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Meyer Memorial Trust

Annual Giving
$45.0M
Grant Range
$26K - $0.2M
Decision Time
4mo

Meyer Memorial Trust

Quick Stats

  • Annual Giving: $45 million
  • Total Assets: $885 million
  • Grant Range: $26,000 - $200,000
  • Typical Grant Size: $75,000 - $100,000
  • Geographic Focus: Oregon statewide
  • Application Method: Periodic funding opportunities (not rolling)
  • Accepts Unsolicited Applications: Yes (through periodic funding opportunities)

Contact Details

Address: 2045 N Vancouver Ave, Portland, OR 97227-1964

Website: mmt.org

Phone: (503) 228-5512

Application Support: Jody Marshall, Program Associate - jody@mmt.org

Overview

Meyer Memorial Trust is one of Oregon's largest private funders, established in 1982 from the estate of Fred G. Meyer, founder of the Pacific Northwest retail chain. With assets of approximately $885 million and annual giving of $45 million, the Trust has awarded grants and program-related investments exceeding $930 million to more than 3,500 organizations since its inception. In 2022, under new CEO Toya Fick's leadership, Meyer adopted a transformative new mission: to accelerate racial, social and economic justice for the collective well-being of Oregon's lands and peoples. This strategic shift represents a fundamental evolution from equity-focused work to justice-centered grantmaking, with commitments to allocate the majority of funding to marginalized communities and at least 25% to social justice strategies including advocacy, community organizing, and civic engagement.

Funding Priorities

Grant Programs

Meyer Memorial Trust organizes its grantmaking through three issue-based portfolios and one cross-cutting strategic initiative:

1. Our Resilient Places

  • Builds power and capacity for frontline communities
  • Supports transition toward more regenerative economic policies and practices
  • Affirms BIPOC communities' connection to place
  • Recent funding: Climate and Environmental Justice Funding Opportunity awarded $6.9 million to 41 organizations (2024)

2. Our Empowered Youth

  • Reforms education systems to create opportunities for students from marginalized communities
  • Supports educators and decision-makers who reflect the diversity of Oregon's students
  • Recent funding: $7.3 million to 47 organizations (2024)
  • Example awards: Jefferson 509J School District and Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs partnership for Native dual language immersion program ($200,000)

3. Our Collective Prosperity

  • Closes Oregon's persistent racial wealth gap
  • Holistically supports families and caretakers
  • Creates just and equitable paths to homeownership
  • Oregon Immigrant and Refugee Funder Collaborative: $1 million awarded (2024)

4. Together, We Rise (Cross-Cutting Strategic Initiative)

  • Focuses on long-term power building in communities most impacted by injustice
  • Supports leadership development, civic engagement, community organizing, and movement infrastructure
  • Emphasizes healthy democracy and intersectional work across issues
  • Prioritizes efforts led by Black, Indigenous, immigrant, and refugee communities
  • Funds partnerships, shared strategies, and networks connecting work across issues and communities

Application Format

Meyer has moved away from traditional responsive grantmaking to periodic funding opportunities designed through community engagement. The 2025 Summer Funding Opportunity distributed approximately $7.2 million across all four focus areas, with emphasis on intentionally moving resources toward organizing and movement-building. Most grants support work over 12 months, though collaboratives may request up to 24 months.

Grant Types:

  • Operating Support Grants: Investments in an organization's mission and strategic goals (501(c)(3) public charities only)
  • Project Support Grants: Support for specific, discrete projects of high priority to an organization and its community
  • Collaborative Planning Grants: Up to $200,000 for collaborative groups planning transformational projects (14 collaboratives received $2.6 million total in 2024)

Typical Grant Ranges:

  • Most grants: $75,000 - $100,000
  • Maximum request: $200,000 per year
  • Small grants program: Awards of $26,000 or less
  • Collaborative planning: Up to $200,000

Priority Areas

Meyer funds work that:

  • Strongly aligns with their justice-centered funding priorities
  • Centers BIPOC communities
  • Addresses root causes of injustice through systems change
  • Engages in advocacy, organizing, and movement-building
  • Involves authentic community voice and leadership
  • Creates cross-issue, intersectional impact

What They Don't Fund

  • Proselytizing (though faith-based organizations may apply if services are offered without requiring participation in religious activities or adherence to religious beliefs)
  • Lobbying for or against specific legislation, ballot measures, or candidates
  • Earmarked grants for lobbying purposes
  • Work outside Oregon (with limited Clark County, Washington exceptions)
  • Proposals outside their funding priorities

Governance and Leadership

Leadership

President and CEO: Toya Fick (joined September 2022)

Toya Fick previously served as a Meyer Memorial Trust trustee for over six years before becoming CEO. She has been instrumental in leading the organization's strategic transformation toward justice-centered grantmaking. Fick emphasizes the importance of unprecedented collaboration: "The challenges ahead, for our state as much as for our country and our planet, cannot be met by any one individual or organization. It will take collaboration the likes of which we have not seen before — transparent, honest, nimble, responsive, focused and sustained."

Recent CEO History

  • Michelle J. DePass: Preceded Toya Fick, joining in April
  • Doug Stamm: Guided Meyer for 16 years through enormous growth, innovation, and change

Key Staff

  • Helen Shum: Director of Communications
  • Sohel Hussain: Vice President, Investments and Finance
  • Kimberly Melton: Vice President of Impact
  • Jody Marshall: Program Associate

The organization employs 43 staff members.

Board of Trustees

Recent board members include:

  • Kathleen Kee
  • Andrew Colas
  • Amy Tykeson
  • Charles Wilhoite (completed 12-year term in March)

Board members bring diverse expertise and unwavering commitment to fostering equity, helping Meyer continue its mission of accelerating racial, social and economic justice.

