Earlier this year, Meyer Memorial Trust surveyed Oregonians to share their experiences with and concerns about public education in this state. The response was overwhelming. Over 900 people shared enthusiastic, innovative visions for education and sobering stories about its challenges. Their feedback will help to shape Meyer’s new Equitable Education portfolio.
From educators to nonprofit leaders, from parents to lawmakers, their insights reflect a deeply committed, thoughtful community.
We found a similarly invested community during five listening sessions this summer, in Hermiston, Medford, Redmond, Salem and Portland. Our hosts were gracious and kind, sparking incisive, compelling dialogues about the state of education in Oregon.
Our primary takeaway from the discussions: Oregonians want their voices to be heard on education. They reminded us that too many communities, particularly those that are underserved and experience the greatest disparities, have been absent from statewide conversations on education. People we surveyed asked Meyer to play a unique role in partnering with community organizations to activate, amplify and elevate these voices into unified action toward meaningful and equitable education.
Respondents pressed Meyer to center our efforts on those communities that experience the greatest disparities in both access and opportunity. Reducing equity-related barriers in school and district policies, practices and culture emerged as most in need of improvement.
A vision for a statewide, youth-centered education system also emerged. We heard real passion for students to be able to successfully navigate through school, with full access to tools and supports they need. And there was consensus on the notion that students deserved to leave the education system with positive self-identities intact, ready to flourish and contribute to Oregon’s future.
Getting there will take work.
Participants highlighted a lack of wraparound services to support vulnerable students and families. Although schools are often seen as natural community centers, the absence of supporting services — from housing to mental health and from culturally specific enrichment to education transition — was widely seen as a missed opportunity to minimize barriers and increase overall well-being.
People told us they hope Meyer’s investments in equitable education result in youths building stronger connections to educators and finding relevance in their education experience. And they made clear their expectations of improved outcomes, such as smaller achievement gaps and increased graduation rates.
For many Oregonians, college preparation and access are crucial. For others, readiness to enter the workforce, via apprenticeship or certification programs, is essential to securing a family-wage job. We heard that both paths are necessary for Oregon to flourish, and both require innovative approaches focused on equity and inclusion.
We listened to understand. And what we learned made us thankful to serve a state so deeply committed to its future.
Meyer is grateful for the time and thoughtful insights we heard from survey and listening session participants. I’ve shared just a small portion of what we discovered: Every challenge and opportunity offered up has become another step toward our new, shared vision for equitable education in Oregon. As we work toward launching our Equitable Education portfolio in early 2017, we plan to keep listening and fine-tuning our collective vision.
We are excited to unveil our new look, a site with a sleeker design, simplified content and easier-to-find features. Meyer’s new site more effectively highlights what’s most important to us and our community. Our site’s functionality is also significantly improved, resulting in easier searches and a mobile-friendly design, so you can browse stories about our grantees on the go.
The new mmt.org highlights what’s most important to our partners, vistors and staff, through a more refined user experience designed to help make partnering with us easier and to share information and learning more effectively.
Here are just some of the features we’d like to highlight:
How easy it is to use across desktop computer, smartphone and tablets, which is a big deal as Meyer’s social media metrics show that although 98 percent of our visitors used desktop computers to come to our first version of mmt.org in 2010, 20 percent of visitors had shifted to mobile devices to access our website by 2016. We expect the number of tablet and smartphone users will only increase now that our site is more mobile friendly.
Front pages that show when Meyer is on-season — that is, open for grant requests or RFPs — and off-season, with no open grant opportunities or RFPs. The idea is to make it easier to know when Meyer is inviting requests to partner.
A brand-new News page, with search and filter functions to easily find Meyer Voices, Award Announcements, Meyer in the News and Grantee Stories
A simple way to find out what Meyer staff are saying by visiting the team pages
An intuitive timeline tool to make learning about Meyer’s history an interactive experience. Stay tuned as we apply the timeline to our initiatives and investments, to make catching up on those stories easier and more enjoyable! (launching soon!)
A cardstack feature that allows visitors to learn more and easily share content related to blog posts and grantee stories (launching soon!)
Gorgeous photography by Oregon photographers Fred Joe, Leah Nash and Meyer’s own Darion Jones, showcasing the work of our dedicated grantees and the faces of individuals determined to make Oregon a more equitable place.
