Search Through Grants for Grassroots Organizations in Oregon in the U.S.

Making community possible

At U.S. Bank, we are dedicated to supporting our communities through responsive and humbled actions focused on addressing racial and economic inequities and creating lasting change in our communities. Through our Community Possible Grant Program, we are partnering with organizations that focus on economic and workforce advancement, safe and affordable housing and communities connected through arts and culture.

The U.S. Bank Foundation is committed to making Community Possible through Work, Home and Play. We advance this work through collaborative grant making to bring equitable and lasting change through our focus on sustainable, high-impact funding with 501c3 nonprofit partners.

How we partner with nonprofits

We focus on collaborative grantmaking and sustainable, high-impact funding with 501(c)(3) nonprofit partners. We partner with organizations that support:

• Economic and workforce advancement
• Safe and affordable housing
• Community arts and culture

Our strategy

Our community affairs and foundation team work closely with U.S. Bank regional leadership, business resource groups and our National Community Advisory Committee to ensure that prevailing needs are addressed in all the communities we serve.

To make the most meaningful impact, we prioritize organizations that:

• Focus on economic development issues related to work, home and play
• Address more than one of the grant pillars (work, home and play)
• Are based in and serve designated U.S. Bank communities
• Advance diversity, equity and inclusion

Background

Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation seeks to dramatically improve the lives of underserved communities across the globe by supporting scalable, innovative, and impact-first solutions that leverage existing systems and stakeholders. Our goal is to find social entrepreneurs with dynamic products or services that have a proven ability to positively impact the lives of underserved people, and nurture those organizations at the early stages by providing capacity, capital, and community.

Our application process is designed to be open and accessible, and we accept applications year round from across our priority geographies and sectors. Borrowing from our venture capital legacy, we find exceptional entrepreneurs and provide them with: 

Capacity

• The core of DRK’s model is deep and extensive operational and technical support for each portfolio organization, both through dedicated hands-on Board service and specialist capacity-building resources for fundraising, board and organizational development, leadership, financial support, and scaling strategy,

Capital

• DRK provides up to $300,000 USD in either unrestricted grant funding or investment capital over a three-year period, and

Community

• DRK convenes our portfolio and alumni annually, facilitating connections and community. 

What We Fund

DRK Foundation funds early-stage social impact organizations solving the world’s biggest social and environmental problems using bold, scalable approaches.

What stage of growth does DRK Foundation typically fund?

Early stage: Organizations who are early stage, which we define as post-pilot and pre-scale. This typically means: 

• Your program, product or service is already being used in the market or in the field, 
• You have early indication that your model is having its intended impact on the beneficiary populations,
• Your organization is relatively young (ideally between two and five years old, although we will consider both younger and older organizations).

Venture funding: In the case of for profits, we typically support Seed to Series A organizations, and never lead rounds; we also generally but not exclusively refrain from participating in financings exceeding a $15M USD post-money valuation.  

Global Impact Cash Grants

Identifying and incubating innovative early-stage solutions. We identify, incubate, and develop innovative early-stage solutions with the highest potential for impact. Global Impact Cash Grants go to nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that address a significant social problem. We're looking for programs that fit within our investment sectors, focus on the underserved, and use technology to improve the reach and efficiency of services.

We accept applications year-round from eligible organizations. A brief Letter of Inquiry (LOI) is used to determine whether your organization will be invited to complete a full application. Please expand and carefully review each of the three sections below to learn more

Our priority social impact sectors

We focus on investing in innovative, tech-enabled solutions to the challenges and opportunities that matter most to communities in need, prioritizing four social impact sectors:

Cisco Crisis Response

Mobilizing to provide essentials to communities in need and those in crisis, including food, housing, secure connectivity, and disaster relief

By leveraging Cisco’s people, technology, financial resources, and strategic partnerships, we help strengthen community resilience and drive long-term recovery from crises.

Education

Supporting students, teachers, and schools by increasing engagement, building skills, promoting subject mastery, and expanding their capacity to thrive

Cisco is committed to inclusive access to digital skills training and supporting those who use technology to educate. Through programs like Cisco Networking Academy and social investments in education, we create new opportunities for individuals to thrive.

Economic Empowerment

Transforming communities through skill development, long-term career opportunities, entrepreneurship, and access to financial products and services

Strategic grants that unlock economic prosperity and growth for individuals and communities.

