At Meyer, we ask our grantees to engage with communities most impacted by disparities. And we value the wisdom our grantees develop about the work they do and the people they serve.

When we launched our new portfolio-based funding model last year, we knew we would want to shine a light on that collective wisdom. Drumroll ... Introducing Meyer’s Nonprofit Sector Learning Collaboratives and our first cohort of Leadership Development and Capacity Builder grantees!

Last November, we called for proposals to facilitate the development of leaders and organizations providing capacity building services to other organizations. I’m overjoyed to announce those grantees. The breadth of the organizations we’re funding through these two funding streams is exciting because the grantees represent all our portfolio priorities in education, housing, the environment and community building. And we were pleased that the percentage of Meyer applicants from rural communities, 30 percent, was the same percent of rural-based grants that we awarded.

Meyer had originally allocated $2.3 million for the Leadership Development and Capacity Builder grants in 2017. But because of the strength of the applications and opportunities to partner with organizations that really aligned with the funding goals, we’re awarding a total of about $2.9 million over two years.

Leadership Development: $1.5 million awarded through 22 grants

Why?

Socially based inequities are complex. Leadership development provides Oregonians with more connections, skills and resources to address areas of inequity that matter most to them. That’s the short game. The longer game is to build the power of people in communities that have not been represented in the traditional halls of power.

Many service organizations work with general populations. But organizations that are culturally specific are often made up of people from their target service community and provide services that are culturally and linguistically appropriate. That can lead to better outcomes for communities that are facing the greatest disparities. And leadership development capitalizes on the collective wisdom in communities while reducing reliance on a single leader who may come and go. The idea here is to spread out the leadership knowledge and leadership skills.

Meyer received 50 proposals for leadership development, totalling $3.1 million. Forty-five percent of the grantees serve the Portland area and 12 serve culturally specific populations.

Grantees for leadership development include Communities United for People/Enlace, a statewide-organization serving women, especially women of color impacted by violence, criminalization, climate change and immigration issues; Momentum Alliance, serving youths from marginalized communities in the Portland area; and EUVALCREE, serving Latinos in rural Malheur County.

Two to highlight include a grant for $80,000 to help the American Leadership Forum bring urban and rural leaders together to create genuine dialogue and leverage relationships that bridge the urban-rural divide that can keep Oregonians apart.

Another $80,000 grant, to the Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis, will help build the leadership skills of teens working to advocate for better policies and relationships with local law enforcement.

Capacity Builder: $1.4 million awarded through 10 grants

Why?

A central tenet of Meyer is equity. So we asked ourselves: What will that mean for organizations that are early in their journey to embody equity in their ranks and programs? And where will they get the support they need to meet us along the way? The answer is to support capacity builders with grants and collective learning.

Capacity building grants traditionally help strengthen what nonprofits do. These Capacity Builder grants help strengthen management support organizations that help nonprofits be more effective. You could say these grants support those capacity builders to strengthen their own equity chops and their services to be more effective in helping the nonprofits they work with get — and get better at — equity.

Meyer received 36 proposals totalling $4.3 million.

Two to highlight include a $88,195 grant over two years goes to Northeast Oregon Economic Development District — which serves nonprofits in Union, Wallowa and Baker counties — to help embed diversity, equity and inclusion into their trainings and to provide ongoing support to the organizations they serve through facilitating DEI discussions.

Another two-year grant is a turn on the saying: Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. The $147,178 grant to Oregon Health & Science University’s Evaluation Core Unit helps train small nonprofits serving marginalized communities to evaluate their work through research, collection and analysis of their data — and to provide them with a complete evaluation of their own work.

We’re asking all of the Leadership Development and Capacity Builder grantees to participate in learning collaboratives: one year for leadership development, two-years for the capacity builders. Over the course of their grant periods, we’ll host Learning Collaboratives through a series of meetings: three for Leadership Development grantees, four for Capacity Builder grantees.

Our Learning Collaboratives are intended to serve as an opportunity for grantees and Meyer staff to lift up collective wisdom to share and build knowledge to advance diversity, equity and inclusion work. With facilitator support, participants will be encouraged to reflect, plan and, to some extent, take action. All the grantees will have a chance to learn from experts in the field and will have a voice in informing how Meyer might fund these types of work in the future.

These collaboratives will help Meyer model best and promising practices among leadership development and capacity builders to advance DEI in Oregon.

— Carol

I was once a grantwriter. And this time of year, during the month when Meyer’s annual funding opportunity is open, I feel the pain of grantwriters.

Grantwriters are tasked with figuring out how to write the most compelling application possible in fewer than 2,000 words and convince a funder that a particular project is worth investing in. Coupled with funders’ selection criteria and processes, which are not always clear and can even seem arbitrary, the application process can feel downright frustrating.