An elegant calendar tool to keep visitors up to date on opportunities for grants from our four portfolios
Meyer worked with two local partners to design and build the new site, Smith & Connors for the visual design, user experience and front end development, and Metal Toad for the backend Drupal 8 integration. In future blog posts, we’ll write more about the process of building our new site, and our system engineer, Grant Kruger, will share the recipe of the website’s features.
For now, we hope you enjoy the experience, and we invite you to share feedback about the new site with us.
This week is a momentous time here at Meyer. Gerry Pratt – the last remaining trustee who was named in Fred G. Meyer's will establishing a charitable trust from his personal estate – is stepping down from his role as trustee.
Gerry's departure means a thread that connected directly to the man behind the Meyer Memorial Trust is broken. For the first time in Meyer's 31 years, no one on staff or among remaining trustees knew Fred Meyer.
Because he knew Fred Meyer so well, because he spent so much time with him in business and on a personal level, Gerry was able to invoke the spirit of Fred Meyer in our board room on many occasions. Gerry was the one that staff members and other trustees depended on to answer the question, "What would Fred Meyer do?"
Gerry's personal style leads him to request that no event or attention be directed his way as he takes his leave and assumes trustee emeritus status. But we can't in good conscience let this transition pass without acknowledging his indelible mark on Meyer Memorial Trust. All things considered, I would argue that Gerry Pratt has been the single most influential trustee over the life of the Trust.
An accomplished writer, Gerry once described the role of philanthropy this way:
“There is very little the Trust can do to shape society, but it can sometimes point the way by lighting up neglected corners of need. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of making only safe grants, but that really negates the purpose of a foundation. What we do is like a flashlight in a dark room. We can help find the light switch. We are successful when we do that, not by adding light to an already bright room.”
Gerry helped Meyer shine a light on many neglected corners of need in Oregon and Clark County, Washington. We are very grateful for his 31 years of dedicated service and we know that Fred Meyer would be proud of Gerry's enormous contribution.
This week we did something that has only happened five times since the doors of the Meyer Memorial Trust opened 31 years ago. We selected a new trustee.
We are thrilled to announce that Charles Wilhoite joins George Puentes, Orcilia Zúñiga Forbes, Debbie Craig and John Emrick on our Board of Trustees. Charles replaces Gerry Pratt, who retired as an active trustee at the end of March. (He continues to serve our foundation as trustee emeritus.)
Charles, a CPA with several special certifications, has lived in Portland since 1980 and is managing director at Willamette Management Associates, a firm specializing in financial consulting, economic analysis and business valuation services. In addition, he heads up the firm's national tax-exempt entity and health care services practice.
In addition to his financial acumen, Charles' broad and deep community service made him an attractive candidate for trustee. We were particularly impressed with his demonstrated commitment to and leadership within Oregon. He presently serves on a number of nonprofit boards of directors, including chair of Oregon Health and Science University, chair emeritus of the Portland Business Alliance, treasurer of the Urban League of Portland and chair of Oregon's Children's Foundation that operates the statewide SMART program. He is also a board member of a number of other community, state and national organizations. He plans to transition off boards of organizations that are potential applicants to Meyer Memorial Trust.
Fred Meyer, whose will established the Meyer Memorial Trust from his estate, wrote that "the usefulness and strength of a board of trustees should depend, above all, on a variety of points of view it can fairly represent."
Charles' rural upbringing, growing up in Navajo Nation, will bring a valuable perspective to our board. We actively seek out trustees who can bring new experiences and viewpoints to help us contribute to a flourishing and equitable Oregon.
Charles was named one of the Fifty Most Influential Portlanders by Portland Monthly in January 2012: "Admirers cite his money skills, fundraising connections, and passion for health and education, among other issues. (Some also hint that within this public-spirited persona lurks a wicked sense of humor.)"
We also discovered Charles has a history of collaborative, effective and creative problem solving and consensus building, something that will serve him well as a trustee.
Trustees of Meyer Memorial Trust have fiduciary responsibilities over all legal, fiscal investing, grantmaking and policy-making aspects for the trust. In addition to deciding which grant proposals get funding, they actively oversee investment of our corpus, presently at $722 million. Meyer paid out more than $35 million to tax-exempt organizations in Oregon and Clark County, Washington, in the most recent fiscal year, which ended March 31, 2013.
