OVERVIEW: Meyer Memorial Trust is a justice and equity-focused grantmaker serving communities in the state of Oregon. Its grants support racial justice, economic justice, education, community development, immigrants rights and more.
IP TAKE: Meyer Memorial Trust is an important funder in the state of Oregon that likewise has a national presence through its participation in funder collaboratives and philanthropy networks. Past reporting at Inside Philanthropy has emphasized the Trust’s role as an early practitioner of centering racial equity in its grantmaking. In 2023, the Trust announced a new strategic framework that will evolve away from only equity and towards “an explicit commitment to racial, social and economic justice.”
This is a supportive, accessible grantmaker that values “collaborative and collective approaches so that our shared progress towards justice is strong, resilient and inclusive.” Past grantees have given the trust positive ratings for being “responsive,” “culturally sensitive” and “friendly,” but others have found it to be “bureaucratic.” The Trust typically accepts grant applications, but at the time of this writing, applications are temporarily closed as the Trust develops new programming in support of its new focus on justice. These guidelines will be announced at some point in 2024. In the meantime, grantseekers can reach out to staff whose email addresses are available on individual profile pages with questions and ideas.
PROFILE: According to its mission statement, the Portland-based Meyer Memorial Trust “accelerates racial, social and economic justice for the collective well-being of Oregon’s lands and peoples.” The foundation was established in 1982 with a bequest from Fred G. Meyer, an immigrant from Germany who established the Fred Meyer chain of grocery stores and restaurants in the Pacific Northwest in the first half of the 20th century. Meyer’s company was purchased by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in 1981, doubling the value of the company’s stock and enabling the foundation’s initial endowment. Since then, Meyer has made grants of over $930 million and program investments to well over 3,200 organizations. The trust is a member of several funder collaboratives, most notably the Oregon Immigrant and Refugee Funders Collaborative, of which it is a founding member. Other collaborations in which the trust participates include the Census Equity Funders Committee of Oregon, and the Chalkboard Project. The geographic focus of the trust’s giving is Oregon, although grants occasionally serve organizations in other states.
In 2015, the foundation shifted its overall focus to equity. In 2020, it deepened its commitment by launching a $25 million initiative, Justice Oregon for Black Lives. A year later, the foundation began working “with communities to design a new funding process and structure, with the intention of incorporating more trust-based principles, policies and practices.” As of 2023, the foundation shifted its focus to a broad engagement with “justice,” including racial, social, environmental and economic justice.
The foundation’s five stated areas of priority are Our Empowered Youth, Our Resilient Places, Our Collective Prosperity, Together We Rise and Our Shared Purpose.
Grants for Racial Justice and Indigenous Rights
Across all of its grantmaking interests, the Meyer Memorial Trust works toward “strengthening transformative movements, transforming existing systems and institutions to achieve more equitable results, and providing responsive grantmaking to and for BIPOC communities with culturally specific strategies.” Some of its grantmaking and engagement programs are centered specifically on movement building, leadership and decision making in and among BIPOC communities of Oregon, while others respond to specific community needs through the trust’s anti-racist lens.
Justice Oregon for Black Lives is “the largest initiative in Meyer’s history.” It was established in response to the “national movement to end systemic and structural racism,” which the trust recognized as an “urgent opportunity to transform institutions, systems and narratives in Oregon, a state founded on stolen lands and explicit in its constitutional exclusion of Black people.” Since its establishment in 2020, the program has awarded over $21 million in grants to 133 Oregon-based organizations. The initiative names five main goals, each with its own specific targeted outcomes.
Economic Justice goals include increases in Black ownership of businesses, homes and other investments, as well as broad improvements in Black literacy and economic opportunity.
The initiative’s Education goals involve increasing Black students’ academic performance and “access to programs that improve their social and emotional well-being.” A separate goal aims to “increase recruitment and retainment of Black teachers and administrators.”
The initiative aims to Reimagine Public Safety through collaborative work that will “[c]reate a shared vision of what public safety is within the Black community” and “[i]ncrease the percentage of Black policy makers and leaders across Oregon.”
Goals for Arts and Culture funding and programming include investment in spaces where Black artists can “showcase their work,” as well as support for educational, career, networking and economic opportunities for Black artists.