One of Meyer’s values is transparency, and we strive to be open about our grantmaking and decision-making criteria. That’s why we organized in-person and virtual information sessions and created a new section on our website to share useful resources for applicants. I hope these tips help make applying for Meyer funding even easier.

Eligibility vs. alignment

Many organizations are eligible to apply for Meyer funding, but not all of them will be in alignment with our goals.

Eligibility means that the applicant fulfills certain requirements, such as having tax-exempt status and meeting our nondiscriminatory policy. Eligibility is a paved road — you’re either on it or you’re not.

Alignment, on the other hand, is more like a hiking trail — sometimes the path is clear; sometimes it’s harder to see. To show us that your project or proposal is a good fit with Meyer’s portfolio goals, you’ll want to demonstrate not only that the work you’re proposing to do directly ties to our desired outcomes but also that you have a strong analysis of how this work is (or is committed to be) rooted in equity and inclusion.

To get an idea of the projects we might fund, check out what each portfolio funded last year. Building Community’s list is here, Healthy Environment’s is here, and Housing Opportunity’s list is here. The Equitable Education portfolio begins making grants this year.

Read about our funding priorities, grant types and amounts

For some organizations, choosing a portfolio will be easy; for others, it might be a bit more difficult. If you’re in the latter category, spend some time reading about the different portfolios and decide which of their goals your work aligns with most closely. If you still have questions after looking at the portfolios, feel free to email us at questions [at] mmt.org (questions[at]mmt[dot]org) or visit Meyer’s frequently asked questions page.

In the Inquiry Application, you will have an opportunity to choose one — just one — portfolio goal and up to two outcomes your proposed work will help to achieve.

To read more about the types of funding available, please click here.

Use plain language

When talking about your work, don’t assume we know what you do, who you are, or what communities you serve. Answer each question fully and in as plain a language as you can, providing examples if appropriate, and avoiding jargon and acronyms if at all possible.

Check out the cardstack above for an example organization and program description for “Awesome Organization.” It can be a bit of a Goldilocks situation to find the sweet spot of clarity and simplicity.

Connect your work to root causes and systems-level impact

For your proposal to be competitive, you’ll want to make a strong connection between your programs and services and the root causes of the problem you want to address.

To continue with our previous example, improving access to chocolate is a worthy cause in its own right, but Awesome Organization’s proposal would be significantly more competitive if it demonstrated that it not only addresses the immediate need of the community, i.e. access to delicious chocolate, but that it is also thinking about what creates that immediate need (in this case: lack of farmer training and access to capital — especially for farmers from underserved communities), and how the organization can effect long-lasting change (in this case: providing low- or no-interest loans to farmers to keep chocolate affordable, and addressing barriers to access to both connections and spaces for innovation for farmers and chocolate makers).

Some additional tips

Create or update your profile in GrantIS, our online submission platform, with plenty of time and consider that:

• The setup takes a few days.

• If you already have a profile, you’ll need to certify that your organization’s information is correct.

• New this year: You’ll need to add your executive director or CEO’s start date.

• If you are applying through a fiscal sponsor, the process can take additional time.

Right-size your ask

Familiarize yourself with the range of funding amounts in your chosen portfolio. In determining whether your request is “right-sized,” we will consider your project size, project complexity, project budget, organization size, and what other funding you’ve secured.

Prioritize conveying key information in the body of the application

We receive such a high volume of requests that — as much as we would like to — we may not be able to read attached materials we have not specifically requested. Equity demands that we give all organizations the same amount of time and attention.

Let us know if you’re experiencing challenges

If your organization is going through a major change or has experienced some challenges recently, note it in your application and explain how the challenges might impact your project.

Write clearly and concisely, but don’t sacrifice meaning

If your friends or next door neighbors can’t understand what your organization does or what your proposal is about, we probably won’t either.

If you’re not funded, ask for feedback

If you are not invited to submit a full proposal this time around, we encourage you to contact us so that we can go over your Inquiry Application with you and discuss our perspective on what you can consider when submitting your next application.

We are looking forward to reading about the great work you are all doing and meeting some of you at the information sessions. In the meantime …

Here’s wishing you a productive grantwriting season!

— Violeta

Last year, as part of Meyer’s newly restructured grantmaking programs, we launched the first set of opportunities under the Building Community portfolio. We were excited and heartened by what we saw! We learned about how organizations across the state are working to support marginalized populations and prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion.

This year as part of Meyer’s 2017 annual funding opportunity, the Building Community portfolio is investing $4.8 million in grant funds. We will begin accepting Inquiry Applications on March 15, with a deadline of 5 p.m. April 19, that advance one of the following portfolio goals:

• Invest in strategies that dismantle inequities and create new opportunities to advance equity.

• Support efforts to encourage and strengthen civic engagement and public participation in democratic processes.

• Support arts and cultural initiatives that create inclusive communities.

