfolio, which is the broadest in scope of Meyer's four portfolios, reflect the extraordinary work underway by key organizations throughout Oregon.

So let's begin to uncover the numbers.

This year, the Building Community portfolio received 351 initial applications — more than half of the total number of applications received across all portfolios — requesting $38 million in funding. With $7.78 million in available funding, we were able to make awards to 61 organizations, or about 17 percent of all applicants to the portfolio.

As we dive into the figures, we find that most grants support specific projects that will exist for a discrete period of time. Capacity building, operating and capital support grants follow. People of color are the largest population served, with people living on low-incomes, along with immigrants and refugees, not far behind.

Geographically, these organizations are based in both rural and urban areas and operate throughout the state. Our portfolio also awarded grants to two first-time applicants; five organizations that had previously applied received grants from Meyer for the first time. A little over half of grantees have annual budgets that range between $200,000 and $1 million.

Grantees also tackle critical and timely issues in Oregon: recidivism, youth and leadership development, and community wealth. This doesn't include the myriad social, economic and political issues addressed by other organizations in that pool of 351 applicants.

These numbers provide insights into how the Building Community portfolio makes decisions.

Digging further into the information, we found that the most competitive applicants were committed to tearing down inequities or creating equitable opportunities, particularly for historically and currently marginalized populations such as people of color, Indigenous communities, people with disabilities, LGBTQ communities and our elders.

In fact, that commitment to marshalling equity holds true for most applicants, including those whose proposals did not advance this year. Reviewing the applications, three critical elements that are pertinent to Meyer and our mission stand out.

The first is commitment to or experience advancing diversity, equity and inclusion. The second is a willingness to seek advice from and be held accountable to the ultimate beneficiaries: the constituent group.

Finally, we're looking for projects that propel systemic change in tangible ways. You may have heard similar words from other portfolio staff because this philosophy and belief in systems-level change is fundamental to what we do at Meyer: support solutions that counteract and fix the underlying issues of inequities and not just the symptoms that create the need for a given program or service.

Another notable characteristic: Many applicants referenced the current national political climate, putting forward analysis and plans that would move policy or advocate to make tectonic change.

Although there are many impressive grantees, I'd like to highlight three recipients as a way to illustrate what I mean.

The Innovation Law Lab received about $184,000 to hire an operations/finance director and partially fund its development director position. Both hires will fortify this four year-old organization's infrastructure so it can continue to train attorneys that provide representation for immigrants in detention centers as well as asylum seekers in immigration court. The Innovation Law Lab provides crucial, life-changing legal defense services for vulnerable communities that may one day alter the way all immigrants and refugees are treated in Oregon.

A $156,000 grant to CAPACES Leadership Institute recognizes the unique and powerful way this Woodburn-based nonprofit trains and prepares Latinxs from diverse backgrounds — low-income, farmworking and immigrant families — for jobs in public service and politics. CAPACES realizes that Latinxs now comprise about 25 percent of the total population in Marion and Polk counties.

At the same time, Latinxs are underrepresented in public service and political job sectors. CAPACES collaborates frequently with other organizations to close this gap in a way that only a precious few, if any, organizations are doing. The Meyer grant will support staff, fees and expenses related to CAPACES' leadership development program.

Western States Center needed $125,000 over three years to help fund a comprehensive strategic plan for important operational infrastructure. This will enable the organization to strengthen its groundbreaking role in advancing equity and democracy in Oregon, particularly championing the rights of communities of color, immigrants, refugees, women, LGBTQ individuals and more. Western States provides everything from rapid response support in the wake of reported hate crimes to complex investigative polling on issues of racial and social injustice. The work conducted by Western States Center is expansive and attempts to transform the way all of Oregon approaches democracy.

From these three examples, equity as experienced through this portfolio is clear: There must be a recognition of the many racial, social and cultural identities holding space together in our world.

All of these characteristics form Meyer's filter and our understanding for creating a better, more equitable society. After we peel away layers of numbers, statistics and interpretations, what's uncovered is a concise and powerful truth: Our grantee partners are working to bring down barriers that have kept inequity alive and thriving.

Now in our third year as a portfolio, we continue to appreciate how nonprofits in all corners of the state remain persistent in their efforts to rise to the challenges facing their communities and constituents. We are grateful for the time and thoughtfulness put forward in the applications and look forward to learning more about how we can serve the field in the coming year.

— Dahnesh

P.S. If you're looking for more insights into the Building Community portfolio, listen to my recent interview on XRAY FM's Nonprofit Happy Hour.

Four years ago, when Oregon was in the midst of transforming its health, education and early learning systems, The Oregon Community Foundation, Kaiser Permanente Northwest, CareOregon, Northwest Health Foundation and Meyer Memorial Trust convened a small workgroup of education experts to investigate new strategies to better align cross-sector work. Our goal was to improve health and education outcomes for Oregonians –– especially for children facing the greatest obstacles.

Last January, Meyer trustees approved a $600,000 investment over three years in the Health and Education Fund to support innovative approaches to bridge the gaps between health, education and early learning systems and promote collaboration across the philanthropic, education and health care sectors to address systemic barriers and improve school-age life outcomes.

The Fund's collective approach holds youth at the center while elevating and supporting community strengths, complementing existing state and regional initiatives, recognizing parents, families and communities as the experts of their own experience and ensuring their participation in the design of solutions right from the beginning.

Earlier this year, the Health and Education Fund invited applications from organizations focused on family leadership and resilience to improve outcomes in education, healthcare and early learning. Meyer is pleased to join our partners in awarding $1.2 million in grant funds to 21 organizations throughout Oregon and Southwest Washington.

For more information about the Health and Education Fund and the projects supported through this grant cycle visit NWHF.

–– Matt

We kicked off summer with enthusiasm here at Meyer! We want to share some highlights with you.

