“Philanthropy is so white.”

These are words you’ll hear every time members of the sector gather. I heard that sentiment recently at Philanthropy Northwest’s annual conference in Vancouver, Wash., and again this week at the Cambridge Associates Impact Investing Forum in Denver, Colo. Our communications director, Kimberly A.C. Wilson, recently heard newcomers utter the phrase at ComNet17, a conference for communications folks working in the independent sector. An article that ran last year in Nonprofit Quarterly reflects the state of philanthropy today, with members of racial and ethnic minorities making up only 16 percent of foundation CEOs and 24 percent of  full-time grantmaker employees.

Homogeneity is a perennial nugget in philanthropy, still true after much discussion and effort to diversify.

But it should not be the case.

A few years ago, I joined CEOs from a handful of foundations and Philanthropy Northwest to create a fellowship program to bring greater diversity into philanthropy by opening the doors of philanthropy to members of communities long underrepresented in its staff and leadership, particularly communities of color, for successful careers in the philanthropic sector. The Momentum Fellowship program was our strategy to create meaningful professional experiences and pathways for people from historically marginalized populations to enter into the field.

In late 2015, the first cohort of two-year Philanthropy Northwest Momentum Fellows dispersed to six foundations in the Northwest: Marguerite Casey Foundation and Pride Foundation of Washington; The Oregon Community Foundation, Northwest Health Foundation and Meyer in Oregon, and Rasmuson Foundation in Alaska.

That inaugural class of nine mostly focused on the grantmaking side of philanthropy but also included an investment fellow. Each received professional development and networking opportunities, including peer-learning retreats, networking, professional coaching and trainings offered through Philanthropy Northwest and their host foundations. In return, host foundations got the chance to learn from and alongside thoughtful emerging leaders, dedicated to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in philanthropy.

Meyer’s initial three Momentum Fellows, Sharon Wade-Ellis, Marcelo Bonta and Katherine Porras, each shared fresh perspective, thoughtful approaches to their focus areas and an extensive range of personal and professional experiences. Their contributions — and questions — have been invaluable to our efforts to become a more just and equitable organization and employer working to eliminate barriers to populations that have experienced the greatest disparities.

The first class of Momentum Fellows recently wrapped up their work here and across the Northwest. Five are working full-time in philanthropy. Most of the others are pursuing other opportunities to remain in the sector. Even as their fellowships ended, their fellow-ship — as peers and colleagues — continues.

The second class of fellows, 11 in all, arrived last month at seven Northwest foundations: Rasmuson Foundation in Anchorage; Whatcom Community Foundation in Bellingham; Meyer, The Collins Foundation and the Women's Foundation of Oregon in Portland; Marguerite Casey Foundation in Seattle; and Empire Health Foundation in Spokane.

This time around, the fellows have been placed organization-wide: from grant and grantmaking operations and research and evaluation, to communications and community engagement.

The idea, in the beginning as now, is to expose newcomers to philanthropy, and those looking for growth in the field, to opportunities inside the sector that over time will lead to greater representation of racial and ethnic minorities in foundations and more broadly within the independent sector.

So please, join me in welcoming Meyer’s new fellows: Mijounga Chang, Lauren Waudé and Denise Luk to Meyer. We are lucky to have them!

— Doug

 

In October, Meyer was awarded the 2017 Governors Gold Awards for the foundation's equity work in Oregon.

The following is the edited transcript of Meyer's CEO Doug Stamm's remarks. You can listen along here:  

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On behalf of Meyer staff and trustees thank you to our Governors for this recognition and congratulations to this year’s Gold Award recipients.

It is an honor to stand here with you all. But more than an honor, being here is immensely important to me for the opportunity to speak with a room full of influential Oregonians.

Our state faces a number of divisions, urban-rural, class, sexual orientation, disability and race, to name a few. The past five years Meyer has set out on an equity journey to develop a deeper understanding of these challenges.

Tonight, I will spend my time focusing on some key learnings from our racial equity work in the hope that you’ll leave this evening committed to taking some of the same steps we have.

First step in working towards racial equity: Forget Portlandia!

Oregon is not a white state now, and it will be even less so in the near future. When we talk about quality of life in Oregon let’s recognize that it looks very different depending on the color of your skin.