Learning from 2016

The Building Community portfolio received more than 400 applications as part of the 2016 annual funding opportunity, and it was able to provide funding to 68 grantees. A few characteristics of last year’s grantees:

• 26 percent were focused in rural communities, 10 percent worked in both rural and nonrural communities and 28 percent were doing work at a statewide level.

• 25 organizations received project grants, 21 received capacity building funds, 20 received general operating support and two received capital funding.

• 10 percent were organizations with annual operating budgets of $200,000 or less.

• Four organizations were first-time applicants to Meyer.

• The average grant size was $113,000.

Most applications we received were compelling, but the ones that were competitive shared similar characteristics:

• They focused on historically marginalized populations. The Building Community portfolio has a special interest in people of color, people living on low incomes, women and girls, crime/abuse survivors, indigenous peoples and tribes, immigrants and refugees, the elderly, people with disabilities and LGBT people.  

• They considered how direct services were tied to broader systems or root causes. It’s important to consider how a direct service or program (e.g., domestic violence counseling) is part of a broader context or connected to other issues that address the root causes requiring the service.

• They employed strategies that were clearly informed by the intended audiences or those that would be most impacted by the proposed activity. Consider in what ways are the intended audiences for your work included in creating plans? Do they have some opportunity to influence what you do?

• They considered diversity, equity and inclusion as part of broader strategies to improve and sustain organizational health (e.g., operations, policies and procedures, finances, staffing).

Changes in 2017

This is the second round of annual funding in Meyer’s new grantmaking programs. We received positive feedback from applicants and grantees and have made a few changes to try to make the process as clear and straightforward as possible. Past applicants may notice a few changes this time around.

• We’re asking more questions about how an organization is informed by the population it seeks to serve. Our application aims to understand how your work and your organization as a whole is informed by the people you seek to impact.

• Knowing that the process of preparing an application requires a considerable amount of time, we have tried to be clearer about work that is not a good fit with Building Community. You’ll find a list of examples of what does not fit in the funding opportunity materials.  

• One of the most common questions we received in the application process last year was about grant size. This year, we have tried to provide more specific details, including the average grant size from last year (listed above) and how this relates to grant type (e.g., capacity building, operations, project and capital).

• Of the 68 grant awards provided last year, two were for capital requests and each of those two was for less than $100,000. This year, we will again consider a limited number of capital requests. These requests will need to show a direct and compelling connection to improving conditions for priority populations and need to demonstrate how diversity, equity and inclusion considerations both informed the project and will be assessed moving forward.

• One starting point for gauging where organizations are on their pathway to prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion is by collecting demographic data. This year we have created more resources and tools in a new Applicant Resources section of our website to provide more help with demographic data collection.

• We have been clearer about what we mean by “equity.” Our Applicant Resources also includes more information to help applicants think about how equity takes shape, both externally through programming and services and through internal operations.

Get More Information

We are committed to being transparent about what we seek in an application. Over the next month, Meyer staff will be traveling the state to share information about the 2017 opportunity across all four of our portfolios, including Equitable Education, Healthy Environment and Housing Opportunities. A list of information sessions can be found here. The Building Community team will be hosting three webinars where we will provide more details about this portfolio and and respond to specific questions.

Of course, you can also check out our new Applicant Resources page with more information. And feel free to contact us at questions [at] mmt.org (questions[at]mmt[dot]org).  

— Dahnesh

I am pleased to announce our 2017 annual funding opportunity. Through this opportunity, Meyer will invest approximately $3.3 million to advance our vision of nurturing a resilient natural environment, while supporting the well-being of Oregon’s diverse cultures and communities.

On March 15, the Healthy Environment portfolio begins accepting Inquiry Applications — with a deadline of 5 p.m. April 19 — that advance one of the following portfolio goals:

1. Support efforts that mutually achieve community well-being, economic vitality and environmental stewardship.

2. Ensure that environmental impacts and benefits are equitably distributed among communities.

3. Support a movement for a healthy environment that is effective and relevant for all Oregon’s diverse communities.

4. Ensure that natural systems are healthy and able to adapt to changing conditions and long-term impacts.

This is the second round of annual funding for our portfolio in Meyer’s new program structure. In December, we announced the first 47 grant awards out of a robust pool of 160 inquiry applications. These grants support a broad range of forward-thinking efforts for a healthy environment in rural and urban communities across Oregon. Projects include testing and scaling new strategies for protecting and restoring ecosystems while also supporting thriving communities. They also include efforts to give voice to more communities in shaping local and state-level decisions for clean air and water. Our aim with these awards is to bring diverse organizations together for change.

 

What’s different from round one?

For the current funding opportunity, we have provided more guidance about what makes a strong proposal and improved the process.