Our foundation's bylaws were recently amended by the trustees to establish an initial seven-year term, with the potential to serve an additional five years. Previously, trustee appointments were for life.
Please join us in welcoming Charles to the Meyer Memorial Trust team!
Meyer Memorial Trust has named seasoned investor Rukaiyah Adams as its new Chief Investment Officer.
Adams, the director of investment management at The Standard, succeeds Wayne Pierson, who contributed significantly to the development of Meyer’s $800 million corpus during his 32-year tenure as Chief Financial & Investment Officer, dating back to the Foundation’s inception in 1982.
Pierson is retiring this month. Adams takes on her new role at Meyer effective July 23, 2014.
She will lead an investment team that includes the support of Sayer Jones, Director of Finance and Mission Related Investing.
“We are enthused to have such a highly-qualified investment professional as Rukaiyah join the Trust,” said Doug Stamm, Chief Executive Officer of the Meyer Memorial Trust. “With strong roots in Oregon, Rukaiyah is passionate about her new role and the opportunity to partner with the Meyer team in our effort to create a more flourishing and equitable Oregon. Rukaiyah brings deep investment expertise and an eye towards innovation that we expect will expand Meyer's resources and impact."
Northeast Portland raised, Adams is a graduate of Carleton College in Minnesota, where she was named both a Ford Foundation Scholar and a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. At Stanford University Law School, Adams served as editor of the Law and Policy Review and co-president of the Law Student Association. She worked as a corporate lawyer for seven years in the Bay area before returning to Stanford for her MBA.
Adams comes to philanthropy from the world of private investments. At The Standard, a Portland-based financial services group, Adams led a team that managed $7 billion of direct investments. During her tenure there, she was appointed by Gov. Kitzhaber to the Oregon Investment Council, an oversight board responsible for the management of the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund and other state funds. A supporter of economic empowerment, women's health and the arts, Adams has volunteered her services to a number of community based organizations and initiatives. She currently serves on the board of directors of Portland Center Stage.
She also served on the finance committee of the local chapter of Planned Parenthood and was among thousands of lawyers assigned to polling places in Ohio and Florida during the 2008 and 2012 Obama presidential campaigns.
“I look forward to beginning my tenure as a student of philanthropy,” Adams said. “Hopefully, the combination of the knowledge gained from decades of good work by the people at Meyer together with my experience using assets for positive outcomes will generate something innovative and wonderful."
Meyer recently issued a statement on equity, a primer on our mission as a foundation and as individuals to do what is needed to enrich Oregon.
The statement is 429 words. It represents our recognition that to move forward, we have to look back and own the biases, oppression and disparities that shape this place that is our home. But it also represents a journey that the foundation started in earnest when we revised Meyer’s mission, vision and values.
I’m Oregon through and through, Portland-born and Stanford-educated. My socially liberal bona fides were well-honed. My friends, colleagues and acquaintances came in assorted colors and ethnicities, and from all economic backgrounds. I’d seen disparities up close and first hand during my tenure at Friends of the Children. I believed in equality. I believed we could do better. But the Doug Stamm of five years ago wasn’t meaningfully involved in the struggle. My hands weren’t reaching for the wheel to help drive the conversation about equity. So when we wrote Meyer’s values, these words meant something broad and unspecified to me: Flourishing and equitable communities are places with healthy environments where all current and future residents have fair access to opportunities to learn, work, prosper and participate in a vibrant cultural and civic life.
I cared. But I couldn’t fathom my role in removing the barriers that prohibit many Oregonians from having fair access to opportunities.
That was 2009. In 2013, the reality hit home in a real way when Meyer’s staff had a retreat to talk about race, white privilege, disparity and equity. I want to thank my colleagues, particularly my colleagues of color, for their honesty and fearlessness. The experiences they shared brought oppression home for me. The costs of personal and systemic prejudice were laid bare. At the end of two painful days of conversations, I knew I wanted off the sidelines. Their stories provoked me intellectually to think about what we meant when we talked about “a flourishing and equitable Oregon.” And they emboldened me to push myself and this venerable organization. I wanted to do more than nod my head along when people decried what was wrong, when the topic turned to urban blight, rural poverty, hunger, homelessness and hate. I wanted to be an ally in moving the needle toward real equity.