Grant Awards: 42 Grants Totaling $1.87 Million

Our support as part of the Oregon Immigrant and Refugee Funders Collaborative continues. In May and June, Meyer invested $380,000 to organizations addressing important and time-sensitive issues experienced by immigrants and refugees. Grants included:

• $100,000 to Innovation Law Lab to provide legal counsel and representation, advocacy and litigation surrounding the detention of immigrants at the Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan, Oregon.
• $100,000 to Immigration Counseling Service to deliver legal services to underserved immigrant groups who are rural residents, unaccompanied minors, trafficking victims and/or LGBTQ immigrants.
• $100,000 to prevent and confront efforts to deport Oregonians through free legal services.
• $50,000 to Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon to assist with the full integration of refugees into our communities.
• $30,000 to Mano a Mano to provide wraparound support services to impacted immigrant families.

The Oregon Immigrant and Refugee Funders Collaborative, which is a partnership among Meyer, The Oregon Community Foundation, The Collins Foundation, MRG Foundation and Pride Foundation, continues to accept applications. You can learn more and apply here.

We also made a grant of $185,000 to support Western States Center as it launches a project to prevent the advance of white nationalism in Oregon communities by bringing new voices and institutions into the anti-hate field.

Other May and June awards included 12 grants across our portfolios to support organizations as they engage in diversity, equity and inclusion training and planning. MountainStar Family Relief Nursery in central Oregon, Immigration Counseling Services in the Columbia River Gorge, and a cohort of Willamette River Initiative (WRI) grantees are among the organizations Meyer is supporting as they work to embed DEI within their organizations and in their service to community.

Neighborhood Partnerships, an organization working statewide to help Oregonians achieve housing stability and build financial security, received funding through our Housing Opportunities portfolio. This grant support will assist this cornerstone organization to build on its success, diversify voices, broaden and train a leadership base, and maintain the momentum of the Oregon Housing Alliance. Coupled with other Housing Opportunities grants, the portfolio made awards totaling over $540,000.

Six grants totalling $443,615 were made through our Willamette River Initiative in support of the Willamette model watershed program, which focuses on building capacity for high-impact watershed restoration in seven key Willamette River tributaries. Speaking of the Willamette River Initiative, be sure to check out WRI's new website to learn more about the successes of this 10-year initiative to improve the health of the Willamette River and the way the initiative is evolving to become a community-led network.

Other Healthy Environment portfolio grants included support to the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization, Africa House to create a film about the Afro-Ecology Movement Plan and to share it with Portland-area African immigrant and African American communities, and funding for Verde and Tualatin Riverkeepers.

Other highlights include continued support for the National Committee for Responsible Philanthropy (NCRP), an organization that pushes philanthropy to do more for those who are marginalized, underserved and disenfranchised. If you haven't seen it, you'll want to check out NCRP's new Power Moves initiative designed to help philanthropy explore how well they are building, wielding and sharing power.

And here is a save the date you won't want to miss. Meyer is pleased to support Literary Arts in bringing DeRay Mckesson, civil rights leader and host of Pod Save the People, to Portland on September 20. You can find out more about DeRay and how to get your tickets here.

See a full list of our May and June grants here.

2018 Annual Funding Opportunity: 202 Applicants Under Consideration

Wow! We had a strong response to our 2018 Annual Funding Opportunity, receiving 630 initial applications requesting over $74 million. More than half of the requests were made to our Building Community portfolio with the remaining spread across our Equitable Education, Healthy Environment and Housing Opportunities portfolios.

Absolutely amazing work is moving us closer to an Oregon where every person and community can truly thrive. This made for some tough decisions! In mid-June, we invited 202 applications to continue the process. These include requests that would benefit every region of Oregon, with nearly half specifically benefitting rural communities. Almost 20 percent are from organizations that have never before received a Meyer grant.

Our program team folks are now out in the community visiting with applicants to learn more about their opportunities, plans and needs. We look forward to sharing the awards after they are made this fall.

Whether your organization was invited to move forward this time or not, please know how much we value the important contributions you are making in Oregon communities. We also hope all of you will respond to the applicant feedback survey you recently received to help us understand how we can serve you better. And if you were not invited to move forward, please don't hesitate to contact us for a conversation and feedback.

We so appreciate the many opportunities to partner with nonprofits, tribes and public agencies across the state. We are truly grateful to all the organizations doing important work in and for our communities.

Affordable Housing Initiative: Requests for Proposals

Our focused support for affordable housing solutions continues this summer with two requests for proposals.

The first RFP focuses on opportunities that will increase low-income renters' access to and retention of quality private market housing units in communities of their choice. The application period closed in mid-July, and applications are now being reviewed. Look for an awards announcement in the fall.

We are now accepting applications through August 14 for the second RFP — an innovative 1 Million Month Challenge through which Meyer will select a small number of teams to develop innovative approaches to address Oregon's housing affordability problem. Read more about this challenge in my colleague Michael Parkhurst's blog and take a look at the RFP here.

Convening

We have appreciated the opportunities we've had to learn together with nonprofits and our peer regional funders over these past few months. Our Housing Opportunities team brought together grantees in several rural communities and the Center for Equity and Inclusion to dig into diversity, equity and inclusion and to explore ways to advance DEI through the work that they do. They also brought Affordable Housing grantees together to learn from each other about the costs and decision points in preserving current affordable housing portfolios. Healthy Environment grantees have formed a peer DEI learning collaborative, with support from The Raben Group, and Willamette River Initiative grantees have continued their DEI training and convening with the Center for Diversity and the Environment. Thanks to everyone who is engaging in this work with us.

We were also excited to bring organizations funded through our leadership development and capacity builder learning communities together with leaders of the Luminare Group to explore how evaluations can be designed and implemented to meaningfully advance equity, further nonprofit and foundation missions, and build organizations and communities. As a bonus, Meyer partnered with Grantmakers of Oregon and Southwest Washington to host a similar conversation with Luminare Group and Oregon funders. Curious about equity and evaluation? You can learn more about this emerging work on the Equitable Evaluation website.