Last year, we rolled out a lot of changes all at once: brand-new portfolios with specific goals and outcomes and new funding guidelines; a newly overhauled application and data management system for collecting proposals; new staff at Meyer navigating a brand-new system for reviewing proposals and much, much more. That was a lot of new, and last year’s funding process was a bit of a roller coaster ride: thrilling, suspenseful and exhilarating, both for the Meyer team and for all the nonprofits that climbed aboard with us.

For 2017, we have made improvements. In the survey we conducted after the 2016 grant process closed, you asked us to “provide more clarity about the type of proposals that fit best” and to “simplify the application as much possible.” Using these comments as our guiding principles, we made some crucial refinements. Here are the highlights:

1. Expecting measurable environmental impact. In the application we request that applicants identify the measurable environmental impact their proposal aims to deliver. Last year, many requests did not make this clear and thus were not successful in securing funding.

2. Identifying what doesn’t fit. We recognize that preparing an inquiry application for Meyer requires a considerable investment of time and resources by an organization. We looked at which requests were most competitive last year and which  ones weren’t. We found that some types of projects consistently did not line up well with the outcomes we are working toward. This year we are providing a list of what doesn’t fit specific to this funding opportunity to help guide you.

3. Clearer direction on what amount to request. This year, the request amounts for the different grant types are more consistent across all the portfolios. We’ve also provided more guidance on what amount to request by sharing the average size of 2016 grants. Last year, requests tended toward the high end of the funding ranges, but we can actually only fund a few of those.

4. Operating support candidates are very specific. Operating support grants will continue to be focused on a limited set of organizations. In addition to the 2016 parameters, which remain the same, we also expect that organizations seeking operating support will demonstrate diversity, equity and inclusion leadership in the context of their community and specific field (e.g. freshwater conservation, marine conservation, climate change, etc.). Please contact us to discuss whether your organization is a good fit for operating support.

5. Demographic data collection update. Of all the parts of the application that we tried to improve, this was probably the toughest. By its very nature, collecting demographic data is complex and fraught with challenges. To help you navigate some of these challenges, we have organized resources and tools into a new Applicant Resources  page to support your efforts. In the revised inquiry application, we request a modest number of summary demographic data points that are relevant to Meyer’s equity mission. We will not require applicants to submit the separate demographic data spreadsheet that we used last year.

6. More on what we mean by equity. During last year’s funding opportunity process, we fielded many questions from potential applicants about diversity, equity and inclusion in rural Oregon. This year we are hosting two webinars with leaders of three rural-based organizations — Lomakatsi Restoration Project, Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center and Rogue Climate — to share their experiences with advancing equity in their work in rural Oregon. They will answer your questions about how to get started and where to go next. In addition, our new Applicant Resources page includes tools and resources to help you understand how we think about and assess diversity, equity and inclusion in the context of organizations’ internal operations and their mission and programs.

You’ll probably find evidence of other tidying and small tweaks to move us forward. And we look forward to further refinements after round two as we gain experience with the new portfolio and work more closely with you — all the great organizations working hard for a healthy environment in our state.  

 

Getting more info

If you’d like to discuss the 2017 Healthy Environment Annual Funding Opportunity and your proposal plans, please participate in one of the upcoming Info Sessions or contact us at questions [at] mmt.org (questions[at]mmt[dot]org). Make sure to also review Candy Solovjovs’ recent blog announcing the 2017 Funding Opportunity, which offers guidance and tips relevant to all the portfolios.

Our work together is now more important than ever. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch to discuss your ideas and questions.

— Jill

It’s an exciting time of year for us at Meyer — our Annual Funding Opportunity is now open! We relish the chance to learn about the interesting and passionate work our partners are doing to strengthen communities and ensure every Oregonian has a safe, decent and affordable place to call home.  

Details of our application process are available on our website, and general updates regarding the Annual Funding Opportunity are outlined in this blog by Candy Solovjovs, Meyer’s Director of Programs.  

Since we announced the first group of awards under the new Housing Opportunities portfolio, the Meyer housing team has been taking time to reflect on the process. We had a plan for how the process would go, and on the whole, it panned out as we expected. Where we saw reality diverging from our expectations, we knew there was room for simplification, clarification or both.   

We’ve also weighed the survey feedback from the 2016 applicants, who were frank in their assessments of what worked smoothly and, even more importantly, of what areas needed attention.

As a result, we have made changes to this year’s Annual Funding Opportunity. The changes are fine-tuning, rather than sweeping. Here are some answers to questions you might have about the changes:

 

Will Meyer’s goals for the Housing Annual Funding Opportunity change?

No. The core funding goals of Housing Opportunities remain the same:

1. Preserve and increase the number of affordable housing rental units.

2. Support the housing stability and success of Oregonians living on low incomes.

3. Strengthen the housing sector by building capacity, diversity, equity and inclusion, and collaboration.

You’ll see some refinements in the wording of the funding goals. We hope these will add emphasis and clarity about the types of proposals we are hoping to fund. Everything else from last year’s funding call stands.