Climate Regeneration

Building an inclusive, regenerative, and resilient climate future through education, regenerative agriculture, conservation, protection, and clean energy solutions

Our efforts began in 2021, when the Cisco Foundation committed US$100 million over 10 years to fund nonprofit grants and impact investing in climate solutions. 

Mission

The mission of the Hearst Foundations is to identify and fund outstanding nonprofits to ensure that people of all backgrounds in the United States can build healthy, productive and satisfying lives. Through its grantmaking, the Hearst Foundations support well-established nonprofit organizations that address significant issues within their major areas of focus—culture, education, health and social service—and that primarily serve large demographic and/or geographic constituencies. In each area of funding, the Foundations seek to identify those organizations achieving truly differentiated results relative to other organizations making similar efforts for similar populations. The Foundations also look for evidence of sustainability beyond their support.

Whether providing a scholarship to a deserving student, supporting a rural health clinic or bringing artists into schools so children can see firsthand the beauty of the arts, the Foundations’ focus is consistent: to help those in need, those underserved and those underrepresented in society. Since the Foundations were formed in the 1940s, the scale and capabilities of the grant making have changed, but the mission has not.

Culture Grant

The Hearst Foundations fund cultural institutions that offer meaningful programs in the arts and sciences, prioritizing those that enable engagement by young people and create a lasting and measurable impact. The Foundations also fund select programs nurturing and developing artistic talent. Supported organizations include arts schools, ballets, museums, operas, performing arts centers, symphonies and theaters.

Funding Priorities in Culture

In the recent past, 25% of total funding has been allocated to Culture. Organizations with budgets over $10 million have received 60% of the funding in Culture.

The Hearst Foundations are only able to fund approximately 25% of all grant requests, of which about 80% is directed to prior grantees and about 20% is targeted toward new grantees.

Types of Support

Program, capital and, on a limited basis, general and endowment support

About Seeding Justice

We build collective power by transforming philanthropy and funding movements, in the pursuit of justice and liberation for all communities.

Our Values

• Community: We center our communities in our work and are guided by their wisdom, knowledge, and priorities in all that we do. We see, hear, understand, and value our relationships and each other. We build power together and take collective action.
• Confidence: We embrace the power we hold to support and resource our communities, and to challenge systems of oppression.
• Justice: We are committed to healing injustice as we reimagine and transform systems in the process.
• Transformation: We reject status-quo philanthropic models that are extractive, unaccountable, and undemocratic. We commit to work over generations as we challenge and transform philanthropy, and redefine who has power within it.
• Accountability: We are committed to being responsive to our community and to being a nimble and consistent partner in the movement, grounded in relational and personal connections.

We envision a world of imagination, joy, and abundance where everyone has enough, and no one has too much; where every living being is truly free. 

We fund grassroots movements working to dismantle injustices that have harmed our communities and planet for far too long. We support emerging organizations and change makers on the frontlines fighting for social, racial gender, disability, economic, and environmental justice.

We center the wisdom and agency of our communities most impacted by injustice in order to upend broken systems that hoard and consolidate power and wealth.

We work to transform philanthropy—from top-down and extractive to justice-driven and regenerative.

About Rapid Response Grants

Our Rapid Response grants provide mission aligned organizations with quickly deployed small grants to respond to emergencies and opportunities. Currently, grants of up to $5,000 are available.Funding can be used for immediate and critical needs. For example, organizing community gatherings/meetings in response to events; unexpected challenges within the organization, or unique and timely opportunities. No part of these funds may be used to support or oppose any political party or candidate for public office. Funds must be used for charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes.

The Sidney Stern Memorial Trust is devoted solely to the funding of charitable, scientific, medical and educational organizations.

The Board endeavors to support soundly-managed charitable organizations that give service with a broad scope, have a substantial effect on their target populations, and contribute materially to the general welfare. The Board does not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation or religion.

Rapid Response Grants

Rapid Response grants are small project specific grants of $3,000 to help grassroots organizations respond quickly to the changing political climate with actions and/or strategies that could not have been anticipated.

Examples of potential eligible projects:

• Emergency mobilizations and community meetings in response to a recent police shooting
• Organizing a community defense response to a recently announced white supremacist rally and march
• Planning a direct action at a corporate shareholder meeting that was just announced
• Rapid response legal clinics and know your rights trainings in response to Executive Orders or other sudden policy changes
• A rapid response canvassing effort to educate and connect with targeted community members about the dangers of a religious registry

Our Mission

In the spirit of love and compassion, better health, better care, better value.