Community

As always, we strive to be out in the community and to engage with folks outside Meyer's walls. From participating in regional summits like the OSU LatinX Summit to networking at conferences like Regards to Rural and the Oregon Nonprofit Leaders Conference to community visits in Warm Springs, Ontario, Medford, Hood River, Bend and La Pine — it is a privilege to partner and learn with you to improve this place we call home.

The time I have spent with so many of you this spring and summer have been especially meaningful as I close out my last days as Meyer's director of programs. I can't thank you enough for the warm welcomes, kind wishes and generous partnerships over these past few months.

I'm so looking forward to seeing what's next for us all.

Happy trails,

–– Candy

Spring is always a busy time at Meyer.

Even as we were launching our 2018 Annual Funding Opportunity, we were busy making 55 grants totaling $2.58 million through our other funding strategies. You can find the full list of awards organized by portfolio here, but this month we wanted to provide a bit of a different look into our grantmaking. Our spring awards provide excellent examples of the ways in which Meyer invests in our priorities and supports our partners outside our annual funding call. Here are a few highlights:

1. Providing grantees with technical assistance and related supports.

We made a number of timely awards to current grantees to assist them in strengthening their organizational health and development and to assist them in navigating pivotal moments in their organizations. Over the past few months, Meyer has provided this type of funding to support organizations managing executive leadership transitions, including grants to APANO, VOZ Workers Rights Education, Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides and MRG Foundation. We also provided grant support for organizations such as Treasure Valley Relief Nursery, Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon, Bus Project and North by Northeast Community Health Center as they engage in equity training and other organizational equity work. And Willamette Valley Law Project received support to update the structure of Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, Oregon's farmworkers union and the largest Latino organization in the state.

These quick turnaround technical assistance grants are one way that Meyer's grantmaking strives to be nimble and responsive to our nonprofit partners' emerging organizational needs and opportunities. You can read more about these and other technical assistance awards here.

2. Grants directed to strategic, extraordinary and time-sensitive opportunities.

From time to time, our partners are presented with important opportunities that, for compelling reasons, do not fit into our scheduled grantmaking timeline, yet are strongly aligned with our goals and priorities. At other times, we have specific targeted strategies that we are proactively cultivating or work that initially came through our annual funding opportunity but for some reason was delayed. As examples, we contributed capital funding to three organizations to support them in moving forward with opportunities to build assets within their communities — communities that have long experienced oppression and marginalization and have been under-resourced by philanthropy. These grants include:

• $150,000 to the Confederated Tribes of Siletz to develop affordable housing for Siletz tribal members. We are especially excited about this new partnership as it is the first time that Meyer is supporting tribal housing development.
• $250,000 to APANO to leverage 48 units of affordable housing in East Portland's Jade District, a predominantly Asian community experiencing gentrification.
• $250,000 to IRCO Africa House to take advantage of a unique and time-sensitive opportunity to purchase a building to house services for African immigrant and refugee communities in Oregon.

3. Investing in community leaders.

Meyer continues our investment in developing and supporting leaders who can advance diversity, equity and inclusion for community and system change. To further this work, we made 18 follow-on grants totaling nearly $800,000 to 2017 leadership development grantees who came together from across the state over the past year to engage with us in a learning collaborative. Examples include EUVALCREE and Rural Development Initiative partnering to deliver and evaluate leadership development in eight eastern Oregon counties; Welcome Home Coalition working to help affordable housing residents to lead community discussions on equitable housing policy and practice in Clackamas County; Salem/Keizer Coalition for Equality organizing and training Latino, Spanish-speaking parents on social justice in education; and Western States Center, which is amplifying the work, narrative and voice of tribal leaders on tribal law and policy and LGBTQ law and policy. These are just a few examples of the amazing work happening to build power in communities across Oregon. You can see the full list of nonprofit sector support grants to support leaders here.

Of note, in awarding these grants we applied a streamlined process with a quick turnaround to help maintain seamless funding and minimize the time and effort required by nonprofits to request an additional year of funding. Going forward, we'll continue to test new ways of working in our quest for continued improvement and partnership.

4. Preserving and increasing Oregon's affordable housing.

In the final round of funding under our Affordable Housing Initiative's Sustaining Portfolios Strategy, which works to strengthen nonprofit housing developers' capacity to preserve existing affordable housing, we awarded follow-on funding totaling $225,000 to three housing organizations to implement property-specific portfolio preservation plans. Combined with five grants awarded in January, this group of Sustaining Portfolios awards will have wide reach across our state, collectively supporting affordable housing preservation in Lincoln City, Roseburg, Bend and The Dalles, as well as Benton, Columbia, Jackson, Lane, Linn, Marion, Multnomah and Washington counties. Two additional grants in support of housing preservation were made to NeighborImpact and Yamhill County Affordable Housing Corporation for weatherization and repair of manufactured housing — important affordable housing stock — in Crook, Deschutes, Jefferson and Yamhill counties.

We want to note that our housing grantees included Catholic Community Services Foundation, which is a key provider of affordable housing in Marion County. CCSF is a community leader, innovator and convener in supporting youths from marginalized populations, and it has a reputation in its local community as being welcoming and inclusive.

We regularly receive inquiries from faith-based and faith-affiliated organizations about eligibility. Meyer does fund faith-based and faith-affiliated organizations — Catholic Community Services Foundation is one example. We consider these requests within the context of our nondiscrimination and faith-based screening approach asking all applicants to confirm and self-certify to the following: "Our policies and practices provide equal opportunity to all qualified individuals in leadership, staffing and service, regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship status, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, religion and any status protected by law." And we ask applicant organizations to certify the following: "We do not require attendance or participation in religious/faith activities as a condition of service delivery, nor do we require adherence to religious/faith beliefs as a condition of service or employment."