 

What did we learn from last year’s Annual Funding Opportunity?

We funded 39 exciting projects in the 2016 annual funding call. In my November blog, I noted that the batch of proposals was extremely diverse, encompassing both solid and proven approaches and new, innovative efforts to address affordable housing needs across our three funding goal areas. The slate of awards reached many corners of the state, and over 20 percent of awards were made to organizations that were new to Meyer or had never been funded before.

We also learned of some challenges in our process, leading us this year to reconsider our process and seek clarification. Some observations from the Housing Opportunities team:

• We seemed out of sync with the state’s Local Innovation and Fast Track (LIFT) Housing Program. Many of the potential LIFT projects that applied to Meyer were early in the process, not quite fleshed out, and did not fare well in our funding.

• Several proposals under Goal 2 were challenged to show how they would, beyond an indirect way, lead to greater housing stability and success. For example, we saw proposals that would help people gain more income. This could translate into housing stability but only if the project was intentional in helping participants to overcome other housing barriers — and if it measured housing stability.

• It was challenging to align a project with complicated financing — especially those using tax credits — with our annual funding call. Some projects came in quite late and asked Meyer for “top off” funding, while others were quite early in the process.

• Our process did not take into account some of the more complicated mixed-use housing developments.

• Although many proposals included specific diversity, equity or inclusion (DEI) activities, few proposals were focused overall on DEI.

Incorporating what we’ve learned, what has changed in this year’s Annual Funding Opportunity?

 

Goal 1: Preserve + Increase the Number of Affordable Housing Rental Units

• At a basic level, we know Oregon has a chronic shortage of affordable housing, making support of both preservation and new development a crucial part of the portfolio’s goals.

• Because the initial batch of LIFT awards has been announced, we expect to see applications that are farther along and likely more competitive. Projects that were eligible for LIFT but were turned down last year are encouraged to apply again if their project has secured LIFT funding and they meet Meyer guidelines.

• We expect the uncertainty of potential federal tax reform to continue to have an effect on tax credits and to challenge current developments in the pipeline. To the extent possible, applicants to this goal area should anticipate and consider other plans for pulling together the necessary financing.

• We gave guidance last year that any mixed-use projects should seek Meyer’s support for just the affordable housing portion of a project. We will be more flexible this year and are willing to fund other aspects of a mixed-use project when crucial to project completion. If this situation applies to your project, you’ll want to have a conversation with our housing team staff.

Goal 2: Support the Housing Stability + Success of Oregonians Living on Low Incomes

• The description of Goal 2 was modified to focus on housing stability and success. To be most competitive here, projects should not be structured to help people succeed  generally, but rather to have a more direct connection to housing. We expect to see projects that propose to track or measure the actual experience of people to access or retain housing, advance toward housing stability or mitigate displacement pressures.

Goal 3: Strengthen the Housing Sector by Building Capacity, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Collaboration

• We described this goal last year as strengthening the housing sector by building capacity and long-term health. Yet the outcomes we were hoping to see focused on building capacity, fostering collaboration and increasing diversity, equity and inclusion across the sector. The phrasing of the goal now better aligns with the outcomes here.

• Meyer supported several projects with some DEI-focused technical assistance, but we also want to consider longer and deeper equity work. We will, therefore, be offering general operating support grants to organizations that do the majority of their work in affordable housing and have DEI strategies as a meaningful part of their work plans for the grant period. These grants are expected to be more competitive, and if you are interested, please carefully read the guidelines on general operating grants.

Once again, Meyer will be offering a series of general information sessions around the state. In addition, three Housing Opportunities Information Sessions will be conducted by phone March 24, March 31 and April 6. You can sign up for the Housing Information Sessions on our website. If you have questions around your specific project, feel free to contact us at questions [at] mmt.org (questions[at]mmt[dot]org) or 503-228-5512. We’ll route the questions to our team members for a prompt reply.

We were thrilled last year to receive a range of interesting, complex and creative proposals, and we have no doubt that this year’s proposals will be equally impressive. Know that your partnership is invaluable: Meyer couldn’t do its work if we didn’t have front-line practitioners sharing their experience, learning and perspectives.

We look forward to another opportunity to work with you in the coming year.

—Theresa

Meyer’s 2018 Annual Funding Opportunity opened on March 15, 2018 with Initial Applications due on April 18, 2018 at 5 p.m. Our team invites you to connect with us to learn more about these opportunities and Meyer’s priorities at in-person and virtual sessions.

Although we've completed our in-person information sessions for 2018, check out our virtual sessions with staff members from Meyer Memorial Trust’s Building Community, Equitable Education, Healthy Environment and Housing Opportunities portfolios to answer questions and share insights about our grantmaking.
 

Virtual Information Sessions

This series of virtual information sessions will be held by video to share information and answer questions about Meyer's 2018 Annual Funding Opportunity. In addition to a general session, each portfolio team will facilitate portfolio-specific virtual information sessions. RSVP information coming in February! 