Priority Grant - Celebrate, Together

St. Charles' primary focus is reducing feelings of loneliness and social isolation while fostering a sense of belonging. The purpose of this grant is to support organizations who are interested in creating opportunities for communities to connect in person, with a focus on older adults and youth. We hope to support grassroots events, projects, and programs that make Central Oregon more welcoming and ultimately help get us a step closer to becoming America's healthiest community, together.

Funded projects must have multiple opportunities for engagement throughout the year. Examples include: 

• Movie night series 
• Pick-up sporting events (soccer, pickle ball, kickball, hockey, baseball/softball, volleyball etc…) 
• Book clubs 
• Cooking class series 
• Walking/running groups 
• Daily/Monthly/Quarterly community dinners 
• Volunteer days  
• Cultural celebrations 

Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation Grant

The Foundation will consider requests to support museums, cultural and performing arts programs; schools and hospitals; educational, skills-training and other programs for youth, seniors, and persons with disabilities; environmental and wildlife protection activities; and other community-based organizations and programs.

Mission

The mission of the Black United Fund of Oregon is to assist in the social and economic development of Oregon's underserved communities and to contribute to a broader understanding of ethnic and culturally diverse groups.  

As one of the only Black-led foundations in Oregon, as well as one of the few remaining BIPOC-led organizations in historically-Black NE Portland, our presence has power!

Black United Fund Sponsorship

The Black United Fund of Oregon (BUF-OR) supports BIPOC-led and -serving, grassroots nonprofit organizations that hold a 501(c)(3) tax status or that are fiscally sponsored by a 501(c)(3), and that align with our mission.

We prioritize grassroots organizations as they are the heart of community-driven change and effectively address local needs. We believe that sustainable progress is best achieved by those who are deeply connected to and invested in their communities. BUF-OR defines “grassroots” as an operating budget equal to or below $600,000 (minus exceptions of the organization’s physical move to a new space or capital campaign funds). Applying organizations must meet this to be eligible for sponsorship.

Sponsorship Amounts:

Typically range from $250 to $1,500. Due to high demand, not all requests can be supported; this does not reflect the merit of any project.

Centene Charitable Foundation

Successful corporate citizenship happens when companies invest in the local organizations that know their communities best. The Centene Foundation works with our local partners on initiatives that focus on inclusion, the whole person and community development.

Vision

Centene’s purpose is transforming the health of the community, one person at a time. The Centene Foundation is an essential part of how we pursue this purpose. We achieve measurable impact for the communities we serve through partnerships and philanthropy efforts that invest in initiatives with holistic approaches to dismantling barriers to health.

Areas of Focus

Reflecting Centene’s commitment to the needs of those who rely on government-sponsored health care and to addressing social determinants of health and health equity, preference will be given to initiatives in three distinct areas of focus.

• Healthcare Access
• Social Services
• Education

About The Roundhouse Foundation

What started in 2002 as a collaboration between Founder and Trustee, Kathy Deggendorfer, and her mother, Gert Boyle, has grown into a dynamic and unique private family foundation. The Roundhouse Foundation is dedicated to supporting programs that inspire creativity, connect people with each other and their sense of place, and ensure sustainability for the long-term economic success of Oregon’s rural communities.We focus our work in and across four areas that are fundamental to thriving rural communities – Arts & Culture, Environmental Stewardship, Social Services and Education. We understand the interconnections of these focus areas and value opportunities that work at their intersections.

The Roundhouse Foundation: Small Grants

Small grants can support grassroots, innovative work and projects that may not have a need for a significant budget. Small grants also offer opportunities to explore and test new approaches and endeavors which can then be replicated for broader impact. For new partners, this is a great first-time grant program to consider as we get to know each other. We rarely consider requests for general operating or personnel expenses through the Small Grants process. If you’re not sure which of our grant programs will be the best fit for your proposal, please contact us. 

Our Mission

Our mission is to continue and further the philanthropic legacy of Gardner Cowles, Jr. and the Cowles family, which includes promotion of education, social justice, health, and the arts.