Next is History.

Face the facts, Oregon has one of the most racist histories of any state in the union, but I bet none of us were taught that in school.

There is no sanitizing what happened to indigenous people in Oregon. Or to Japanese Oregonians who were interned, or to African Americans, who were first excluded from living in Oregon under our state constitution, then redlined into neighborhoods in Portland they were later forced out of by gentrification.

We’ve long been a haven for white supremacists and hate groups, starting with over 35,000 KKK in the 1920’s, the largest contingent west of the Mississippi.

Oregon’s true history underscores the persistent inequities that divide us. You see its results today in deep disparities drawn along lines of race. And knowing that — our whole history — helps us to face those cultural and structural barriers to equity head on.

Knowing our past leads us to the next step: Getting used to discomfort.

A core concept in racial equity training is the idea that ambiguity and non-closure are part of the learning.

We need to move beyond “Portland Nice” and the comfort of our myopic view of pseudo-progressiveness. And embrace what for many white people are challenging conversations around race and oppression.

If, when we hear reports of football players joining a silent protest against our history of racism, it feels more comfortable to see their bent knees as an attack on our flag, or on America… that's a good moment to pause.

And step back into the tension we might feel about how police brutality and killings occurs against black and brown people at rates far higher than anyone else.

Sit with that.
 

That discomfort brings us to the place where we can make a difference: Action.

Do something about it. Use your privilege for good. Call it out for what it is.

Like me, many in this room were born into and come from a place of privilege that helped us get into college, get our first job, put a down payment on a house or help our children advance in their careers.

What if we instead use our privilege to actively call out and take on the structures and systems in our state that perpetuate racism and oppression?

I believe we make Oregon a better place by asking ourselves that question until it is second nature to use our privilege for those without privilege.

That is the definition of being a white ally and an extension of the lesson about discomfort.

Oregon doesn’t have Confederate statues standing outside our state house in Salem, or the Southern Cross in our state flag.

What we do have, and it is no less shameful, is the Number One ranking for reported hate crimes. You’ve heard of some of them: the brutal stabbings on the MAX line in May; telephone threats to shoot crowds at a multicultural festival in June; racist graffiti spray painted on the walls of four elementary schools over the past few weeks. All perpetuate notions of white supremacy in our state.

That should be upsetting to each of us. So what will you do with that discomfort? I urge you to an be an active white ally, a co-conspirator if you will, for equity.

You were handed a card as you came in. It has a few next steps to becoming an ally, practical ones, including a simple test, called the American Dream Score, designed to help us better understand privilege.

Take the test and then learn, reflect and show up by using your power, your privilege, in meaningful ways that move us closer to a better, more just Oregon for all.

Thank you!

 

— Doug Stamm delivered these remarks at the 2017 Governors' Gold Awards benefiting Special Olympics Oregon

 

Meyer Memorial Trust CEO Doug Stamm delivering his remarks during the 2017 Governor's Gold Awards

The intersection of business, community and philanthropy was the central theme at the Portland Business Alliance's annual Business Leadership Evening, which honored Mitch Hornecker with the 2018 William S. Naito Outstanding Service Award to recognize his impact in our community.  

Traditionally, the PBA makes a donation to an organization of the honoree's choosing. This year, Mitch selected New Avenues for Youth, a nonprofit he founded to raise up at-risk local youth and get them off of the street:

“Also featured last night was keynote speaker Michelle DePass, president and CEO of Meyer Memorial Trust. Both Hornecker and DePass emphasized the importance of philanthropic support to addressing critical issues, like homelessness. 

'We need a bold, new plan,' said Hornecker. 'We need to scale up. This is the defining crisis of our time.'

'Philanthropy spends so much time fixing problems our system of wealth has created in the first place,"'said DePass. 'Today, we can and we should be about identifying all of the systemic sources contributing to our problem and shock the system to prevent them from happening again and again.'" 

​You can find more about the event here.

— Kimberly

"We need a bold, new plan," Hornecker told the audience at the Portland Business Alliance's annual Business Leadership Evening. "We need to scale up. This is the defining crisis of our time." Photo: Chad Baker Photography

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.”

You can find more from Charles here.

“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.

Work carries on in The Making Center at The New School.

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. ​

— Charles