COLLABORATIVE PROPOSALS INFORMATION SESSION

When: Monday, April 2, 2018

Time: 10-11 a.m.

Facilitated by: ALL PORTFOLIOS

RSVP: Here
 

BUILDING COMMUNITY

When: Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Time: 3:30-4:30 p.m.

Facilitated by: Building Community portfolio team

RSVP: Here

 

When: Friday, April 6, 2018 — (Special focus on arts initiatives)

Time: 10:00-11:00 a.m.

Facilitated by: Building Community portfolio team

RSVP: Here

 

EQUITABLE EDUCATION

When: Friday, March 23, 2018

Time: 1:30-2:30 p.m.

Facilitated by: Equitable Education portfolio team

RSVP: Here

 

HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT

When: Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Time: 2:00-3:00 p.m.

Facilitated by: Healthy Environment portfolio team

RSVP: Here
 

When: Thursday, April 5, 2018

Time: 10:00-11:00 a.m.

Facilitated by: Healthy Environment portfolio team

RSVP: Here
 

HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES

When: Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Time: 3:00- 4:30 p.m.

Facilitated by: Housing Opportunities portfolio team

RSVP: Here

The cost of new affordable housing in Oregon has been a topic of intense scrutiny. The need for affordable housing continues to outpace the current system’s ability to deliver additional units. There is immense pressure to stretch the scarce public funds dedicated to affordable housing as far as possible.

Meyer’s Cost Efficiency strategy was developed in direct response to public, private and nonprofit community partners’ call for Meyer to spark and test innovations to address the high cost of affordable housing development and to influence policy and systems changes supporting different approaches.

As part of the the Affordable Housing Initiative, Meyer convened a group of experts to define problems and potential solutions. The final report of the Cost Efficiencies Work Group, The Cost of Affordable Housing Development in Oregon, was completed in October 2015 and has received wide attention from public funders, elected officials and the affordable housing industry.

As a continuation of that work, Meyer began funding five innovative pilot projects last year (with predevelopment grants under a Request for Proposals that elicited 17 proposals overall), focused on trying new approaches to reduce the cost of affordable housing development. The sponsors of those five projects were recently invited to request capital grants to support further development of their projects, depending on how well the projects were furthering the goals and criteria outlined in the 2016 RFP.

While each of the five predevelopment pilots ran into challenges (both expected and not), four of the five proposals appear to be moving ahead, and we are pleased to support these projects with significant capital grants approved in January.

Northwest Housing Alternatives ($400,000) — Building a replicable, efficient small project that is not reliant on 9 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credits for funding

This project, underway in Oregon City, will draw on and develop lessons from several other NHA projects around the state at different stages of development (in Hermiston, Hillsboro and Florence). In addition to rigorously focusing on cost-efficiency in design, NHA (working closely with its contractor Walsh Construction) will compare the feasibility of using factory-built modular housing with the most cost-efficient approach to site-built housing.

REACH CDC ($400,000) — Adapting “Lean” manufacturing to affordable housing on a large project in Southeast Portland.

Lean planning and coordination, typically associated with manufacturing processes, depends on an intensely collaborative and iterative approach to design and execution. The Lean approach taps into the collective expertise of the project team, identifies waste and inefficiencies, and focuses on continuous learning to improve workflow. By working closely from the outset of the design process with the general contractor (Walsh Construction), subcontractors, architect and other project partners, REACH hopes to achieve significant cost savings over a more typical affordable housing development.

SquareOne Villages ($200,000) — Developing a new tiny-house village in Cottage Grove, with an emphasis on assisting other grass-roots efforts at low-cost housing.

SquareOne is building upon its recent successes in Lane County (with Opportunity Village Eugene and Emerald Village Eugene) in providing basic, extremely low-cost housing drawing on grass-roots support. As it begins work on its latest project in Cottage Grove, SquareOne will distill what it has learned to date into a Toolbox and training kit meant to help other small Oregon communities with fewer local housing resources replicate the approach.

Transition Projects Inc. ($500,000) — Piloting efficient and flexible modular housing designs.

At the core of TPI’s proposal is an innovative modular approach to design and construction that can be combined and configured in a variety of ways, including some single-room occupancy units with shared bath and kitchen facilities. Like the NHA project, TPI will work closely with its partner on this project (Housing Development Center) to compare and evaluate whether factory-built modules can be cost competitive with site-built versions of the units. This “kit of parts” approach will be piloted on an unusually shaped property in North Portland that would be difficult to develop with a conventional apartment building. HDC hopes to then partner with Northwest Oregon Housing Authority (NOHA) to replicate this approach to pilot low-cost workforce housing on the north coast.