The Founder

The Cowles Charitable Trust was first established in 1948 by Gardner “Mike” Cowles, Jr. (1903-1985). Born into the Cowles publishing family of Des Moines, Iowa, Mike was the youngest of Gardner Cowles and Florence Call Cowles’ six children. A newspaper editor and publisher by trade, he was committed to his family’s traditions of responsible, public-spirited, and innovative journalism as well as philanthropy. 

The Cowles Charitable Trust supports the arts, education, the advancement of ethical journalism, medical and climate research.

Ameriprise Financial Grantmaking

At Ameriprise Financial, giving back is deeply rooted in our culture. We’ve initiated positive change in the communities where we live and work for more than 120 years. We believe our community involvement enables us to actively live our values. Through grant making, volunteerism and employee and financial advisor gift matching programs, we support a diverse group of over 6,000 nonprofits across the country.

Focus Areas

Awarding grant dollars to nonprofits is one way we strengthen our communities and help individuals on a path to financial independence. To ensure we're meeting the needs of our communities and making an even greater collective impact, we focus on three key giving areas when awarding grants.

Volunteer engagement is a priority across all focus areas:

The engagement of Ameriprise employees and financial advisors is a critical component of our philanthropy. Whether it’s serving on a nonprofit board, engaging friends, clients and community members in volunteering or providing skills-based support, our relationships with nonprofits go deep. For this reason, we give priority across all focus areas to applications where there is active volunteer engagement of Ameriprise advisors and employees. 

Meeting Basic Needs

At Ameriprise Financial, we help clients achieve financial security and peace of mind. That’s satisfying, meaningful work. We also help the people in our neighborhoods who struggle to meet basic needs such as where their next meal comes from, where they’ll sleep tonight or how they’ll find a higher wage job. We’re here to help them through the three platforms of our Meeting Basic Needs focus area.

Consideration is given to applications addressing the following: 

• Hunger
• Food banks, food shelves and food pantries, daily meal programs or meal services for the homebound
• Hunger-relief programs targeted to meet the special needs of children, ethnic populations or veterans
• Food programs run by nonprofits where hunger is not their sole focus, for example a youth meal program at the YWCA or a backpack program run by a Boys & Girls Club
• Shelter
• Emergency shelter, including youth homelessness
• Transitional housing, permanent supportive housing and efforts to end chronic homelessness
• Housing-first models (programs quickly providing housing and then addressing needed services)
• Achieving and maintaining home ownership, repair and maintenance efforts helping keep seniors, veterans and other populations in their homes 
• Adult Self-Sufficiency: Programs serving adults age 21 and older that help address the following areas:
• Basic hard and soft skills that help adults achieve economic and family stability
• Basic financial and budgeting skills
• Increase employability and wages, including work readiness and job transitions
• Employment of disabled adults

Supporting Community Vitality

We believe communities should be strong, healthy and resilient. We want livable places for all, where neighbors look out for one another, cultural events are well-attended and people pull together in times of crisis and joy. We work to create economic vitality and cultural enrichment through the following areas of focus.

Consideration is given to applications addressing the following: 

• Community Development
• Neighborhood revitalization
• Economic development
• Strengthening and supporting small businesses and nonprofits through technical expertise
• Cultural Enrichment
• Arts education
• Access for underserved populations
• Diverse artists and performances that spark topical community conversations 

Volunteer Driven Causes: Ameriprise employees and financial advisors are outstanding volunteers who serve in teams and also as individuals bringing personal skill-sets to nonprofits. Volunteering is part of the culture at Ameriprise and we are proud to support communities through contributions of both service and financial resources. 

Funding for Volunteer-Driven Causes is determined by current Ameriprise volunteerism. In general, funding is in proportion to the size of the Ameriprise volunteer team supporting a nonprofit. A team may include employees, financial advisors and/or staff or a combination of any Ameriprise volunteers. 

Social Justice Fund NW

Social Justice Fund NW is a foundation working at the frontlines of social change. We leverage the resources of our members to foster significant, long-term social justice solutions throughout  Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming.

Emerging Justice Fund

In an effort to continue responding to the needs of our community, organizers, and activists SJF is so excited to launch our new grant cycle, the Emerging Justice Fund!

Emerging |  /əˈmərjənt/ | adjective – becoming apparent or prominent

The Emerging Justice Fund will move unrestricted funds to resource grassroots organizing for communities that have been and continue to be targeted by Federal, State and Local policies. Aligned with SJF’s intention to continue to move resources to groups that are most under represented in traditional grantmaking, the Emerging Justice Fund will resource organizations that are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color-led.

