Applicant Basics: Complete on behalf of Foundation

These are fixed-choice prompts that help us to understand your organization type, structure, and key operations. You will not need to craft your own custom response, but rather you will select the answer(s) that most accurately represent your organization..

• Priorities: Which of our six priorities most align with your work?

• Oregon Focus: How much of your work occurs in Oregon?

• Oregon Impact: Where in Oregon is your geographic impact?

• Media & Public Perception: In the last five (5) years has your organization navigated any litigation, harmful media coverage, or significant turmoil?

• Stability: In the last twelve (12) months, has your organization considered closure, sought emergency funding, or conducted employee layoffs?

• Employees: How many full-time employees work at your organization?

• 501(c)(3) Status: How long has your organization been an independent 501(c)(3) public charity (if applicable)?

Impact & Strategy: Complete on behalf of Program or Initiative

These fixed-choice prompts help to us understand key constituencies, types of engagement, and areas of focus. You will not need to craft your own custom response.

• Individuals Served: How many unique individuals did your organization serve directly last fiscal year (e.g. clients, patients, students, etc.)?

• Depth of Impact: To what extent did your organization contribute to meaningful or lasting change in the lives of the individuals you served directly last fiscal year?

• Culturally Specific Organization: Do you consider your organization to be culturally specific, focused on serving a particular community or identity group (e.g., Latino, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, immigrant, disabled, etc.)? 

• Prioritized Constituents: Is your organization currently built or designed to support any of the following constituent communities or groups? Options include communities such as BIPOC, Queer, Immigrant, Elderly, and more.   

• Equity (Internal): How does your organization ensure that people from historically excluded communities — including but not limited to BIPOC, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, immigrants, and people from low-income backgrounds — have real opportunities to participate, lead, and thrive within your work?

• Equity (External): How does your organization ensure that individuals from historically excluded communities — including but not limited to BIPOC, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, immigrants, and people from low-income backgrounds — have meaningful access to, and benefit from, your programs, services, or community initiatives? 

Leadership & Governance: Complete on behalf of Foundation

Fixed-choice prompts help us to understand operational management, board engagement, and applicable oversight. You will not need to craft your own narrative response.

• Executive Leadership: How long has your current Executive Director (or comparable executive) been employed by your organization?

• Board Credentials: Do any of your board members maintain the following specializations or credentials?

• Board Representation: What percentage of your board identifies as being from the community or communities you aim to serve?

• Board Meetings: How often does your Board of Directors formally convene or meet together?

• Financial Oversight: How does your board ensure the financial accountability of the organization?

Financial Position: Complete on behalf of Program or Initiative unless unable to do so

The following multi-type prompts help us to understand operational management, board engagement, and applicable oversight. You will not need to craft your own narrative response.

• Unplanned Deficits: In the last five (5) fiscal years, how many years has your organization ended with an unplanned budget deficit that was significant enough to require corrective action, such as budget cuts, use of reserves, or other material organizational changes?

• Recent Grant Details: Enter the three (3) largest total grants committed to the organization by foundations in the last twenty-four (24) months.

• Government Grants: In the last twenty-four (24) months, has your organization received any government grants?

• Individual Donors: How many unique individual donors did you report in your last complete fiscal year?

• Last Year’s Statement of Activities (P&L): Please upload your most recently completed fiscal year’s statement of activities.

• Operating Revenues: What were your total operating revenues from your most recently completed fiscal year? 

• Operating Expenses: What were your total operating expenses from your most recently completed fiscal year? 

• Current Budget: Please upload your current year’s budget.

Financial Position: Complete on behalf of Foundation

Since many applicants may not have updated public records (e.g. Candid profiles), the following helps us to understand your most recent filings with the IRS. You will not need to craft your own narrative response.

• Form 990: Please upload your most recent Form 990 or 990-EZ.

  • Total Assets: Enter the total assets reported in your most recent Form 990 (line 20) or 990-EZ (line 25).

  • Total Liabilities: Enter the total liabilities reported in your most recent Form 990 (line 21) or 990-EZ (line 26).

Grant Program & Design: Complete on behalf of Program or Initiative

The following fixed-choice prompts help us to understand the type of funding you hope to pursue and will inform our discussions and evaluations if your Preliminary Application (LOI) is approved.

• Project Name: Please enter a project name to be used as a unique identifier among your organization’s grant requests.

• Ideal Funding Level: If awarded, what level of funding would you hope to receive per year? Note: We do not guarantee grant funding as requested, and we typically won’t fund more than 10% of an organization’s budget. 

• Preferred Distribution of Funds: If awarded, would you prefer a one, two, or three installments at the amount listed above? Note: Requesting multiple years of funding does not guarantee multiple years will be awarded. (i.e. If 3 years is requested, an organization could be awarded 1 year.) 

• Award Type: Would you prefer to receive an outright award or matching award?

Narrative Responses: Complete on behalf of Program or Initiative

We recognize that much of this Preliminary Application (LOI) is fixed-choice or data-driven. The following prompts give applicants the opportunity to share their values, impact, and needs in their own words. While we accept the use of artificial intelligence tools to meet word count requirements, we remind applicants that they are ultimately responsible for the content submitted.

• Equity and Opportunity: Please further expand on how your organization works to advance equity and inclusion for historically excluded communities — including but not limited to BIPOC, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, immigrants, and people from low-income backgrounds. In your response, you are welcome to include examples of how your internal practices (e.g., staffing, leadership, workplace culture) and external efforts (e.g., community engagement, program design, service delivery) support meaningful participation, leadership, and thriving for these communities.   (1,000 character limit)

• Operational Impact: Describe your organization’s impact and community achievements. What data or figures can you share that capture your present-day and long-term impact in the community? If applicable, please also share impact narratives that data may not adequately capture. (1,000 character limit)

• Organizational Need: All of our applicants report a need for philanthropic support. What can you share with us that helps us to better understand and contextualize your need for financial support comparable to that of other applicants? If there are other organizations in your region or service area doing comparable work, how are you unique from them and how do you leverage that distinction to collaborate together? (1,000 character limit)