Rose & Daffodil
Grant Programs

Our leading grant programs for Oregon nonprofits

OPENS MONDAY, JUNE 16

AN OVERVIEW

The Rose and Daffodil programs are those from which the majority of our funding stems. These programs share an application, and while applicants are invited to identify their program preference, our evaluative team will discern the best program fit after application submission.

ROSE GRANT

Our Rose Grants are our most common award, often awarded to new and returning applicants alike. Our average Rose Grant is roughly $30,000 and remains highly competitive, with approximately sixty (60) awards issued each cycle.

DAFFODIL GRANT

Our Daffodil Grants are highly competitive, often favoring returning partners with whom we have worked many times. Our average Daffodil Grant is roughly $120,000 and remains highly competitive, with only fifteen (15) awards issued each cycle.

APPLICANT REQUIREMENTS

  • Eligible applicants must be either an IRS-designated 501(c)(3) public charity, a government entity, or a Tribal government. Government entities can include public schools, libraries, museums, or state and local agencies. Unfortunately, fiscally-sponsored organizations are not eligible to apply for funding at this time.

  • Operating expenses for a nonprofit include the costs of running the organization—such as staff salaries, rent, utilities, program-related expenses, and other day-to-day needs.

    For Rose Grants, an organization must have reported operating expenses of approximately $250,000 or more in its most recently completed fiscal year.

    For Daffodil Grants, an organization must have reported operating expenses of approximately $500,000 or more in its most recently completed fiscal year.

  • The Rose and Daffodil grant programs are dedicated to supporting partners that are both headquartered in and primarily serving Oregon communities. By focusing on locally rooted organizations, we aim to ensure that resources stay within the state and are directed toward meeting the unique needs and priorities of our home communities.

  • Eligible applicants must have financial statements that capture a full and complete fiscal year of operation. Preference may be awarded to organizations with 2+ years of financial records.

  • Committed to Equity
    Eligible organizations must demonstrate an active and intentional commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. This includes incorporating equitable practices across leadership, staffing, programming, and community engagement. We seek partners who are continuously working to reduce barriers and promote belonging for all.

    LGBTQ2IA+ inclusion
    Organizations must affirm and support the rights of LGBTQ2IA+ individuals. This includes allowing employees to openly identify as LGBTQ+, and to date, marry, or enter into any lawful union without fear of retaliation, termination, or disciplinary action. Respect for all identities is a core value of our funding partnerships. 

    Faith & Belief Systems
    Organizations must ensure that no employee, participant, volunteer, Board member, or leader—including the President or Executive Director—is required or inadvertently positioned to subscribe to, participate in, or pledge belief in any specific religion, faith tradition, or belief system. We support inclusive environments where individuals of all beliefs are welcome and respected.

APPLICANT PREFERENCES

  • We prioritize funding to organizations whose purpose is to support humans, directly and primarily. While many efforts impact human lives (e.g. providing free animal food to our vulnerable neighbors, tending to our beloved hiking trails, or crafting much-needed legislation), our work centers those organizations who focus immediately on human needs and address those needs directly.

  • We believe in an Oregon that positions all of its people and communities to thrive — especially our BIPOC, LGBTQ+, immigrant, neurodivergent, differently-abled, and low-income neighbors.

    Such a future requires that we recognize, value, elevate, include, and advocate for those community members. While understanding the diverse regions, demographics, cultures, and circumstances of our state, we continue to prioritize partners who clearly understand the critical importance of equity, demonstrably commit to it, and integrate it into the daily work, objectives, and measures of the organization.

    This work takes practice and is ongoing; there is no mastery of this commitment and we understand that organizations may be uniquely positioned or developed in their efforts.

  • The nonprofit sector is among the most trusted in the nation. In their service to our communities, nonprofits are also critical stewards of individual, government, business, and private funding; they often employ some of Oregon’s most passionate, capable, and skilled leaders and volunteers. As such, we expect applicant organizations to manage their business and financial operations with the utmost responsibly, appropriately mitigate operational or financial risk, and demonstrate trusted, ethical, and effective leadership over time.