Funding

1-year grant of $10,000.

Our Mission

The mission of the Black United Fund of Oregon (BUF-OR) is to assist in the social and economic development of Oregon’s underserved communities and to contribute to a broader understanding of ethnic and culturally diverse groups.

As one of the only Black-led foundations in Oregon, as well as one of the few remaining BIPOC-led organizations in historically-Black NE Portland, our presence has power!

Black United Fund Community Impact Grants

The Black United Fund of Oregon annually offers one-time monetary awards to several selected nonprofit organizations. Selections will be prioritized based on an organization’s alignment with BUF-OR’s mission and impact on BIPOC communities.

Funding

BUF-OR will award approximately 10 nonprofits with grants ranging from $2,500 to $5,000.

Who We Are

Based in Portland, Oregon and created in 2019 by Dr. Ron Naito, the Ronald W. Naito MD Foundation continues his legacy of healing by supporting nonprofit organizations that strengthen, protect, and transform our communities and our planet.

Our grants support organizations working all over the world to mitigate the climate crisis, reduce health disparities, and build communities that are socially equitable and environmentally sustainable. We also support Oregon-based arts and education initiatives, particularly those focused on under-resourced communities.

Our grants are trust-based. Because we respect the expertise of our nonprofit partners and understand that they know best how to spend their funds, all of our grants are unrestricted.

Current Funding Trends

• Under-represented areas:
  • If you work in these areas and are eligible within our funding priorities and restrictions, please consider applying.
    • Nonprofits that work internationally or domestically outside of Oregon, including regional and national organizations
    • Climate crisis mitigation, especially aggressive efforts to curtail or prevent new greenhouse gas emissions
    • International long-term health equity initiatives and health equity initiatives addressing aging and supporting elders
    • Systemic initiatives and advocacy/policy work in any of our funding priorities
• Over-represented areas:
  • We value these types of work and still seek applications from these categories, but applicants may find these categories slightly more competitive if current trends continue.
    • Arts initiatives
    • Oregon frontline nonprofits across all sectors
    • Frontline services, especially organizations supporting people with mental health or substance use needs and organizations supporting survivors of child abuse and domestic and sexual violence

Funding Area: Climate

We seek to fund initiatives that work aggressively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to prevent new emission sources now, both at the frontlines and through policy, markets, litigation, and legislation.

This includes (but isn’t limited to) organizations that:

• Support or lead upstream policy, advocacy, or other reform initiatives that deter new fossil fuel investments, accelerate decarbonization, and promote renewable energies, both domestically and internationally.
• Advance grassroots organizing by Indigenous or other frontline communities, or work to advance climate justice in systems or markets.
• Regranting organizations that can pool our resources with other funders’ and direct them to impactful, proven organizations.

Funding

We tend not to fund organizations with annual budgets over $20 million, although there are some exceptions. We often fund grassroots initiatives. We fund larger organizations ($10m+ budgets) only if they primarily are resource, advocacy, policy, movement-building; if they are regranting organizations; or if they work beyond the local/statewide level (regional, national, international). We also occasionally fund larger organizations working across multiple regions or countries to provide lasting frontline interventions.

We offer unrestricted grants, mostly ranging from $5,000-$40,000. We occasionally fund smaller and larger requests, and we are moving toward more multi-year grants. We try to keep a balance between organizations providing frontline services and organizations working to create and advocate for systemic solutions.

Our grants are unrestricted and can be used for general operating, program/project, capacity building, capital requests (for projects with budgets under $1m), endowment, seed funding, etc.

The Sunflower Grant

The Sunflower Grant is specifically designed to ensure our support of smaller, hyper-local, grassroots organizations here in Oregon.

• Our typical Sunflower Award is $4,000-$7,000 per year, though grants can range from $1,000 to $10,000
• While the Sunflower grant is our least competitive program and we strive to support all eligible, healthy, and mission-aligned applicants whenever possible, a rise in applications in 2025 has made funding more competitive than previous years
• Organizations must have operating expenses of around $250,000 or less from the most recently completed fiscal year in order to pursue a Sunflower Grant
• Awards terms can be up to three (3) years, though one (1) is our most common term at this time
• Unfortunately, fiscally sponsored organizations are not currently eligible to apply for a Sunflower Grant.

