We are thrilled to announce the launch of a grantmaking and capacity building program funded by a $1.2m grant from Meyer Memorial Trust. Through our new Capacity Building Initiative, MRG will pair multi-year funding with intensive technical assistance and peer learning opportunities for ten grassroots social change groups across Oregon.

We’re excited to launch this partnership with Meyer Memorial Trust (MMT), one of the largest grantmakers in the northwest and a prominent voice for equity and inclusion in the foundation sector. This initiative builds on our unique strengths and histories, including MRG’s experience funding groups at their earliest stages and MMT’s knowledge of nonprofit organizational development.

“We see this as a tremendous opportunity for an innovative partnership with MRG to empower social justice grassroots organizations so that they can achieve deeper and sustained outcomes,” said Doug Stamm, MMT’s chief executive officer.

We know – from both first hand experience and study after study – that the communities with the greatest need all too often receive the least amount of funding. Which is why this initiative will focus on building the organizational, financial, and fundraising capacity of ten promising groups that aren’t currently able to access larger foundations, with a particular emphasis on groups based in communities of color, low-income, and rural communities.

As always, MRG will focus this initiative on groups led by those most impacted by injustice, on supporting grassroots community organizing, and on building the infrastructure of Oregon’s movements to create a more just and joyful world. The bulk of our grantmaking – nearly half a million dollars each year – will continue to happen through our community-supported and activist-led General Fund grantmaking program, but we are incredibly excited that this new Capacity Building Initiative will allow us to increase our total grantmaking to more than $750,000 per year and help us better deliver on our continued mission of mobilizing and maximizing resources for collective action.

We will release an application and select 10 participant groups for the Capacity Building Initiative this summer.