Culture change. That was the topic of a recent feature in the Oregon Business magazine, where reporter Allan Brettman interviewed eight business and civic leaders, including Meyer board chair, Charles Wilhoite.
Charles spoke about how Meyer's CEO search process reflected our culture:
“Meyer is about the most transparent organization I’ve ever been affiliated with because employees participate in just about everything,” says Wilhoite, the board chairman who was head of the search committee to find a replacement for Doug Stamm, who announced last April he would be departing this year after serving 15 years as chief executive.
Wilhoite and the board decided the CEO search would mimic the trust’s participatory culture. That meant telling employees they would have a direct role in selecting the new chief.
“We put it out there that we’re going to go through a search process. We want your feedback regarding attributes and characteristics and traits you want to see in the next CEO, and not all companies do that.”
“Meyer is about the most transparent organization I’ve ever been affiliated with because employees participate in just about everything,” says Charles Wilhoite, the board chairman who was head of the search committee to find a replacement for Doug Stamm.
Michelle J. DePass will take over as Meyer Memorial Trust's new president and chief executive officer on April 30. When she leaves The New School, where she has served as director of the Tishman Center for five years, a trio will step into her shoes.
The New School reports on the selection of three co-directors:
The three associate directors of the The New School’s Tishman Environment and Design Center will be promoted to co-director this spring when its current director steps down at the end of April.
Associate Directors Ana Baptista, Timo Rissanen and Brian McGrath will transition into the Center’s leadership position when current director Michelle DePass takes a new job as CEO of the Oregon-based nonprofit Meyer Memorial Trust.
“All three of us, me, Timo, and Brian, are really passionate about the environment and social justice,” Baptista said. “We all do it in different disciplines. Timo’s in fashion and Brian’s in design and urbanism, and I’m doing it more in the policy and advocacy world.”
A search is underway for a replacement for Michelle in another of her roles at The New School: Dean of the Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy. Additionally, Michelle serves as Tishman Professor of Environmental Policy and Management.
To learn more about the changes afoot at The New School, click here.
For 36 years, Meyer Memorial Trust has leased office space in buildings in downtown Portland, beginning at 1515 Market Square, where the Fred Meyer Charitable Trust first opened its doors in 1982. In 2004, Meyer moved to a space in the Pearl District, then an area filled mostly with industrial lots and warehouses.
The Skanner reports on the announcement that Meyer purchased 2045 N. Vancouver Avenue, with plans to build its new headquarters:
Anyeley Hallová, a partner at Project^, said the site was chosen partly for its proximity to transit and the availability of parking for partners driving in from elsewhere in the state. She also said (Meyer CEO Doug) Stamm and others stressed the importance of developing a site that wouldn’t displace anyone from their homes.
“The conversation we’ve had has been less about what is on site but with Meyer being there, how that can be a positive contributor to the neighborhood,” Hallová said.
Stamm said the organization has reached out to community partners representing organizations in the neighborhood – including Self Enhancement Inc., Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives and the Urban League – to talk about ways to develop the space so it benefits the neighborhood. For example, Stamm said officials floated the idea of having a “convening space” available for community meetings, but said the organization won’t do it if it takes business away from other facilities.
You can find more of The Skanner's coverage of Meyer's new headquarters here.
Meyer Memorial Trust announced its purchase of a 25,000-square-foot lot at the intersection of North Vancouver Avenue and North TIllamook Street in close-in North Portland.
Diversity, equity and inclusion can sometimes be philanthropic catchphrases.
So Marc Gunter, editor of the Nonprofit Chronicles, checked in on Meyer earlier this autumn to look into how our focus on equity has changed who we are and what we do:
A new survey of more than 1,500 nonprofits found that 90 percent of their chief executives, 90 percent of their board chairs, and 84 percent of their board members identify as white. Some 27 percent of boards identify as all white. The survey, published in a report called Leading with Intent by a group called BoardSource, found that boards are less diverse than they were in 2015, when the research group conducted a similar survey.
These is nonprofits, mind you, not foundations. But foundations, it appears, do little better. A recent Chronicle of Philanthropy analysis of the 20 wealthiest national foundations found that 72 percent of trustees are white. Non-Hispanic whites account for about 61 percent of the US population.
Does this matter? Absolutely, says Doug Stamm, the chief executive of the Meyer Memorial Trust, which lately has been engaged in what it calls an equity journey. It has put the issues of diversity and inclusion front and center for the Meyer trust and, increasingly, for the nonprofits that it supports.
Read more of Marc's report about Meyer here. And check out his journalism about nonprofit organizations and their impact at nonprofitchronicles.com.