To truly be an equitable place, with the changing demographics in our state, Meyer had to address issues of developing fair access. We needed to be intentional. And that meant facing up to structural and institutional racism.
It is mere lip service if diversity doesn’t carry throughout an organization. Right off the bat, we knew that Meyer didn’t have the people of color at the management level that we needed to make this a richer foundation. We’d made progress in diversifying our staff but where we fell short was in diversifying our executive team. For several years, we had talked about wanting to see a change in that direction. People tried in earnest and we kept ending up with great candidates who were white. We refined our recruitment process, we promoted from within, but still our hiring didn’t change. A white friend who runs a Northwest foundation told me about a candidate he talked with for an hour. At the end of the interview, he really liked the guy. They just clicked. Then he realized it was because the candidate was exactly like him: white, male, Ivy League-educated. No wonder it was so easy to feel connected to the candidate — and to assume that affinity meant the man was the most qualified. That story really struck me. It was easy to fall into the mindset that we’d done all we could at Meyer; this was Portland, the whitest major city in America, after all. Of course we hired people just like ourselves.
We needed to push beyond those sensibilities to fill positions. We wanted qualified candidates: Degrees from Harvard and Stanford and a familiar, middle class upbringing are fine, but we began looking for people who were more broadly accomplished and could do the work. I reached out to executive directors of color among my friends and cohorts, and I told them I was hellbound to have qualified people of color in my finalist pools. Then I partnered with a firm with a history of recruiting folks of color at the executive level. With their help, Meyer’s recent hires have been top-notch.
Equity work is not a numbers game. But we are making real progress at Meyer, on the Board of Trustees, in staff and in management positions.
Together, we’ve gone through intensive trainings on race, racial equity and institutional, structural and individual racism. And we’ve worked hard to define our shared definition of equity as the existence of conditions where all people can reach their full potential. It has helped us come to the table as partners. It has shaped how we do what we do, giving us a lens through which to consider programs and determine where our funding can do the most good for communities that need the most. It has shaped how we measure our outcomes. It has focused our mission in philanthropy, a field that exists at the nexus of power and poverty, wealth and want.
But there’s still more to do. The journey, albeit indefinite, requires some road marks to ensure that Meyer continues in the right direction. One way we aim to stay on target is to cooperatively engage with communities and grantees to maintain an ongoing dialogue about where we are and where we ought to be.
For Meyer, it has been an evolution. For me, it’s been a transformation. Earlier this year, I became a grandfather. If you really care about the quality of life for your kids and your grandkids, you’ve got to see the upside to working to eliminate bias and oppression. Today, I see my role, and Meyer’s, as being actively engaged in the struggle. Let’s be clear: biases and disparities drive the societal costs philanthropy tries so hard to mitigate. Three years after the Occupy Wall Street Movement, I’m not so concerned about the top one-percent. But I am deeply concerned about the 17 percent of Oregonians in poverty. Can we do more to move that lower 17% up? I think so. The opportunity to succeed must not be tilted in favor of those who are white or born of privilege or come from a power base. Anyone can feather their own nest. Having a stake in equity means asking yourself: What can I do beyond that? Am I working to tear down structural and institutional barriers for people of color, for people in poverty, so they can build their own nests?
That’s the business I want to be in. And it’s work Meyer has taken on. The reason is simple: we have a shared destiny.
— Doug
Meyer has broadened our pursuit of equity to examine all aspects of social equity: race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, economic, class, disability status and ethnicity. Look for more blogs from Doug as we delve deeper into the barriers Oregonians face to creating vibrant cultural, civic and professional lives.
We're currently in the process of building a new website to replace our very dated Drupal 6 site. In January 2015, we put out a Request for Proposals and received 43 proposals in reply, far more than we expected. In the process of giving each equal care and consideration, we learned a lot about what we could have done better, what worked for us and what left us scratching our heads. In gratitude to those who gave us their time and effort, we wanted to share our takeaways from the process.