This is the lens that we use in determining eligibility. It is not a perfect system. We rely on self-certification and known information. And we recognize the tensions and perceptions that can sometimes exist when funding faith-based and faith-affiliated organizations. A specific organization can meet our nondiscrimination policy, be a key and respected provider in the community, and be serving marginalized communities. At the same time, their underlying religious doctrine can both support and clash with important aspects of Meyer's core values, such as full inclusion and support for the LGBTQ+ community. Meyer has refined our policy over the past few years, and we will continue to reflect on the dilemmas we encounter and iterate accordingly. You can find our full policy here.

5. Supporting immigrants and refugees.

We continue to be a partner in the Oregon Immigrant and Refugee Funders Collaborative, along with Oregon Community Foundation, MRG Foundation, Pride Foundation and The Collins Foundation. Funding awarded this spring will support Unite Oregon as it connects refugees, asylum seekers and people with temporary protected status with immigrant rights groups and other organizations to advocate for immigrant rights communities across Oregon. A grant to Northwest Family Services will provide mental health support to and awareness among Latino community members in Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties. An award to Oregon Justice Resource Center will help to promote the protection of immigrant rights. And a grant to Four Rivers Health Care will support the creation of a welcome center to serve newcomers to the Treasure Valley region.

We are pleased to be part of this rapid response program that organizations can access through any participating funder and with a shared application and reporting structure. Our funder collaborative continues to accept applications for critical and time-sensitive issues facing immigrants and refugees. You can find more details about the Oregon Immigrant and Refugee Funders Collaborative, along with application instructions, here. And check out the awards we’ve made thus far through this collaborative, here.

6. Recognizing the time and expertise of nonprofits.

Our nonprofit partners support Meyer's work, and we understand how valuable your time and expertise is. When you dedicate significant amounts of time with us, we want to acknowledge it. In this batch of awards, you will see modest grants to organizations such as IRCO and Latino Network, whose staff met with Meyer staff and trustees to provide education and dialogue about the relevance of the 2020 Census and barriers to obtaining a complete count in their communities, and Housing Development Center and NOAH, whose staff closely partnered with us in planning our 2018 Meyer-sponsored housing cost efficiency summit. This is one way that we operationalize our values.

Our Annual Funding Opportunity is by far our largest funding opportunity of the year and is a key strategy in supporting our values of community-defined solutions, transparency, accessibility and responsiveness. And we also support nonprofits in ways outside this structured open call and in service to our communities, values and partners.

7. And about that Annual Funding Opportunity. . .

We so appreciated the opportunity to meet with folks across the state.e connected with an estimated 1,000+ people through our in-person and virtual information sessions in March and April. Thank you for the warm welcomes, great conversations and personal connections. We always learn so much about the opportunities, challenges and great work happening in Oregon communities. And a big thanks to each of you who responded to our feedback survey: It helps us know what worked for you and how you think we can do even better.

Our staff is now diligently reviewing more than 600 applications submitted last month. Stay tuned. We'll be contacting applicants in mid-June to let them know whether they are invited to submit a full proposal. In the meantime, you can preview the full proposal questions here.

— Candy

On stage at Artists Repertory Theatre, director of programs Candy Solovjovs speaks to an audience of grantseekers about funding eligibility and Meyer's 2018 Annual Funding Opportunity.

It takes transformative leadership to be a true hero of the river restoration field.

As a business owner who makes his living restoring native Willamette Basin habitats, Rosario Franco is quite literally transforming this important watershed, tree-by-tree and acre-by-acre.

The Willamette River Initiative is proud to have presented Rosario with the River Hero award in December 2017. The award recognizes his outstanding contributions to the effort for a healthier Willamette.

"Rosario is respected and admired by so many people in our Willamette River restoration community," WRI Director Allison Hensey said as she presented him with the award during the initiative's December grantee meeting. "He and his crews are doing the work everyday of healing this river system."

Rosario got his start reforesting timberlands in the Oregon Cascades, before taking his first restoration planting job in Portland in the the mid-1990s. By 2006, he had launched his own business, R. Franco Restoration.

Rosario and his crews soon became indispensable members of the Willamette Basin restoration movement, known for their specialized knowledge of native plants and habitat restoration, their project planning, planting and landscape maintenance skills and their commitment to the cause. With their help, the pace of Willamette restoration has increased dramatically over the past decade.

 

Rosario estimated he and his crews have planted more than 14 million trees and shrubs since the early 2000s, including 900,000 last planting season alone. It's not uncommon for them to put 50,000 plants in the ground in a single day.

Despite the staggering volume of work, Rosario knows his sites intimately. He visits six or seven times before planting ever begins, spending two to three years clearing weeds, surveying the landscape and deciding which plant species are best-suited for the area. Often, he and his crews know their restoration sites better than the landowners.

When asked why he does this work, which requires long days of physically demanding labor under stormy winter skies, Rosario's passion shines.

"You fall in love with a project," he said. "You see the changes, you see how (the work sites) look when you started and then, every year, how they change. That makes you want to learn more and do the best every time."

Today, Rosario employs more than 30 people full-time, year-round. He trains his employees not just in the technical aspects of the job, but why the work is essential to protecting our drinking water and creating fish and wildlife habitat. As a result, Rosario's employees are skilled, knowledgeable and passionate about the work they do for our rivers.

"We depend on Rosario and his crew, and could not meet our goals without him," said Jeff Baker, stewardship manager at the Greenbelt Land Trust, which has worked with Rosario to plant more than 300,000 trees and shrubs in the past five years.

In fact, said Kathleen Guillozet, Willamette Model Watershed Director with the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, he is "among the most respected conservation leaders in the Willamette Basin."

But beyond his reputation as an invaluable work partner, Rosario is known for his kindness, dedication and humility. That "care factor," as North Santiam Watershed Council Executive Director Rebecca McCoun put it, is what sets Rosario and his crews apart.

"Rosario treats each site as if it's his own personal property," McCoun said, and restoration outcomes are better as a result.