Meyer has become a better place to work and a better funder because of what its people have learned about racism, oppression and its legacy. “It’s not an exaggeration,” said Meyer CEO Doug Stamm, “to say that we are an entirely different organization.”
New concepts can be difficult for philanthropy to embrace.
A dozen years ago, mission-related investing was in its infancy in the independent sector. Meyer's CEO, Doug Stamm, became an early leader in the practice — but first he needed to convince Meyer's board of trustees. Jan Jaffe, senior partner at The Giving Practice, chatted with Doug recently about what happened and shared their conversation on Philanthropy Northwest:
Doug: I was talking to Marie Deatherage, who was our communications director at the time. This was before social media was so strong, and we were a one-newspaper state. I told her that I was struggling to drive home the point that MRIs were key to Meyer’s mission. She designed a draft of the Sunday Oregonian with a front-page headline—“Dark Clouds Over Good Works of Meyer Memorial Trust”—and stories going down two columns about Meyer investing in tobacco companies while trying to address second-hand smoke health problems for kids. There were photos of the trustees along with the CIO. She put it in a finished-looking format—the Sunday newspaper without all the stuffing.
Jan: Wow. Fake news before its time. That was a creative move by Marie.
Doug: Yes, and only three years into my tenure this could have been a career-jeopardizing move for me. I tested it on my chairman at the time, John Emrick, by saying, “I have to share something with you. I know the editor of the newspaper. They didn’t want to shock us so they are giving us a pre-publishing draft. Here it is.” John is a well-known environmentalist. He put his head down. “This is not good at all!” I told him, “It’s bad…but it is not real.” I told him the story. Then he said, “This is great!” And I asked for his support to distribute 30 copies at the upcoming roundtable. I distributed it during my opening remarks, saying what we hoped wouldn’t happen, is happening on Sunday. Mouths opened and people were stunned.
Read more of Jan and Doug's conversation here. And stay tuned for their continuing conversation about reflective practices with a discussion on Meyer’s work to integrate diversity, equity and inclusion into our organization and our work.
A dozen years before "fake news" became a catchphrase, Meyer Memorial Trust imagined a worst-case headline should its investments continue to undermine its mission. This faux headline pushed trustees to greenlight Meyer's early mission-related investing.
For five years, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) has given nearly 800,000 hopeful young strivers brought to the United States as children the legal protections they need to work and study in this country, despite the immigration status of their parents.
Known as “Dreamers,” these young people have deep stakes in the U.S. Through DACA, they’ve achieved many of the milestones that frame the American dream: earning better wages to support their families, pursuing higher education, buying cars, and setting down roots in their communities through home ownership. They are students in our classrooms, teachers in our schools, soldiers in our armed forces, leaders in our cities and towns. They represent the best of us. Those who qualify for deferred action pose no threat to public safety or national security.
Nearly 8 in 10 voters support allowing DACA recipients to remain permanently in the country and just 14 percent believe they should be forced to leave.
In Oregon, the 11,300 young people registered under DACA have a powerful impact not only on immigrant communities but also on all Oregonians. According to an Oregon Center for Public Policy report, undocumented Oregonians pay roughly $81 million in taxes to help fund schools and other public services that strengthen the state’s economy, through property taxes, personal income taxes, and sales and excise taxes. If every undocumented immigrant left the state, Oregon would lose up to $3.4 billion and nearly 20,000 jobs. Ending DACA would cost Oregon more than $605.6 million annually in gross domestic product losses. Without DACA protections, deportation will tear more families apart and shatter the foundation of local economies.
The Trump administration’s decision to phase out DACA feels like a sucker punch. It will go down as a decision that is equal parts small, short-sighted and destructive. It threatens DACA Dreamers with expulsion from the only country most have ever known. And it reneges on the promise that registering as an undocumented immigrant would not be used against them.
They deserve better. We all do.
So here’s what you should know:
Earlier this year*, The Collins Foundation, MRG Foundation, Oregon Community Foundation and Meyer Memorial Trust partnered to create the Oregon Immigrant and Refugee Funders Collaborative, a collective effort to support the successful integration of immigrants and refugees into our communities. All four organizations share an unshakable belief in the value and importance refugees and immigrants bring to our state.
We remain committed to our grantee partners and to the immigrants they serve.
We are also urging grantmakers and philanthropists in our state and across the country to join us in funding essential services and supports to assist these immigrants and their families.
We support the bipartisan Dream Act of 2017 and urge our neighbors to take action to protect DREAMers. Without intervention, young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children could face deportation as early as March 6, 2018.