The fifth predevelopment project (creation of a new rental housing community using manufactured homes in East Portland, led by Innovative Housing Inc.) is not proceeding as originally proposed but has surfaced important lessons for when and where manufactured housing might be a good choice for affordable developers.

This slate of grants represents different strategies and housing types with real potential to push the envelope in the affordable housing space in Oregon. Even though three of the four projects are located in the Portland region, the four approaches cover a mix of common housing challenges. Their hard-earned experience will benefit developers creating affordable housing across the state.

As part of our emphasis on shared learning and informing the field, we will collect and disseminate detailed lessons learned from all five projects (including the one not going forward), and we are actively engaging partners around the state (including developers, funders and regulators) about the best venue and format for continuing the cost efficiency/innovation discussion. We have a commitment from the project teams to document the lessons they learn and to actively share these lessons broadly with the affordable housing industry. We expect a high level of interest from a variety of public, private and nonprofit partners.

Lessons Learned So Far

Although these projects are still in early stages of development, the core conclusions of the 2015 report seem largely validated.

• There are meaningful opportunities to shave down both soft costs and hard costs. The best way to identify and exploit these opportunities is to challenge development teams (in a thoughtful and nuanced way) to deliver at a lower cost.

• All partners in affordable housing — funders, lenders, investors and local jurisdictions to name a few — have a part to play in lowering costs.

• Some approaches — including new rental communities with manufactured homes and building with factory-built modular units — have turned out to be more complex or costly than originally expected, at least for the pilot projects.

• Radically lower costs probably come with unacceptable tradeoffs in terms of quality, durability, neighborhood acceptance and other important factors that developers must wrestle with.

This is an inherently complex set of issues, and there is still a lot of work to be done (see sidebar). We hope these projects will inspire and inform affordable housing developers who are genuinely interested in lower cost development, as well as funders who are exploring ways to support and encourage lower costs without compromising other crucial aspects of housing development.
 

Other Meyer Efforts Around Cost Efficiency

The 2015 report listed a number of recommended next steps to advance work around lowering development costs. Along with our partners in the field, we’ve made some headway on many of these.

• We continue to meet with a wide array of stakeholders — including public funders, decision-makers and influential private sector groups —regarding the lessons of the Cost Efficiency report.

• Following up on the identified need for more flexible funding, Meyer has convened some fruitful early conversations around identifying potential sources of new private funding for affordable housing.

• Good work is under way (led by Earth Advantage and supported by HDC) to adapt a framework for lifecycle cost analysis that can help evaluate the long-term cost savings of specific energy-efficiency related strategies in housing development.

• We continue to engage public funders and decision-makers, as well as the industry at large around how to achieve lower costs without compromising on other goals and on messaging and communications around these issues.

Transitions Projects: Low-Income Single Adult Housing (LISAH) concept

Meyer’s Affordable Housing Initiative has always prioritized the distinct and urgent needs around affordable housing in rural Oregon. The stories of Oregonians living in manufactured housing are particularly moving, both because of their vulnerability to dislocation and because so many people live in older, substandard homes with few resources to address housing issues that impact their health, utility bills and basic housing stability.

Although we’re still interested in strategies for the cost-efficient replacement of older manufactured homes, Meyer has been persuaded by partners around the state to support repair programs helping low-income residents of manufactured homes with urgent repair needs, weatherization and accessibility improvements. By addressing urgent repair needs that homeowners can’t afford themselves, small grants and loans for crucial repairs can help homeowners avoid costly and difficult relocation, help people live in better comfort and health within a community, and even prevent homelessness.

Last fall, Meyer released a Request for Proposals to build the capacity of rural manufactured home repair programs, and we encouraged nonprofits and housing authorities to submit proposals for up to $50,000 per year for up to two years (no more than $100,000 total). With a strong field of proposals, Meyer funded nine projects totaling $630,000 over two years:

ACCESS (Jackson County) $50,000
Benton Habitat for Humanity (Benton County) $100,000
Community Action Team (Clatsop, Columbia and Tillamook counties) $50,000
Community in Action (Harney and Malheur counties) $100,000
Habitat for Humanity of Lincoln County (Lincoln County) $30,000
NeighborImpact (Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson counties) $50,000
Neighborworks Umpqua (Douglas County) $100,000
Umpqua Community Action Network (Josephine County) $100,000
Yamhill County Affordable Housing Corporation (Yamhill County) $50,000

The nine grants cover a wide swath of rural Oregon, from the coast and southern Oregon to the central and eastern part of the state. In each case, the proposals described in detail the need for this work in the community, how the agency would carry out repairs, and how the agency would prioritize which households were assisted (most commonly, seniors, people with disabilities and households with veterans were defined priorities). Each program actively seeks out ways to leverage other resources, including donors and volunteers, weatherization funds and other local resources. In most cases, Meyer funding will help programs reach homeowners who can’t be assisted with other, less flexible funding.