Rosario's contributions to the river extend beyond his day job. He has been a leader in the Willamette restoration community's cross-border exchange with restoration groups from the Rio Laja watershed in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, welcoming visitors into his home and providing learning opportunities for forestry students from the watershed northwest of Mexico City. Rosario has also shared his knowledge and experiences during speaking engagements throughout the region.

We are fortunate to count him as a hero within our river community.

Rosario Franco, owner of the R. Franco Restoration planting company, accepts the River Hero award during the Willamette River Initiative’s grantee celebration dinner, Dec. 13, 2017.

It's that time of year again: We are excited to invite initial applications for the 2018 Annual Funding Opportunity! We anticipate awarding over $15 million to partners who share our vision and commitment to creating a flourishing and equitable Oregon where each one of us can thrive — an Oregon filled with vibrant communities where every voice is heard and a public education system where every child has true opportunity to learn and discover and pursue dreams. A place where our amazing natural environment is healthy and strong and supports our diverse cultures and communities and where every single person has a safe, stable and affordable place to call home. If your work brings us closer to this vision, please consider applying!

All four of Meyer's portfolios — Building Community, Equitable Education, Healthy Environment and Housing Opportunities — are now accepting applications until 5 p.m. April 18. You can find details about this opportunity and how to apply here. And read what portfolio directors Theresa Deibele (Housing Opportunities), Jill Fuglister (Healthy Environment), Matt Morton (Equitable Education) and Dahnesh Medora (Building Community) have to share about the specifics of their respective portfolio opportunities.

We also invite you to join us in conversation. Over the next two weeks, our team will be holding in-person information sessions in communities across Oregon, as well as virtual sessions. Check out the schedule here and don't forget to RSVP so we can be sure to have a seat for you. During our in-person sessions, staff from all four portfolios will be on hand to provide information and answer your questions. This year, our virtual sessions will include one general session and several portfolio-specific sessions. And we are offering two new virtual sessions: one for folks interested in submitting a collaborative proposal (April 2) and one for arts and cultures organizations (April 6). We hope you will join us!

Much remains consistent with last year's annual funding opportunity, but if you have previously applied, you will notice a few changes this year. First, we listened to your feedback and have made some improvements to our application — thank you for the great suggestions! As examples, we have streamlined the demographic data we are requesting, re-ordered some sections so they are easier to navigate and reduced the number of attachments. Our Building Community and Equitable Education portfolios also look a little different, having refined their goals and outcomes to clarify what "fits," and we've added priority populations in some portfolios. We've also made modest changes to funding amounts for some types of grants and increased consistency in funding amounts across portfolios.

Keep a few things in mind as you consider applying:

• We are looking for partners who demonstrate commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and want to continue to build their own capacity — in both the services they provide and their internal operations. Learn more about how we think about this here and here.

• We value rural communities and our rural partners. We remain committed to supporting organizations and work across Oregon — last year, we funded organizations in 27 Oregon counties and work in every region of the state. Between 31 and 64 percent of each portfolio's funding supported projects that benefitted one or more rural communities.

• New-to-Meyer organizations and small organizations are welcome. In fact, over 20 percent of 2017 grantees were organizations that had never before received a Meyer grant. And if you are a smaller organization, no need to be intimidated — remember that our grants come in a range of sizes and that we are happy to provide guidance about applying — just contact us at questions [at] mmt.org (questions[at]mmt[dot]org).

• Different types of funding are available to meet your needs. Capacity building (including technical assistance), operating support, project support and, in some portfolios, capital construction dollars are available. Check the details for each portfolio and reach out if you have questions about what type or amount to apply for (if you are a smaller-budget organization, you can also read a helpful blog on "tipping" by my colleague Mijounga Chang).

• Applying on behalf of a collaborative? We believe in the power of working together. If your collaborative meets our criteria, we have a specific application opportunity for you so you won't have to choose between applying for your own organization or applying on behalf of your collaborative. Learn more here and sign up for our virtual Collaborative information session on April 2.

• Currently receiving Meyer grant funding? Be sure to contact your assigned Meyer team member to clarify whether you are eligible to apply to this funding opportunity. And if you are eligible but will have multiple active Meyer grants, seek guidance in determining your request amount.

• The Initial Application is an important step in our process — don't wait until the last minute! Meyer's initial application is admittedly longer than a typical inquiry, and it is also a key stage of our process. Last year, we received over 600 Annual Funding Opportunity applications and only 34 percent were invited to move forward. So we suggest you start early and give it thoughtful attention. Make sure you are registered through and can access GrantIS, our online application portal, as it can take a few days to finalize. Read the application materials and peruse the Inquiry Application questions. Browse last year's Annual Funding Opportunity grant awards for the portfolio you are interested in and take a look at our Applicant Resources. Come to an information session and follow up with us if you still have questions. We want you to make an informed decision about whether to put the time into applying and, if you do, to put your best foot forward.

 

We look forward to seeing you soon, and we can't wait to learn more about the amazing work you are doing to make communities throughout Oregon places where everyone is seen, valued, supported and celebrated.

— Candy

Equitable Education program associate Nicole Kendrick chats at 2017 funding information session with Antonio Jackson, co-founder & Executive Director of Building Blocks To Success.

Each year, the bulk of Meyer’s funding is awarded through an open annual funding opportunity. Our 2018 Annual Funding Opportunity will launch March 15. Please join us for one of our upcoming in-person or virtual information sessions to learn more about our vision and funding goals, and what we look for in our funding partnerships. You can see the schedule and RSVP for a session here. We look forward to connecting with you soon!

In the meantime, we are excited to share with you our January grantmaking: 39 grants totaling $2,251,017. These are grants made through our program initiatives, funder partnerships and other Meyer-directed awards. What an amazing way to kick off 2018!

This year, the Museum at Warm Springs is celebrating its 25th anniversary as a cultural treasure by hosting documents of the Treaty of 1855. Meyer is contributing to this unique and timely opportunity by providing $200,000 to support the museum in hosting the document and carrying out a year of programming centered on treaty rights. Stay tuned in the coming months to learn more about the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and the museum’s anniversary events.