The Sunflower Grant is a standalone program with its own dedicated application, separate from our other grant programs. The application is designed to be relatively quick and straightforward, and we aim to issue funding decisions within 10 weeks of the application period closing.

Liberated Paths Grantmaking Program

Building a More Just and Sustainable Outdoor and Environmental Movement Together

Black, Indigenous, and People of Color-led organizations are on the frontlines of the grassroots work being done to build a better planet but our work is chronically overlooked and underfunded. We know that when our voices are left out, our communities suffer, and our planet does too. With the Liberated Paths Program, we envision a way to bridge that gap.

Through this program, we are working to create a more just and sustainable outdoor and environmental movement by shifting resources to and building power with Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color. The Liberated Paths Program supports outdoor initiatives and organizations that cultivate and celebrate the contributions of Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color and affirm the many experiences and identities our communities hold, through grantmaking, capacity building, and network building.

Through our Liberated Paths regional grants, we support organizations and initiatives of all sizes located in California, the Pacific Northwest (Oregon and Washington), the Southwest (Arizona and New Mexico), and the Delaware River Watershed that work at the intersection of racial justice, outdoor experiences, and the environment. In 2023, we will also launch grantmaking in North and South Carolina. Our Liberated Paths: Youth Access to Nature Fund supports efforts in the San Francisco Bay Area that increase safe and equitable access to the outdoors for Young People of Color.

We work with leaders and organizations who are rooted within their communities with the lived experiences to understand how to best advance justice and center the needs of the community. We support Leaders of Color to design and lead the types of joyful outdoor experiences and environmental efforts that are most meaningful to them and their communities. 

Liberated Paths support looks like:

• Relationship-driven and trust-based support
• Multi-year grants of $1,000 to $20,000 per year when possible
• Long-term, deep engagement in financial, operational, and fundraising capacity building
• Network building with a cohort of grantees to facilitate shared learning and systems-level changes
• Eligibility that is not hinged on organization size, ability to do impact reporting, or 501(c)(3) status
• Support for organizations and initiatives of all sizes and in all stages of their development
• Prioritized funding for organizations and initiatives led by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color
• Capacity building trainings and workshops for grantee partners

Capacity Building

Our model offers financial grants, as well as consistent coaching and mentorship. We want to connect our grantee partners with the tools and resources they need to sustain their vital work. To that end, in addition to trainings and workshops for all grantee partners, we work with each partner to identify areas where they want to grow and tailor our support to their needs. These areas could include: board recruitment, financial sustainability, staffing and hiring considerations, executive leadership coaching, budget planning, program design, insurance and liability considerations, safety, guidance on applications for additional grants, and more.

Network Building

Through Liberated Paths, we seek to bring together organizations and leaders working at the intersection of environment and racial justice. We do this through virtual get-togethers and information sessions. We facilitate network building within each cohort of grantees to facilitate shared learning and systems-level changes.

We also bring together funders and partners through a webinar series to connect, share information about the Liberated Paths Grantmaking Program and to also hold critical conversations regarding topics such as the explicit role of race in Liberated Paths, the racial funding gap, and racial bias and its impact in philanthropy.

Mission

The mission of the Black United Fund of Oregon is to assist in the social and economic development of Oregon's underserved communities and to contribute to a broader understanding of ethnic and culturally diverse groups.  

Nonprofit Leadership Program

 Three selected organizations will be awarded a $10,000 grant along with enrollment in our Nonprofit Leadership Program. The program is an approximate one year commitment. Participating organizations are required to meet on a monthly basis with independent learning conducted between meetings. This program is designed to accelerate the growth, stability and success of Oregon’s BIPOC- and women-led grassroots nonprofits. The program is an approximate one year commitment. Participating organizations are required to meet on a monthly basis with independent learning conducted between meetings. This program is designed to accelerate the growth, stability and success of Oregon’s BIPOC- and women-led grassroots nonprofits.

The main objective of the NPL Program is to equip BIPOC-led and -serving grassroots organizations with the high-level expertise and resources they need to scale their services and thrive! Operated through a cohort model, participants learn from and alongside their peers in an intentionally designed curriculum provided by S2B Brand Hospital, as well as a Board of Advisors, who provide 1:1 personalized consulting to each of the nonprofits, and who demonstrate success in the nonprofit sector or applicable skillsets to growing a nonprofit.

