Oregon Community Foundation awards $5 million to state nonprofits, almost $400,000 given to Southern Oregon organizations (copy)

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, July 10, 2024

The latest round of grant funds from the Oregon Community Foundation was announced in May, supporting numerous nonprofits in the Beaver State for community needs such as food insecurity, environmental stewardship and arts and culture.

Of the $5 million awarded, $392,000 is headed to 20 Southern Oregon nonprofits to assist communities in and around the region.

Local recipients include the Ashland New Plays Festival ($25,000), Talent Maker City ($20,000), Friends of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Ashland ($20,000), Ashland’s Gambrel Arts ($20,000) and Compass House in Medford ($20,000).

“This round of grants supported all different kinds of work — health and wellbeing, livability, arts and culture, economic vitality and education,” said Kurt Hildebrand, regional director and philanthropic advisor for the foundation’s Southern Oregon division. “These grants are for small, rural organizations and organizations that are culturally appropriate or culturally responsive.”

The foundation’s criteria for selecting grant recipients includes how organizations serve marginalized communities, stewardship and other ways they aid their communities.

“We evaluated whether their mission is aligned with their programs, whether they’re adaptive to community needs, whether they have a positive impact on the community they serve, whether they reflect the community served and whether they’re supported by their community and seek the feedback of those served,” Hildebrand said.

Many of the local nonprofits will use the money to support and maintain their programs, spaces and staff.

“These funds from OCF will support our staff and all the other little, but absolutely necessary, expenses that come up, from toilet paper to oil changes for our mobile bike and wheelchair maintenance vehicle,” said Allison French, executive director of Talent Maker City.

“We will be using the grant money to supplement donations, memberships and underwriting, which account for around 55% of our annual income, and ticket sales, which account for 19%, in order to pay the expenses for our Fall 2024 Festival in October,” said board president Chris Mock of the Ashland New Plays Festival.

ANPF received funding from OCF for the first time with the $25,000 boost.

For Friends of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, the grant funds will be used to support the organization’s education and research programs, stewardship activities and advocacy efforts for the national monument, said Collette Streight, executive director of the nonprofit.

The Oregon Community Foundation is a statewide nonprofit with offices in Portland, Salem, Eugene, Medford and Bend.

“OCF is the largest foundation in Oregon, and our $3.5-billion endowment is made up of over 3,000 different funds that have been created by individuals, families, corporations and nonprofits,” Hildebrand said. “We help make philanthropy easy and accessible to everyone who wants to give in Oregon.”

The foundation has contributed millions to nonprofits and organizations across the Rogue Valley and Southern Oregon.

“Oregon Community Foundation has been a fantastic supporter of Talent Maker City since 2021,” French said, noting the foundation’s support of the nonprofit’s “Rise Up and Rebuild” program to help families after the Almeda Fire, as well as K-12 youth programs and other projects.

“We rely solely on grants and donations to operate, so when we received (the $20,000 grant from OCF) we were thrilled,” Streight said.

The foundation opens grant applications throughout the year. For further information about the OCF, or to access the grant application, see oregoncf.org.

“We also just opened up the next round of applications on June 24 … The spring cycle was for general operating support, whereas the fall cycle that just opened up is for program expansion, capacity building and small capital campaigns,” Hildebrand said.