We also continue to engage in the Oregon Immigrant and Refugee Funders Collaborative alongside our partners at the Collins Foundation, MRG Foundation, Oregon Community Foundation and Pride Foundation. In January, Meyer provided $26,000 in follow-on funding to the Rural Organizing Project for statewide organizing to defend and protect rural immigrants and refugees. Efforts include trainings, local inclusivity campaigns, rapid response infrastructure building, intervention with law enforcement and building support for statewide advocacy. January also marks a year of quick response grants addressing crucial and time-sensitive issues facing immigrants and refugees, most of which were made as part of this funder collaborative.

More than half of the funds awarded in January — $1.34 million — were through our Housing Opportunities portfolio, primarily to support our nonprofit housing partners in preserving and expanding much-needed affordable housing across the state. Grants included continued support for two longtime partners in our Affordable Housing Initiative for their important and unique roles in affordable housing preservation. These investments include $300,000 in the Network for Oregon Affordable Housing (NOAH) for coordination of the Oregon Housing Preservation Project, which preserves affordable housing and federal rent subsidies. Over the past 10 years of our partnership with NOAH, it has preserved 230 properties, representing 10,684 units across the state, the vast majority of which are rent assisted. It has also helped to retain $1.2 billion in rent subsidy and secure millions of state dollars to support affordable housing. We are also making a $220,000 investment in CASA of Oregon to continue supporting conversion of manufactured home communities into resident-owned cooperatives. To date, CASA has helped to convert 13 resident-owned parks, representing 827 homes. The vast majority of parks have preserved precious housing in rural Oregon communities.

As part of our Affordable Housing Initiative’s Sustaining Portfolios strategy, we awarded $360,000 to five housing organizations to implement property-specific portfolio preservation plans. These grants have wide reach across our state, supporting affordable housing preservation in Lincoln City, Roseburg, Bend and The Dalles, as well as Benton, Columbia, Jackson, Lane, Linn, Multnomah and Washington counties.

In support of new housing, we are pleased to have expanded our program-related investment with Community Housing Fund, which will provide important loan capital to finance affordable housing projects in Washington County and four adjacent counties. The $150,000 addition approved in January brings our total loan investment to $250,000. And we are excited to support Northwest Housing Alternatives with a $250,000 grant to help construct affordable family housing in central Milwaukie.

We remain so grateful for these organizations and our many other nonprofit partners for their work toward ensuring that every Oregonian has a safe, stable and affordable place to call home.  

Through our Healthy Environment portfolio, we awarded 11 grants totaling more than $436,500. Our Willamette River Initiative continued its investments in restoration, including $275,000 to support six watershed councils in their continued work toward 10-year restoration targets in the Calapooia, Long Tom Luckiamute, Marys River, and Middle Fork, North and South Santiam watersheds as part of our multi-funder model watershed program. Other Healthy Environment awards included $50,000 grants to Voz Workers’ Rights Education Project to help day laborers gain access to green job opportunities; Trust for Public Lands for mapping and analysis of Oregon communities based on their social, economic and environmental characteristics; and Columbia Land Trust to support diversity, equity and inclusion activities.

Two grants were made through our Building Community portfolio, including a $35,000 award to support Oregon Recovers' statewide community mapping process to identify service gaps in recovery support for rural and diverse Oregon populations and to generate policy improvement recommendations.

Finally, a number of grants will support Meyer’s strategic engagement with national and regional leaders in philanthropy that align with and advance our values and priorities. Examples include $45,000 grants to the Alliance for Justice to support the Bolder Advocacy Initiative, which promotes active engagement in democratic processes by giving nonprofits and foundations the knowledge and tools to advocate effectively, and in support of the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance, which works to support the growth of impact investing and help build the impact investing ecosystem with stakeholders. Other awards include support for Native Americans in Philanthropy, Hispanics in Philanthropy, Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees and Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, among other philanthropic partners.

You can see all our January awards here.

Stay tuned for our 2018 Annual Funding Opportunity launch in March — I hope to see you at one of Meyer’s information sessions. We look forward to exploring opportunities to work together in creating a vibrant Oregon where each and every one of us can truly thrive.

— Candy

 

As Meyer closed out the last two months of 2017, we awarded more than $3.1 million for work that supports our communities, builds connections and helps create a place where all Oregonians can thrive. I’m delighted to share our latest awards made through funder partnerships and requests for proposals and in response to emerging needs. Here are a few highlights:

Partnering with Pride

We are so pleased to partner with regional grantmaker Pride Foundation to expand opportunities and advance full equality for LGBTQ people in Oregon. As part of our commitment to supporting LGBTQ Oregonians, we are investing $225,000 to support Pride Foundation as it builds its capacity and increases community financial support for its Oregon work and integrates racial equity throughout its organization. As you can see from its recent Oregon grant awards, Pride is making important investments to build lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer support and community across our state. We hope Meyer’s investment inspires others to provide philanthropic support and help to create an Oregon where all LGBTQ people are valued, safe and supported. Our colleague Katie Carter, director of strategic priorities at Pride Foundation, shares more about Pride’s work and our partnership here.  

Forest fires in rural Oregon

The summer forest fires devastated our neighbors in several rural Oregon communities. We made an earlier award to Crag Law Center to support public engagement in environmental recovery efforts. Now, with grants to Gorge Grown ($25,000) and the Humboldt Community Foundation ($20,000), Meyer continues our support for disaster relief, recovery and preparedness planning in Columbia River Gorge and Curry County communities impacted by the Eagle Creek and Chetco Bar fires.