What we could have done better
Upfront soul-searching. In hindsight, we could have spent more effort defining our priorities. Approaching an RFP with wide open arms tends to result in an armful of RFPs. Had we trusted our instinctive preferences, say for a local partner and building the site in Drupal 8, we'd have saved ourselves, and dozens of firms around the world, an awful lot of effort.
Better communication. We should have set up an FAQ page from the get-go and announced it on the RFP, alerting folks that it would be updated continuously as new questions came in. We also should have scheduled a conference call for live vendor questions.
More detail beats less. Aiming for that fine line between giving too much information in the RFP and too little, we undershot. As a result, we spent a lot more time replying to questions than we anticipated. Overshooting seems a better option.
But a narrow focus beats a broad one. Along with greater RFP detail, we could have been more concrete about what we really wanted. Had we just stated outright that we only wanted to see Drupal 8 proposals, or been more explicit that we would accept full, design-only, and tech-only proposals, we might have saved Meyer — and potential vendors — time.
Team size matters. After looking at 43 proposals, we knew we didn't want a generalist freelancer or two doing the Drupal — a scenario we could have handled in-house. In the end, we discovered we needed the experience, best practices and processes more common in teams of specialists.
Of course, vendors might have more input here and we'd love to hear it and share it. Comment below or gkruger [at] mmt.org (email me) if there were things you wish we'd done better. Please don't mention the need to phone us directly though. It is impractical to accept calls from 43 firms (and often there were calls from more than one person at a firm). It was also frustrating when callers made hard-sell sales pitches, something our receptionist had to wade through, or attempted to trick us into revealing information we did not intend to share.
What we wished we'd seen
We looked at each website redesign proposal as a preview of a vendor's site-building abilities, professionalism and working relationships. If a proposal showed poor attention to detail or subpar communication skills, and if it disregarded instructions or contradicted the RFP, we took it as an indicator of how a vendor operates. Mediocre, cookie-cutter proposals, which might have had a shot in the absence of competition from other vendors, didn't stand a chance with us.
We get it: some vendors believe responding to RFPs is a waste of time. A San Francisco firm we'd heard great things about from other foundations told us upfront they no longer bothered with RFPs, instead prefering direct invitations to take on assignments. We appreciated their candor. But for those firms that choose to respond to RFPs, consider these tips to put your best foot forward. Many will seem obvious but we saw proposals with multiple examples of them:
Read the RFP and respond to what it asks for. Failing here will mostly get you rejected and certainly wastes time, including yours.
Respect the stated preferences. If the RFP says "no calls," then don't call. If it says "PDFs only," then send your documents as PDFs. Sometimes the requirements are a test to see who is paying attention. You'd be surprised how often people don't pay attention, and inattention is a poor trait to build a partnership on.
Proofread and spell and fact check. Among the RFPs we considered, we discovered accidentally included information about other clients and we were invited to drop by the office of a vendor located the other side of the country, etc. Feel free to use an RFP template, but take care that mistakes are fixed before you press send. You are selling attention to detail. Skip this step at your peril.
Line up your ducks before submitting the proposal. Sales, tech and management staff MUST be in sync on what you can deliver. If, for example, sales makes a promise tech can't support, your pitch will end up in the reject pile.
Be organized. Name your documents with both your firm's and the proposed client's names, e.g.: Amazing Web Firm Meyer proposal.pdf. Trust us, juggling 43 proposals named Meyer proposal makes for a massive headache. While we're on the subject, why not send just one document, not a proposal plus six separate resumes plus an appendix plus a document of examples... just one document. See massive headache, times nine.
Put your name on it. This one seems obvious but make sure to put your firm's name on the front page of your proposal. While you're labeling stuff, use page numbers and maybe include your name and the client's in the footer. It helps a lot.
Be succinct. If you're responding to an RFP that asks for a website that is less cluttered, less wordy and less overwhelming, think twice about sending an 80-pageAbout Us addendum. It is unlikely to be read — and may harm your proposal more than help it. Keep it short.
Your own site matters. It's your storefront and reflects the work you do. It is difficult to believe a vendor when they tell us how important great branding and an excellent website are if they are not doing these things for themselves. Out-dated tech, unresponsive design and the bad visuals will count against you.