Curriculum

Months 1-3: Fund Development

• Funding readiness, identifying and vetting funders/donors, foundation grants and reporting, corporate sponsorship, individual giving, events, & building strategic partnerships

Months 4-6: Operations & Organizational Structure

• Strategic planning/goals, board development, governance/HR, operating budgets, financial management, policies and procedures, & personnel, work culture, DEI, and professional development

Months 7-9: Programs & Marketing

• Program planning, identifying a need, program budgeting, evaluating impact, outreach/marketing & branding, & volunteer recruitment

Immigration Justice Grant

Social Justice Fund (SJF) is pleased to announce the Immigration Justice Grant, open to grassroots organizations in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and/or Wyoming.

This year’s SJF Giving Project is focused on Immigration Justice, funding movements led by immigrants, refugees, and migrant workers most affected by an immigration system built to dehumanize the people caught in its cyclical violence. The Giving Project will make grants to support community organizing work that aims to build collective power and undo the overlapping and intersecting systems of oppression and domination, including colonialism, imperialism, anti-Blackness, Islamophobia, ableism, classism, and xenophobia. For SJF’s definition of community organizing, please click here.

This Immigration Justice Grant seeks to support organizations working to end the systemic discrimination, criminalization, detention, deportation, and harassment of immigrant, refugee, and migrant communities to build a future where borders do not dictate where and how people live, thrive, love, access joy, heal, and make community and family.

Immigration Justice work can include, but is not limited to, building capacity and knowledge for collective resistance, public advocacy and litigation, gender-based and sexual violence prevention, abolition work, equitable access to healthcare and housing, farmworkers organizing, labor organizing, and policy making at the local and statewide levels.

Funding

1-year grant of $25,000

About the Foundation

The Three Rivers Foundation was established in October of 2011 to serve as the charitable giving arm of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians and the Three Rivers Casino and Hotel.

The land and the people are interconnected and their fate is intertwined. The Three Rivers Foundation exists to improve, enrich, and enhance the health and welfare of the land and people of the historical homelands of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw people. As a reflection of the true interconnectivity of the land and people, The Three Rivers Foundation will also entertain funding applications for projects that have a statewide impact as well as those that impact Native Americans in Oregon.

The Three Rivers Foundation’s is interested in innovative ideas, collaborative approaches, and grassroots efforts in the following areas; education, health, public safety, problem gambling, the arts, the environment, cultural activities, and historic preservation. In order to best respond to the needs of organizations and communities, the Three Rivers Foundation has taken a grant-making approach that is responsive in nature and therefore has elected to not put forward specific initiatives at this time.

Project Priorities

The Three Rivers Foundation will consider applications from projects that address at least one of the following foundation priorities:

• Education
• Health
• Public Safety
• Problem Gambling
• The Arts
• The Environment
• Cultural Activities
• Historic Preservation

Queer Justice Momentum Giving Project Grant

SJF is pleased to announce the 2022 Queer Justice Momentum Giving Project Grant, open to queer-led grassroots organizations in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and/or Wyoming. 

What we will fund

Queer communities need our support NOW, with unrelenting attacks to reproductive justice and widespread surges in trans-antagonistic, anti-queer rhetoric, organizing, and legislation.

The 2022 Queer Justice Momentum Project will support building new and imaginative systems that help achieve a world where queer communities are protected, honored, and thriving. We hope to resource those working towards dismantling sexist, heteronormative structures and building practices and systems that protect and honor individuals and communities of different genders and sexual identities outside of the heteronormative binary. Through this grant, we hope to support organizers in working towards a world where LGBTQIA+ folks, fem(me)s, and gender non-conforming people are able to identify and express their gender and sexual orientation without fear, discrimination or harm, and have the economic, social, and political power and resources to make healthy decisions for themselves, their families, and their communities in all areas of their lives.

This grant will support groups led by LGBTQIA+ individuals, non-binary folks, and fem(me)s who are organizing against heterosexism, transmisogynoir, homophobia, cissexism, and working to build the liberation of groups who have been marginalized because of their sexual and/or gender identity in meaningful ways across Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming. We will prioritize funding organizations with Black, Indigenous, and/or POC leadership, and/or who conduct most of their work in rural, small town, and/or reservation communities.

• Some examples of organizing work that is eligible for this grant include: 
• Resource mobilization for LGBTQIA+ folks
• Establishing queer and nonbinary community spaces
• Reproductive justice organizing
• Leadership development programs for LGBTQIA+ individuals, nonbinary folks, and fem(me)s
• Facilitating healing and wellness
• Developing community restorative justice processes
• Civic engagement
• Organizing against gender based violence

What is a Momentum Giving Project?