Oregon Immigrant and Refugee Funders Collaborative

As the onslaught of harmful policies seeking to exclude and “other” immigrants and refugees continues, we want our immigrant and refugee families, friends and neighbors in Oregon to know their rights, feel valued and be surrounded and lifted up by supportive community. With our funder partners Collins Foundation, MRG Foundation, Oregon Community Foundation and Pride Foundation, we continue to support organizations addressing time-sensitive needs of immigrants and refugees. Our most recent grant to Bridging Cultures ($12,450) is expanding services for immigrants living in Canby who need legal information and support services regarding their residency status. You can learn more about the Oregon Immigrant and Refugee Funders Collaborative and how to apply here.

Aligning systems for housing stability

At Meyer, we know that we can’t achieve our mission of a flourishing and equitable Oregon until each of our residents has a safe and affordable place to call home. We also understand that the ability to successfully obtain and keep housing can be intertwined with many other challenges in a person’s life. And we know that outcomes improve for people who experience high barriers to housing when our systems work together to support them.

We are excited to announce eight multi-year grant awards totaling over $922,000 for projects across the state that work at the intersection of affordable housing and supportive services in systems such as criminal justice, health, mental illness, child welfare, domestic violence and addiction. My colleague Michael Parkhurst shares more about these inspiring Affordable Housing Initiative Systems Alignment grants in his recent blog.

Restoring the Willamette River

Our Willamette River Initiative (WRI) is grounded in the belief that the health of the Willamette River is intricately connected to the health of Oregon and Oregonians: our fish, forests, plants and wildlife, our drinking water, our farms, our cultures, our economy, our recreation, our spirituality.

Each year, as one of our priority strategies, WRI funds large-scale floodplain restoration projects along the mainstem Willamette River in partnership with the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board and the Bonneville Power Administration. In November, Meyer contributed to this partnership by awarding $482,487 in grants to Calapooia Watershed Council, Coast Fork Willamette Watershed Council and Willamette Riverkeeper for five important restoration projects that will support a healthier Willamette River and a healthier Oregon.  

Curious to learn more about what’s next for the Willamette River Initiative? My colleague Kelly House blogs about how WRI and its partners are planning for the next phase of work to build an inclusive, nimble and community-driven alliance of stakeholders to restore and protect our Willamette River. Read more here.

Supporting the arts

Art is a powerful way to build community. It gives voice and visibility to the diversity of experiences and stories and dreams of our people and communities, including those who may not otherwise be heard or seen. It broadens perspectives, moves the soul and feeds compassion, empathy and connections. It grounds us in our shared humanity.

Meyer continues our commitment to supporting arts and culture in Oregon with an eye toward the power of art to create and support community and social change. Historically, as one strand of Meyer’s investment in Oregon’s arts ecosystem, we have supported Portland’s five largest arts organizations — Portland Art Museum, Portland Center Stage, Portland Opera Association, Oregon Ballet Theatre and Oregon Symphony Association — through annual general operating support, working in partnership with other Oregon arts funders.

As we approach the final stages of restructuring our programs, we are winding down this strategy over the next two years, and going forward, we will invite these arts partners to apply through our portfolios alongside other arts organizations. As part of this planned transition, we are pleased to announce grants totaling $615,386 to support these organizations in both their current seasons and in implementing diversity, equity and inclusion strategies.

Portfolio awards

A number of additional portfolio awards support technical assistance for grantees seeking to advance diversity, equity and inclusion, navigating leadership transitions, building fundraising capacity and engaging community in public opinion research. A number of awards support planning, evaluation, training and convening. Others will support work important to our portfolios, such as strategies to improve priority students’ success in school.

You can see all of our November and December awards here.

Up next

In February, we will be announcing our final grants for this fiscal year. And stay tuned — our 2018 Annual Funding Opportunity is just around the bend! We will open for initial applications beginning March 15 with a deadline of April 18, and hope you will join us in March or April at an in-person or virtual outreach session. Our schedule is posted here.

Happy New Year and we look forward to seeing you soon!

— Candy

Sometimes someone just needs a little help with rent to weather a rough spell or a short-term emergency. But for many people and families, long-term housing success and stability can require connecting with other kinds of services, whether it’s support for physical health or behavioral health issues, employment services, or a long list of other possible services.

Seen from the other side, people receiving medical care, re-entering society after incarceration, or fleeing domestic violence are extremely vulnerable to the worst kinds of outcomes if they don’t have access to decent, safe and affordable housing.

Unfortunately, the systems that serve people who need help with those issues (and others) are often not connected to reliable support for housing and vice versa. That’s where Meyer’s strategy around “Systems Alignment” comes in. In July 2017 we invited proposals to better strengthen connections between affordable housing and various kinds of supportive services, and we are delighted to announce eight multi-year awards totaling over $922,000 for projects across the state:

• Central Oregon Health Council ($60,000 over two years): To develop, implement and improve a “housing first” approach for people experiencing homelessness and high barriers to housing success in Deschutes, Crook and Jefferson counties
   
• Cornerstone Community Housing ($150,000 over two years): To support a collaborative effort to build up the cadre of Traditional Health Workers in Lane County who help people with mental illness access and remain in housing
   
• Corporation for Supportive Housing ($130,000 over two years): To support FUSE (Frequent Users Systems Engagement), a multi-agency pilot project focused on identifying housing and serving frequent users of Multnomah County’s health, homeless and criminal justice systems
   
• The Klamath Tribes ($150,000 over two years): To develop and implement a housing support program to successfully transition and re-integrate members of the Klamath Tribes after serving time in prison
   
• Lane County Health and Human Services ($93,438 over two years): To develop a coordinated community-wide approach to break the cycle of housing instability, homelessness and crisis among people facing complex behavioral health challenges in Lane County
   
• Oregon Coast Community Action ($90,000 over two years): To stabilize housing for families in crisis and support the reunification of families involved with state child welfare services in Coos and Curry counties
   
• Raphael House ($99,000 over two years): To expand housing stability services that support survivors of domestic violence in Multnomah County
   
• Salem Housing Authority ($150,000 over two years): To develop and implement a “housing first” initiative in Salem to house people experiencing homelessness and facing high barriers to housing stability
   

As you can see, there are strong points of connection in this cohort, with several projects taking on the multi-sided challenges of helping people with some of the highest barriers to long-term housing success, as well as an impressive geographic diversity ranging from the South Coast to Central Oregon to the Willamette Valley and Portland. We’re also delighted to see the Affordable Housing Initiative’s first grant to a tribal nation and expect to continue to build stronger relationships with tribes around the state.