As Darren Walker, CEO at the Ford Foundation, wrote in a forthright blog after the DACA decision: “Soon, it may be too late for courage, too late to take the necessary steps to mend our society. We risk reaching a day when whatever ability we had to influence change or protect our democratic values will have been squandered.”
— The Collins Foundation, MRG Foundation and Meyer Memorial Trust
*In late 2017, Pride Foundation joined the Oregon Immigrant and Refugee Funders Collaborative.
Hundreds gathered at a Defend DACA Rally in Portland after the Trump administration announced it would end the program. Photo credit: JoeFrazierPhoto.com
Meyer's Board of Trustees, working with executive search firm The 360 Group, today released the job description for the Meyer CEO position, expected to be filled later this year.
The 360 Group, headquartered in San Francisco, specializes in creating diverse and effective teams that drive meaningful social impact and lasting value. With their assistance, we hope to identify diverse pools of exceptional candidates in philanthropy, the nonprofit sector and beyond. Going forward, they’ll manage the national search, advising and working with us until we find Meyer's next leader.
We ask that inquiries about the position and search for candidates go directly to The 360 Group.
In April, Doug Stamm announced his plan to step away after 15 years of leadership at Meyer, one of the largest private foundations in Oregon.
We are deeply appreciative of Doug's significant contributions to Meyer during his 15-year tenure.
Since 2002, Meyer has awarded nearly $295 million in grants to more than 1,880 organizations across every Oregon county and across the river in Clark County, Wash. Those Meyer grants have exerted, and continue to exert, a lasting impact on our region. Meyer’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion has transformed the makeup of our staff and board, and how we navigate philanthropy. Today, trustees and staff alike share a commitment to equity principles in our work.
Doug's legacy will be a strong foundation rooted in making this a more flourishing and equitable state.
As we move forward the search for his successor, in association with our talented and passionate staff and committed constituents and partners, we are confident that Meyer’s valuable mission and historical commitment to bettering the lives of Oregonians will attract a deeply talented and diverse candidate pool, affording us the opportunity to select a new CEO who can drive our work forward.
Have an incredible candidate for us to consider? Here's the job description. Please point them to mmt.org/CEOtransition for details on the search process.
The search will remain open until 5 p.m. Friday, September 15, 2017.
Meyer’s Equitable Education portfolio recently commissioned a literature review highlighting 11 dimensions of educational equity. The purpose was to provide up-to-date information on issues that emerged as important in the statewide equitable education survey conducted by Meyer in 2016. Each of the 11 “chapters” is a resource to deepen educators’ and community based organizations’ grounding in the research-based insights on educational equity. Attached here is a virtual copy of the first chapter.
Through portfolio blogs and newsletters, readers will have an opportunity to examine a range of issues, from core issues that are in the foreground of efforts to advance educational equity such as the importance of educators of color in the classroom and effective parent engagement, to less obvious issues such as the promise of ethnic studies courses and the building of positive racial identity. Each chapter is a “deep dive” into the literature by a range of community practitioners and academics. Each author brings a passion to the field, and we are grateful for their commitment to educational equity. They have canvassed the academic and “grey” literature and drawn from at least 20 important studies, emphasizing research-based articles that provide solid evidence of how the issue is connected to student success. There is variation across the chapters based on the resources available in the field; each chapter is a response to the field as a whole and has unique sections.
We believe this is an important resource for advocates, educators and potential and current Meyer grantees. Meyer’s Equitable Education portfolio aims to promote the success of all Oregon’s students; we hope this series is a resource for the task.
We are excited to introduce our new program officer to the Equitable Education portfolio, Bekah Sabzalian.
A blended background in public education and nonprofit program leadership, a deep commitment and passion for equity and community, and a highly analytical mindset are just some of the qualities that Bekah brings to her role within the education portfolio.
Before coming to Meyer, Bekah worked as a elementary and middle school teacher in Portland Public Schools. Prior that, at community-based nonprofit organizations for six years. Bekah is committed to focusing on youth, education and equity work, and also believes that education works best when connected with community work.
She is excited to start partnering with organizations again and becoming more active in community engagement. We are excited that she will be joining the Equitable Education team here at Meyer!
Oregon Opportunity Network, a membership organization for affordable housing and community development nonprofits and partners in Oregon, brings together more than 300 professionals to learn from each other and presenters at the industry support conference in Portland. Attendees value the networking, skill-building and innovative idea sharing that the conference sessions provide. Tracks include sessions on leadership, housing development, property management, homeownership and much more!
Scholarships are available. Apply directly to Oregon Opportunity Network by August 4, 2017, to be considered. Priority will be given to rural organizations, culturally specific organizations and those serving the most vulnerable populations.
