How did two years pass so quickly?!

That’s the question we keep asking ourselves as the first cohort of Philanthropy Northwest Momentum Fellows completes their placement at Meyer. In their time with us, Sharon Wade Ellis, Katherine Porras and Marcelo Bonta have brought much to Meyer: great ideas, passion for the mission, sharp thinking, curiosity and a willingness to roll up their sleeves and do the work.

We each wanted to mention a few individual highlights ...

From Theresa

Sharon joined the Housing Opportunities team as we were busy with several Affordable Housing Initiative grant opportunities. She conducted due diligence on two housing grants in her first weeks, which was good learning for her and a tremendous relief to the team. Beyond that, she has contributed to discussion and planning around several of our new procedures and conducted research that helped shape our thinking and strategy around rural manufactured housing. Equally important is Sharon’s commitment to and enthusiasm for Meyer’s mission to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in the organization and with our nonprofit partners. She has modeled our values there and raised equity concerns effectively in her work at Meyer. Her interest in social justice work clearly came through in some of her blog postings on Meyer’s website, including reflections about what she has experienced and learned about diversity, equity and inclusion — or the lack thereof. I am confident she will bring her developed equity lens to her next position and help inform the equity conversation there.

From Jill

Marcelo’s two years with the Healthy Environment team could not have been timed better. During the first year, a big focus of our work was developing the portfolio framework, our goals and outcomes. He brought sharp analysis and solid experience from his previous nonprofit work in the environmental movement. He was a key thought-partner in creating the framework that now guides our work. Outside the Healthy Environment Team, he worked as part of a cross-department team to develop Meyer’s DEI Spectrum Tool and consider equity in organizational communications, and he contributed to the ongoing development of Meyer’s equity work. In addition, he helped the Healthy Environment Team learn how to hit pause on tackling the to-do list and to also consider how were were feeling about our work as well as our collaborative approach to doing it. No doubt he will continue to do great work in his new role with The Raben Group, where he will be a principal focusing on building out their DEI consulting arm, with an emphasis on the environment. This sounds like a perfect next step for him given his passion for this work and his deep expertise. 

From Rukayiah

Kat joined Meyer’s investment team in time to help us audit and formulate a process for monitoring all our investment manager fees. She saved Meyer a lot of money! She became the go-to person for manager questions and worked closely with me to get the necessary answers. She also became an investment manager contract expert and reviewed all our current and new contracts to make sure the terms are favorable. She helped us plan and execute our 2016 Roundtable, which is a conference for all our investment managers, including international, to meet and discuss pertinent issues around our investments. She has also done a review of our main investment policy documents to ensure consistency of language and message. She dove into Meyer’s equity activities, including helping to plan equi-teas where we inform and discuss current issues. I am excited to see where her talents take her next and know she will be valuable to any team. 

We are grateful for the many contributions Sharon, Kat and Marcelo made to Meyer in their two short years as Momentum Fellows. They all are incredibly talented and will no doubt continue to do great work. Although we are sad to see them leave, we are excited about their next steps.

— Theresa, Jill and Rukaiyah

We'll miss you, Katherine, Sharon and Marcelo!

After 12 years of working with homeless and low-income families in the Pacific Northwest, I am excited to join the Housing Opportunities portfolio team as the Philanthropy Northwest Momentum Fellow. The fellowship, developed by Philanthropy Northwest, is designed to prepare professionals from underrepresented communities for successful careers in the philanthropic sector. Over the next two years, I will be collaborating with and learning from my portfolio teammates through every aspect of the grantmaking process, and I look forward to meeting with many of the grantees and community partners along the way.

I am also excited to bring my experience and perspective as a direct service provider. I have managed a wide array of programs for low-income and homeless families and individuals. I began my career as a counselor at a shelter for homeless and refugee youths. Most recently, I managed several site-based and scattered-site transitional housing and rent assistance programs, established a resource center for the homeless community in Southwest Portland, and oversaw the conversion of a 20-year housing program from transitional to permanent supportive housing. I have also developed trainings on housing market navigation and landlord/tenant rights, collaborated with community agencies to provide Rent Well education, and advocated for low-income renters in both private market and governmental settings.

The challenges that low-income and homeless families face in Portland’s housing market have left an indelible mark on me, and I look forward to giving a voice to that experience as we work toward more equitable housing together.  

When I’m not working, I volunteer with the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO) and various community art projects in Portland. I also love to travel, read, watch hummingbirds in my backyard, hike, forage for mushrooms, explore the Oregon outdoors and bake when I can. So please share your favorite recipes or hiking spots when you see me!

— Lauren

“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.