The funding from this grant will be raised by an SJF Momentum Giving Project cohort. Momentum Giving Projects are designed to be responsive to the “movement moment” that is happening at the time. We recognize that our grantees are organizing — strengthening communities, training activists, building analysis, developing leaders, making change — all the time. But sometimes, a spark catches. Circumstances come together so that there’s new momentum and focused attention around a particular issue.

What is a Giving Project?

Giving Projects are a unique, participatory model of funding which provides significant financial resources to grassroots organizing for long-term progressive social change. Giving Projects bring together a diverse group of people of varied class identities who are passionate about social change and want to strengthen their skills in fundraising, grantmaking, and community building. Participants work together to deepen their understanding of social justice principles and engage in collective giving and fundraising to support grassroots organizations.

Click here to learn about Social Justice Fund’s Giving Project model.

Funding

Grant amount: Two-year grants of $40,000 ($20,000 per year).

About the Initiative

Together, We Rise is dedicated to building long-term power in communities most impacted by injustice. Instead of focusing on single issues, this work strengthens the collective capacity for action and sustains the conditions where justice can take root and thrive. We support leadership development, civic engagement, community organizing and movement infrastructure — especially efforts that serve Black, Indigenous, immigrant and refugee communities. By investing in the people and networks driving change, Together, We Rise helps foster a stronger democracy and a more just Oregon.

Funding Goals

For this funding opportunity, we are supporting movement builders, working outside of the three portfolio issue areas, whose work to advance justice includes:

• Grassroots community organizing that builds and engages a base of directly impacted people over the long-term.
• Leadership development that builds skills, capacity and networks for active engagement in movements for justice.
• Focused efforts to build solidarity and connect movements across issues, populations or geography.

Tenant Outreach Fund

Seeding Justice received a $1M grant from the legislature through Oregon Housing and Community Services to support residents who

• are at risk of losing their publicly-supported housing, OR
• are at risk of eviction from a manufactured dwelling park being sold or closed.

The funds are part of an allocation in a bill the Oregon Legislature passed in 2024 to address the state’s housing crisis.

Urgent Needs

Urgent Needs Grants from $10,000 to $50,000 for short-term projects that seek to educate tenants and offer practical support (such as back rent) to tenants. 

A group may choose to tackle both urgent and longer-term work. In that case, their total request cannot exceed $125,000.

Gupta Family Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, USA. Our mission is to support organizations that provide focused intervention in the lives of people who have been disadvantaged in some way to help them become self-reliant. We take a very broad view of “disadvantage” to include anything that holds a person back from realizing their potential, such as poverty, physical or mental disability, social alienation, etc. The foundation also supports relief agencies that serve people affected by emergencies such as natural disasters.

The foundation evaluates and awards annual and multi-year grants ranging from $5,000 to over $250,000 (USD). Our focus is on funding smaller organizations all around the world that are led by individuals with a deep personal commitment to their missions. 

Our selection criteria include:

• Mission alignment
• The organization is run by the founder or, if not, by a successor who embodies the original inspiration, passion and commitment of the founder.
• At least 90% of grant monies reaches the intended beneficiaries.
• The organization is non-sectarian, i.e.,
  • It does not, directly or indirectly, support or condone the proselytization of any religion,
  • It is not supported by or affiliated to a religious organization.

Of community, by community, for community For decades, community groups and nonprofit organizations throughout the Northwest have worked to advance equity and justice for LGBTQ+ communities in every corner of our region. Our Community Grants Program helps fuel this work through providing consistent, long-term funding.   Since this program’s inception in 1987, we have awarded over $12 million dollars. Our most recent award cycle in 2021 was the largest in Pride Foundation’s history—$2,751,000 to 105 incredible organizations over three years. In 2021, we shifted to a proactive grantmaking model for this program, and began awarding funds without an application process. These programmatic changes were intentional shifts to center racial justice in our work, improve the experience of grantee partners, and align our grantmaking with our organizational priorities to move resources to LGBTQ+ communities most impacted by injustice. In 2024, we will have both a proactive grantmaking model and open application to ensure that all organizations have the space and opportunity to receive funding.

Please see FAQs for additional guidelines.