Highlight how your examples fit the project. Tell us what you did. Among our favorite proposals were ones that pointed out which pieces of a previous project a vendor tackled, and how those pieces fit our needs. If you propose working with a partner you've worked with before, show us that work. If this is the first time partnering then pick examples of both firms' work that reflect what might dovetail with the client's project.
Highlight your expertise. Pick examples that showcase your technical capabilities and experience. Show sites that look like what you're proposing, that demonstrate current best practices and that use the same software (I used Wappalyzer to tell me how websites were built). If you have any prior clients in our industry then highlight them.
Stalk us. Okay, that may be overstated but it is nice when a proposed partner takes the time to get to know the client. Take a close look at our existing website and scan our social media. Notice what industry your client belongs to and tailor your pitch. Bottom line, you'll avoid silly mistakes, like calling a foundation a company or telling a nonprofit how your work will increase sales.
Remember who you're talking to. You are setting the tone for a business partnership. Being talked down to feels icky. Assume you are dealing with an intelligent, capable and highly motivated team. Look to the tone and content of the RFP to see how much explaining you need to do. For example, in our case we had a Drupal guy on the team (me) so we expected to field high level tech questions, from one pro to another.
Provide clickable URLs. You want the client to see your work, right? Making someone Google your examples to take a closer look is not what you want. Why? Well, if your work doesn't show up in the first few results, it may just draw my attention to your poor SEO skills.
Show us your team. If we ask for resumes of the team then give us the entire team we'll be working with. Not your policy? Then give us some reassurances about the level of developers you'll put on the job. Don't just give the resumes of managers who won't be integral to the project. And if you provide links to staff member's LinkedIn profiles, make sure they are up-to-date.
Make your best case. Say we state a preference for something specific, a like a type of software or a certain number of logo revisions. If you have a better idea, make clear the benefit we'll enjoy by doing it your way instead of ours. Alternatives without justifications left us feeling like we weren't heard.
Face up to technical challenges. If there are stumbling blocks we want to know that you are aware of them, that you want to be sure we know about them and that you are up to the challenge. For example, we requested Drupal 8 well ahead of its release date (read our reasons) so we were hoping for proposals that highlighted both the challenges and your confidence and competence to overcome them.
Be realistic about budget. Don't leave anything out. It can feel like subterfuge when surprises pop up. And if you win the RFP sweepstakes, be mindful of what you promised, and at what cost. Your client surely will.
Don't nag. We're not your only prospective client; you're not our only prospective vendor. Nagging makes people exhausted. Nagging before the RFP even closes leaves a bad impression. An email that politely says, 'don't call us, we'll call you' means just that.
Ways to improve a proposal for a Drupal or other tech website
If you're bidding based on a specific CMS or other software then show us your chops and those of your staff.
Link to your staff members' Drupal.org profile. Or link to a similar professional profile that shows your team's community standing, skills and contributions. And make sure the profile is filled in. Empty profiles do a vendor no favors. Also, consider that the client might read your proposal offline so offering a preview can be very user-friendly.
Open source communities are gift communities. Nonprofits have a lot in common with free and open source software (FOSS.) Showing nonprofits that you also give back is a good thing.
Don't explain to us what we already know. If we asked for a Drupal site then we already know why Drupal is a strong choice, so you don't need to tell us how awesome it is.
Watch your building blocks. This one should go without saying: Whatever you do, don't build your company website using Weebly, Webs, SquareSpace or any similar service aimed at non-coders, unless you are suggesting we use it too.
Equity and diversity
One final thing to discuss is diversity.
Tech is a field with a notorious lack of diversity. It is predominantly white, male and young and the data suggests that we're driving diversity away at every level, from high school through college to mid-career. Most firms don't question this or how they might be part of the problem. They wrongly throw their arms up and say the problem is too big and not their fault, enabling them to ignore the issue.
Equity and diversity are vitally important to Meyer. We stressed it in our RFP, and it's front and center on our website. In the majority of the proposals, there was no acknowledgement that equity and diversity matters and stock photographs showing predominately white, predominately male faces. Obtuse? Arrogant? Either way, we didn't feel listened to.
Diversity matters not only because it's right, fair and just, and because more and more of your clients will be looking for it from tech firms. It also matters because it makes firms like yours more productive, profitable and competitive. Sound like a crazy claim? Well, then you really need to watch Erynn Petersen's Keynote from the most recent DrupalCon on the financially measurable value of well-managed diversity in the workplace. She backed it all up with data and studies for which she included citations and references. Watch it and take note.
