MMT Covers MMT

Meyer Memorial Trust awarded nearly $4 million this month to support organizations and projects that deliver human services, youth programs, arts and culture, housing, education, land conservation, community food systems and Willamette River restoration.Funds will support projects across the state, from Clatskanie and Astoria in the north to Klamath Falls and Ashland in the south, from Seaside on the coast to Baker City in far eastern Oregon.

Have you been noticing the emergence of color all around us? Skies are a fresh blue. Leaves are spring green. Flowers are pink and red and orange and yellow and purple and every shade in between. What color would you say spring is? Is it the Pantone color of the year: emerald?

At Meyer Memorial Trust's March program meeting, our trustees awarded 20 grants for more than $3.16 million. These grants bring the total MMT has awarded to nearly $587.5 million since the foundation began operating in 1982.

Today Meyer Memorial Trust announced 62 new grant awards for nearly $4 million. The largest recent award went to one of MMT's strategic initiatives in $750,000 to fund the Chalkboard Project's TeachOregon project that aims to improve teacher quality and effectiveness. More than $1 million was awarded to 44 nonprofit organizations under MMT's Grassroots Grants program, which provides funds up to $40,000.

There are so many predictions for nonprofits and social entrepreneurs and the social economy and related things for 2013, I'm starting to feel overwhelmed. But these predictions are given in a kind of we-need-to-know-all-these-things-or-else-we're-doomed vein 

My Michaelea tree is blooming for the THIRD time this year, the bulbs I planted two weeks ago are already coming up and leaf buds on one of my Stewartias are starting to unfurl. None of this is supposed to be happening right now. Which is also true of the heartbreaking week that just was.

At the November program meeting, Meyer Memorial Trust awarded more than $5.5 million in grants and program-related investments (PRI) to nonprofit organizations in Oregon. The largest award – $2 million in a combination $1.5 million PRI and $500,000 grant – went to Lifeworks NW...

In October, Meyer Memorial Trust awarded 47 grants totaling nearly $2 million to nonprofit organizations across Oregon, from St. Helens to Enterprise in northern Oregon and Port Orford to Burns in the southern half of the state.

We have a lot to cover this time, from a campaign to nominate the best of Oregon to TWST tour reports from Albany and Corvallis to financial metrics for loans to poverty rates and impact investing.

Meyer Memorial Trust's board of trustees made 16 grants totaling $2,047,675 to nonprofit organizations for projects in Oregon at the September board meeting. These awards bring the total amount awarded since MMT began operating in 1982 to nearly $570 million.September grants included:

I trust your garden is achieving midsummer glory, given that ours is just about the only part of the country not sweltering or parching or apocalyptic storming these days. This is why we endure and even grow to love the rain, people!

We've been working feverishly behind the scenes to come up with a way to livestream our Communicating for Good gathering on Thursday, July 19, so folks in other parts of Oregon can virtually attend.The good news: We have come up with a solution! The first speaker will begin at 9 am, so you should connect before then.