Finally, the program maintains the goal of Addressing Trauma and Healing. Goals here include support for research and advocacy for “healing strategies” and investment in strategies that “that empower Black communities and individuals to experience healing and joy.”
Grantees in this program have included the Oregon Alliance for Black School Educators, the Black Community of Portland, Oregon Health and Science University, the Black Educational Achievement Movement and the African American Alliance for Home Ownership, among many others.
To receive information about future grantmaking opportunities through this program, check the program page periodically or sign up for the trust’s newsletter at the bottom of the program page.
Grants for racial justice also stem from the following new grantmaking focus areas:
The trust’s Together We Rise program supports “strong networks of leaders of color and building community capacity to advocate for systems change.” As this is a new program, it does not yet name specific grantmaking goals.
Through its Our Shared Purpose program, the trust works “in coordination with peer funders, our business community and state/local government.” The trust worked with Sankova Lumber, a Portland-area company that uses “reclaimed wood debris for use in commercial-scale manufacturing and construction” to develop a “green workforce training opportunities to BIPOC and underemployed workers.” The trust also partnered with Oregon’s Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce on multiple projects for career opportunities and leadership development among Hispanic communities across the state.
The Our Shared Purpose and Together We Rise programs are not accepting applications as of this writing, but will open applications at some point in 2024.
Grants for Education and Youth
Meyer’s Our Empowered Youth grantmaking area focuses on “access to a fully resourced education that helps our youth to realize their highest ambitions.” Grantees working in this area include the Oregon Indian Education Association, College Possible, the Oregon chapter of the I Have a Dream Foundation and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Salem, Marion and Polk Counties.
This program is accepting applications by invitation only at this time. Check back with the trust’s application page for updates.
Grants for Community Development and Environment
The trust’s Our Resilient Places giving area makes grants for Oregon’s “natural and built environment.” Giving targets interventions that “are rooted in culture and community.” Recipients working in these areas include Sustainable Northwest, the Greater Hells Canyon Council, the Bonneville Environmental Foundation and the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition.
This program is currently accepting application by invitation only. Check back with the trust’s application page for updates.
Grants for Work and Economic Opportunity
Through the Our Collective Prosperity program, the trust supports “community-based economies that are self supporting while building wealth for the next generation.” Grantees in this area include the Portland Business Alliance Charitable Institute, the Oregon Native American Chamber and the Samoa Pacific Development Corporation.
This program is currently accepting applications by invitation only. Check back with the trust’s application page for updates.
Grants for Immigrants and Refugees
The Meyer Memorial Trust partners with the Collins Foundation and the Oregon Community Foundation in the Oregon Immigrant and Refugee Funders Collaborative. This collaborative was created to “address emerging and urgent issues impacting immigrants and refugees across the state, and supports local organizations responding to these issues.” Grantmaking works to build “[e]conomic mobility and social inclusion for newcomers and their children.”
According to the program’s Funding Structure and Process document, grantmaking prioritizes “projects and programs that directly address the impact of policies and actions implemented after November 2016.”
A general application with a rolling deadline is linked to the program’s page, and the program posts specific RFPs from time to time.
Past grantees of this collaborative include Adelante Mujeres, Immigration Counseling Services of Oregon, the Muslim Educational Trust and the Willamette Valley Law Project, which “empowers farmworkers and working Latinx families in Oregon by building community, increasing Latinx representation in elections, and national and state policy advocacy.”
Important Grant Details
Meyer’s grants typically range from $850 to $500,000 and support Oregon organizations of all sizes.
This funder’s grantmaking is conducted through an “anti-racist and feminist lens” and is responsive to the needs of the Oregon communities it serves.
According to its Grant Types page, the trust awards grants for operating support, capacity building, project support, technical assistance, capital support and advocacy and policy.
The trust also makes a limited number of contributions to organizations that invest in and lend money to housing and environmental projects.
The trust is not accepting unsolicited applications for most of its programs until at least March 2024. Prospective grantees may sign up for updates about future grantmaking opportunities.
For additional information about the trust’s giving, see its searchable awards database.
Submit general questions to the trust via its contact page or by telephone at (503) 228-5512.
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