We know that these grants will only address a fraction of the statewide need. We intend to document the impact of this work and hope to demonstrate the value of these programs to other funders, public and private. We believe that small repairs can make a huge difference in rural Oregon.

Support for Housing Stability

Last fall, the Network for Oregon Affordable Housing (NOAH) was awarded a two-year Meyer grant to support a statewide steering group including public, private and nonprofit partners wrestling with supporting long-term affordability and housing stability in manufactured home parks. We are pleased to see them take on this important convening and coordinating role and will be interested in their progress identifying opportunities, resources and supportive policies to maintain manufactured homes as an affordable housing option for Oregonians.

For more information, contact Rob Prasch at NOAH: 503-223-3211

In the months since our momentous November 2016 award announcements under our issue-focused, equity-based portfolios, Meyer Memorial Trust has made an additional 27 grants totaling more than $3.5 million to a variety of tax-exempt organizations. These awards were made through RFPs, technical assistance, collaborations and other Meyer-directed funding to advance our vision of a flourishing and equitable Oregon.

View the full list of Fall grant awards by viewing this PDF. And, as always, you can view our full awards database here.

• In our Housing Opportunities portfolio, we made nine grants totaling $1,616,000.

• In our Healthy Environments portfolio, we made five grants totaling $443,377.

• In Equitable Education, we made six new grants totaling $568,000. Read about the new Equitable Education framework, including our goals and strategies for this work, in this blog post by Matt Morton, Meyer’s Equitable Education portfolio director.

• In our Building Community portfolio, we made four awards totaling $370,000.

• Additionally, we made three Meyer-directed equity grants totaling $560,000.

Stay tuned for two upcoming Requests for Proposals:

Affordable Housing Initiative: Advocacy Mobilizers and Campaign Leaders

• We will open this RFP for applications on Tuesday, February 28, 2017

• Proposals are due on Wednesday, April 5, 2017 by 5pm

• Grants are expected to range from $20,000–$50,000 per year for up to two years. The lower end of the range is dedicated to advocacy mobilization efforts and the higher end reserved for more focused campaign leaders

• Total funds available: up to $600,000 in grant funds this cycle

 

Spring Funding Opportunity

• We will open for applications on March 15, 2017

• This year’s opportunities will include all four portfolios — more details to come.

• Stay tuned on the Meyer website for a schedule of March information sessions about these opportunities.

Stay in the loop by signing up to receive our general e-newsletter, Meyer Mail, as well as portfolio-specific e-newsletters.

It’s simple: The hostile rhetoric leading up to and including the president’s executive orders issued this past week has been hateful and inexcusable and runs counter to the principles of our republic.

Following two executive orders targeting immigrants and refugees, on Friday, Jan. 27, just a week after his inauguration, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that bars refugees and immigrants from a number of Muslim countries from entering the United States. It’s clear we are at the beginning of a long, hard fight.

It’s surreal to stand at this historical moment. This early action has already divided families and engendered fear, anxiety and hopelessness. Muslims, immigrants and refugees are the targets today, but so many are at risk if we head down this road. What comes next? We must stand for the rights of all people of color, people with disabilities and the LGBTQ community.

I have personally been heartened by the response from the citizenry. We have seen millions urgently take to the streets and airports in response. This past weekend, thousands showed up at Portland International Airport to support refugees and immigrants affected by the action.

In my last blog post, I made it clear that in the face of our new political realities, Meyer will “be nimble by remaining open to time-sensitive instances where our established program strategies are not positioned to respond." This is one of those moments.

In response, Meyer is providing grants to five community-based organizations on the front lines of ensuring the security, safety and civil rights of all people in our community. Although we currently fund these organizations, now more than ever their human and financial resources are being tested by the great work before them. And we need them to be strong in this fight. So in solidarity and support of their important work, we are making the following supplemental grants:
 

• American Civil Liberties Foundation of Oregon:  $20,000 general operating support
• Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization: $20,000 general operating support
• Unite Oregon: $20,000 general operating support
• Immigration Counseling Services: $20,000 general operating support
• Muslim Educational Trust: $20,000 general operating support

 

Our message is clear: To private citizens, we urge you to exercise your rights by using your own resources and voice to put pressure on power. Attend a rally. Call your representatives at every level of government. Show support to your neighbors. Use the rights you have. Go beyond what you think you can do. These are extreme times.

To other philanthropic organizations and corporations, we urge you to use your considerable resources and loud voices to stand up for what is right and to resist oppression and injustice to all members of our community. This is the time to speak up.

Meyer is determined to join others and help lead this fight by using our resources and our voice to respond to these inexcusable challenges to our most basic civil liberties. We pledge to continue to look for opportunities for rapid responses and swift impact. In addition, we will soon be announcing our 2017 spring funding opportunities, which will continue our work toward a flourishing and equitable Oregon.

— Doug

 

(Photo: John Rudoff/Polaris Images)