These grants represent Meyer’s second foray into Systems Alignment. In 2015, Meyer awarded nine grants to partners around the state piloting stronger connections between housing and systems such as health care, foster care, early learning and employment.

Our 2017 Request for Proposals (for one- to two-year grants of up to $150,000 total) built on Meyer’s experience with those earlier projects, and we invited submissions on projects with strong potential for broad impact in demonstrating successful, replicable approaches to better aligning affordable housing and related services. By supporting focused collaborative efforts engaging specific issues across multiple systems, Meyer hopes to assist the broader fields of affordable housing and supportive services by:

• Highlighting replicable models of successful collaboration, identifying specific strategies to promote effective cooperation across systems or service providers;

• Identifying and addressing significant policy or systems barriers to better coordination; and

• Documenting the potential to deliver better outcomes (including cost savings or other opportunities to better leverage scarce resources) through effective collaboration.

This all sounds great — who could object to collaboration and coordination? But as we began to learn from the prior round of Systems Alignment grants, there are many obstacles to “alignment.” In a blog post later this year, look for more detail around what we’ve learned from grantees, both on barriers and challenges to greater alignment, as well as some strategies and key lessons about how to drive collaborations toward shared success.

— Michael

Meyer Memorial Trust and Pride Foundation have been long-time partners, and share a deep and ongoing commitment to advancing equity in our foundations and more broadly in the field of philanthropy. Pride Foundation is a community foundation working in Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho and Alaska to inspire giving to advance opportunities and expand full equality for LGBTQ people.

Ever since Meyer CEO, Doug Stamm, and Pride Foundation CEO, Kris Hermanns, participated in a CEO learning cohort to help them advance equity, diversity, and inclusion at their foundations, we have found ways to learn from and support one another’s journeys over the years.

In 2015, Meyer offered critical financial support to help us deepen our racial equity work and host a Philanthropy Northwest Momentum Fellow, a fellowship program to create a pipeline for underrepresented professionals, particular people of color, to find entry points into philanthropy. Pride Foundation has offered our knowledge and expertise about the issues LGBTQ communities face in Oregon to help Meyer further integrate LGBTQ issues within their equity lens over the past few years, including coordinating all-staff trainings and programmatic support.  

This year, Pride Foundation is deeply honored that Meyer has chosen to make another significant investment to support our work in Oregon.

This could not have come at a more critical time for community philanthropy and the LGBTQ community in Oregon. As Pride Foundation finalizes our merger with Equity Foundation (an LGBTQ community foundation that had been working just here in Oregon), the opportunity to grow the resources to create safe, affirming communities for everyone in Oregon is enormous. More broadly, LGBTQ people in our state still face structural discrimination and racism, and our movement continues to experience significant backlash to the progress we have made. On top of this, the organizations working on our behalf have been chronically underinvested in, resulting in lean and unstable infrastructure to support our community.

Over the next three years, Meyer is awarding Pride Foundation a total of $225,000. $150,000 will help to grow our capacity and continue to deepen and expand our work in Oregon. Meyer is also investing an additional $50,000 for us to fully implement our racial equity innovation plan to center racial equity in everything we do at Pride Foundation.

To help us further solidify our efforts and encourage others to make similar investments, Meyer has also put forward a $25,000 challenge grant. Over the next few months, our supporters will have the opportunity to make a critical investment in our work in Oregon — and have that support doubled by Meyer.

"Meyer is excited to partner with Pride Foundation in expanding opportunities and advancing full equality for LGBTQ people across Oregon," said Candy Solovjovs, Meyer's Director of Programs. "We hope our investment inspires others to join us in providing philanthropic support and helping to create an Oregon where all LGBTQ people are valued, safe, and supported."

We are profoundly appreciative of Meyer’s continued investment in our work — and in LGBTQ people and communities throughout Oregon.

Data from the National LGBTQ Task Force and Center for American Progress demonstrates just how at-risk LGBTQ immigrants and refugees are from this administration’s actions:

• Nationwide, there are more than 267,000 LGBTQ adults who are undocumented without a path to citizenship — nearly one-third of all LGBTQ adult immigrants.
• LGBTQ people who are undocumented are disproportionately more likely to be arrested and detained by ICE.
• LGBTQ detainees are fifteen times more likely to be assaulted when they are in detention — particularly transgender women.
• Over 75 countries have discriminatory laws that target LGBTQ people, and in 7, a person can be put to death for being LGBTQ — resulting in thousands of people applying for asylum each year.

This grant award is certainly significant to us locally, but it also points to a critical step on Meyer’s part to address some troubling statistics about the level of institutional investments in LGBTQ communities more broadly.

Despite the growing need for support and services, funding from private, community, and corporate foundations for LGBTQ issues continues to be alarmingly low — and is steadily decreasing. While we have made progress, LGBTQ communities are still not invested in at the rate that is required to fully address the needs of everyone in our community.

This underinvestment, coupled with the fact that LGBTQ people continue to face harsh conditions across many aspects of our lives — especially elders, people of color, transgender people, Two Spirit people, youth, immigrants and people living in rural communities — paints a stark reality for so many in our community.

Impacting these deep-rooted issues and creating lasting change will take continued, focused effort — and resources. This fact makes us that much more grateful for Meyer’s ongoing partnership, leadership and commitment to LGBTQ issues and communities in Oregon — because it is a clear indication that change is indeed happening.

— Katie Carter

Pride Foundation’s 2017 Oregon scholarship recipients, receiving their scholarship awards and being honored for their leadership at the 2017 Scholarship Celebration in Portland.