Wrap-up
The RFP process can feel an awful lot like online dating. You're comparing choices, trying them on for size and making decisions based on your best understanding of an possible partner.
Everyone can't make the final cut. But a number of firms that we did not select nonetheless grew in our esteem. We were impressed and grateful to have gotten to know them better. We regularly make recommendations to others in the nonprofit sector and we now have several new firms that we can point to. Though they didn't get this gig, they still may gain and there's a lot to be said for that. This backs up all of the above, which is to say do RFPs well, or don't do them at all.
While you know Jill from four years as a program officer at Meyer, juggling both Responsive and Grassroots grants, her background and skills that make her a great fit for this position.
Before Meyer, Jill spent 16 years in the environmental field developing a broad base of knowledge and experience, from traditional conservation to sustainability to environmental justice. Her experience integrating and operationalizing equity into environmental work is quite unique in the field.
Her educational background — a masters degree in environmental studies and a baccalaureate in government — offers a solid grounding in understanding environmental issues and policy. And Jill's management experience as co-executive director at CLF and as operations manager for the Sisters of the Road Cafe provides a base of planning, budget management and supervision experience that will serve her well in this role.
I couldn’t be happier to have Jill lead Meyer Trust’s new Healthy Environment portfolio.
Please join me and Doug in congratulating Jill on her new transition!
I'm delighted to share the good news that Theresa Deibele will be Meyer's new Housing Opportunities Portfolio Director!
While you know Theresa from her three years as a program officer at Meyer Memorial Trust, focused on Responsive Grants and PRIs, her background and skill sets make her an excellent fit for this specialized leadership position. Theresa has deep roots in housing, management, finance, community development and the law that will compliment our current AHI team and set the standard for our new portfolio directors.
As an attorney, Theresa gained significant experience in public finance and a broad understanding of Oregon's housing landscape, along with the complex regulatory framework for housing transactions. She brings deep and unique insights from her years as Chief Financial Officer at ChristieCare, where she oversaw an $8 million budget during a rocky period in the children's mental health policy and funding environment, and shepherded the organization through a merger. As supervisor of professional staff with deep content expertise, Theresa also oversaw a staff of 14, including finance, human resources, facilities and IT. And she has served as a mentor to up-and-coming professionals.
While at Meyer, she has established relationships in the statewide housing nonprofit community, including housing authorities, large multifamily housing developers, housing advocates, land trusts and organizations serving people experiencing homelessness. And over the last two years, she has managed Meyer's Habitat for Humanity program and fully engaged in Meyer Trust's PRI work.
Please join me and Candy in congratulating Theresa on her new transition!
This week we announced that Meyer's trustees approved 109 grants, totaling $4.3 million.
That batch includes the last of the Grassroots Grants that Meyer Memorial Trust will award. Since 2007, the Grassroots Grants program has opened Meyer to nonprofits in every county and corner of Oregon. More than 960 grants, totaling nearly $20 million, were awarded through the program, building relationships that have helped shape the Trust and projects that have improved the lives of our neighbors.
As you've probably heard, Meyer is in the midst of a big change, a shift in focus to make a more significant impact in areas Oregonians have indicated deep interest and concern: education, the environment, affordable housing and maintaining the social sector safety net. Meyer is not alone in taking a hard look at its work and realigning its focus: Ford Foundation recently announced plans to direct its considerable influence and wealth toward curbing financial, racial, gender, and other inequities, and to offer its partners significant general operating support.
As we refine what we do, we are asking our nonprofit partners for help in shaping what our grantmaking will look like when we launch our new grant programs later this year. Already, hundreds of affordable housing experts across the nonprofit landscape have taken part in a survey to help define our Safe + Stable Housing portfolio. A new survey aimed at determining the parameters of our Resilient Social Sector portfolio was announced last week. Stay tuned for additional opportunities to ensure that our changes reflect and respect the nonprofits in our wider Oregon community, from its rural towns to its urban centers.
We look forward to keeping you advised on our developments, our ongoing grantmaking activities and the shaping of our new funding programs.