Application Process & Timeline

How to Apply

Meyer Memorial Trust has fundamentally redesigned its application process, moving away from year-round responsive grantmaking to periodic, community-centered funding opportunities.

Application Process:

  1. Meyer announces specific funding opportunities throughout the year
  2. Applications are submitted online through their grants management system (currently transitioning from GrantIS to GivingData)
  3. Organizations set up an account at the grants portal
  4. Applications are accepted during specific windows (e.g., 2025 Summer Opportunity: June 17 - July 22, 2025)

Eligible Organizations:

  • 501(c)(3) public charities
  • State, local, and tribal government entities (including public schools)
  • Faith-based organizations (with certification that services are offered without requiring religious participation)
  • Fiscally sponsored charitable organizations

Two-Step Process (for some opportunities):

  1. Inquiry Application
  2. Invitation to submit full proposal (for selected organizations)

Grant Start Dates: Meyer typically recommends grant start dates aligned with their funding timeline (e.g., November-January for summer funding cycles).

Decision Timeline

  • Application Review: Meyer reviews applications after the deadline closes
  • Decision Notification: Decisions are made according to the specific funding opportunity timeline (typically several months after the application deadline)
  • Grant Agreement: After approval, Meyer sends grant agreements via DocuSign, usually within one month after a grant is awarded
  • Grant Start: Organizations can typically begin work 3-5 months after the application deadline

Organizations are encouraged to select grant start dates between November and January to align with Meyer's estimated funding timeline.

Success Rates

While specific success rates are not publicly disclosed, Meyer's recent funding patterns show:

  • 449 awards in 2024
  • 735 awards in 2023
  • 677 awards in 2022

Given the strategic shift toward focused funding opportunities rather than open responsive grantmaking, competition for specific opportunities can be significant. Past grantees have described the Trust as "responsive," "culturally sensitive," and "friendly," though some have found it bureaucratic.

Reapplication Policy

Organizations not invited to submit a full proposal after the Inquiry Application stage are encouraged to contact the Trust to discuss their application and receive guidance on what to consider when submitting future applications. This supportive approach suggests that unsuccessful applicants are welcome to reapply for future funding opportunities after receiving feedback. No specific waiting period was mentioned in publicly available materials.

Application Success Factors

Meyer Memorial Trust looks for specific characteristics in successful applicants, based on their published criteria and values:

Strong Organizational Alignment:

  • Organizations must have a track record of effective work directly related to Meyer's funding priorities, or have identified such work as a strategic and mission-aligned priority
  • Demonstrate strong commitment to equity through statements, goals, actions, and progress
  • The organization's mission and values must align with Meyer's justice-centered approach

Community-Centered Approach:

  • Project benefits one or more marginalized communities
  • Community voice is reflected in project design
  • Project includes and leverages participation of constituents, relevant partners, collaborators, and/or other funders
  • Clear demonstration of who the service community is and what strategies are in place to reach and support those communities (especially BIPOC communities)

Collaborative and Systems-Oriented:

  • Organizations that collaborate with other organizations in their community, within the same sector, and/or across sectors
  • Recognition of the intersection between the organization's work and broader policies and systems
  • Emphasis on work that addresses root causes rather than just symptoms

Effective Leadership and Capacity:

  • Effective leadership that engages a base of community support
  • Administrative capacity, financial plan, and organizational commitment to implement proposed project
  • Commitment to understanding and evaluating the impact and effectiveness of work

Well-Designed Projects:

  • For project support grants: project is well-planned with realistic goals, objectives, activities, and outcomes scaled to the problem it seeks to solve
  • Clear articulation of how the work advances racial, social, and economic justice

Strategic Focus on Justice:

  • Work that "strongly aligns with their funding priorities and strategies" — proposals outside these priorities will not be successful
  • Priority given to organizing, movement-building, advocacy, and civic engagement strategies
  • Preference for work that creates systems change over service delivery alone

Quote from Meyer's Criteria: "Meyer centers BIPOC communities in all their grantmaking, and they want to know who your service community is and what strategies you have in place to reach and support those communities."

Key Takeaways for Grant Writers

  • Justice-centered alignment is essential: Meyer has fundamentally shifted from equity to justice. Applications must demonstrate how work accelerates racial, social, and economic justice, not just reduces disparities. Use justice-centered language and frame your work in terms of root causes and systems change.

  • Community leadership matters more than service delivery: Meyer prioritizes work led by and centered on BIPOC communities. Emphasize authentic community voice in project design, community organizing, and movement-building strategies over traditional service delivery models.

  • Watch for periodic funding opportunities, not rolling applications: Meyer has moved away from responsive grantmaking. Monitor their website for announced funding opportunities with specific themes, deadlines, and application windows. Each opportunity may have distinct priorities within their four program areas.

  • Collaboration and intersectionality strengthen applications: Meyer values organizations that work across sectors, collaborate with partners, and recognize how issues intersect. Highlight partnerships, shared strategies, and networks that connect work across issues and communities.

  • Be prepared for feedback and reapplication: If not selected after an Inquiry Application, Meyer encourages dialogue about your proposal. Use this as an opportunity to strengthen future applications with their specific guidance on alignment and approach.

  • Size and scope flexibility: While Meyer makes large grants (up to $200,000), they also value small grants ($26,000 or less) and see them as important for partnerships and sector connections. Don't self-select out based on project size—focus on alignment and impact.

  • Demonstrate capacity for evaluation and learning: Meyer wants partners committed to understanding and evaluating the impact and effectiveness of their work. Show how you'll measure progress toward justice outcomes, not just activities or outputs.

References

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