    Such management and leadership not only encourages our own investments, but builds further community, employee, volunteer, and donor trust and retention.

  • The many timely and important needs throughout our state and region require our collective attention and investment. Yet as a single private foundation, our award capacity has its limits and as such, we rely on proven metrics to understand the breadth, depth, and scale of organizational impact over time — and prioritize efforts that directly impact the community. Not only do these metrics and efforts help us to understand the success of the organization, but they prove themselves critical to nonprofit storytelling, self-assessment, strategic development, and long-term viability.

    How an organization collects and reports data, leverages and communicates research, or practices ongoing operational learning can often be indicative of its long-term success.

  • Beyond our commitment to arts, creativity, education, mentorship, health, and well-being, we also work to affirm that organizations are unquestionably aligned with our guiding values. While you can learn more about what we do or do not fund here, we continue to prioritize applicants whose efforts are holistically aligned (across all programs and operations) and demonstrate impact here in Oregon. Moreover, we value those partnerships that prove direct human impact, especially on youth or our most marginalized community members.

  • We recognize that all of our applicants have philanthropic needs. In some cases, that need is exceptionally clear. However, for those organizations whose operations are more robust (e.g. universities, hospitals) or whose long-term efforts have secured considerable savings, reserves, or endowments, we do still expect that the need for funding be well articulated. Certainly, financial responsibility and operational complexity can be commendable and often motivate our philanthropic investments, yet no matter the size or scope of an organization, our work requires us to make difficult funding decisions that often consider the scope of need relative to that of other high-need applicants. We encourage prospective partners to consider this prior to pursuing funding.

  • We continue to prioritize efforts that focus right here in Oregon. Similarly, those efforts that are led by and for community are especially valued in our funding process.

THE PROCESS

Month 1
The application period opens for 4–5 weeks, typically in January and June.

Month 2
We conduct an initial review of all submitted applications to identify finalist organizations. All applicants are notified of their status following this review.

Months 3 & 4
Program Officers engage closely with finalist organizations to gain a deeper understanding of their work. This step helps us develop thoughtful evaluations and issue informed funding recommendations.

Month 5
Program Officers present their funding recommendations to our Board for final review and approval.

Month 6
Finalists are notified of the Board’s funding decisions, and grant funds are distributed accordingly.

the Rose & Daffodil

APPLICATION

PRELIMINARY APPLICATION (or LOI)

Applicant Basics

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

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, unduplicated 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

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

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.

  • 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

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

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)

Want to learn more?

FINAL APPLICATION

After reviewing Preliminary Applications (LOIs), a select group of organizations will be invited to move forward in the process as finalists. For these finalists, much of the additional information we gather comes through one-on-one conversations with our Program Officers. These meetings allow us to deepen our understanding of your work, ask clarifying questions, and ensure we have the context we need to support a thoughtful evaluation.

Finalists are also asked to complete a short written application, which includes:

  • A recent balance sheet

  • An optional opportunity to provide additional financial context

  • A response to the following prompt, which helps us understand your organization’s direction and priorities for the coming years:

    • What is one strategic goal or objective that your organization expects to address during the term of this grant?

Program Officers may follow up with further questions or prompts based on both the written materials and the one-on-one conversation.

We’ve provided the LOI and application questions below so that organizations can begin to assess whether they might be a good fit for our process and prepare in advance. The Preliminary Application (LOI) will open on June 16, and we hope this preview supports thoughtful and timely submissions.

We include these questions on our website as a courtesy and in an effort to offer applicants additional time to prepare. Please note that the prompts listed here are subject to change and may not appear exactly as they do in the live application. Some elements—such as dropdown options and administrative instructions—are not included in this preview.

If a question appears unclear on this page, we kindly ask that you wait to review it within the application portal (once it opens) before reaching out for clarification.

Before applying:

We encourage applicants to consider these recommendations before submitting a preliminary application.

  • We don’t want ineligible organizations to unnecessarily pursue a grant. Review our eligibility criteria here.

    Organizations are not eligible to apply for a Sunflower, Rose, or Daffodil grant until any other Primary Grant (Sunflower, Rose, or Daffodil) is closed. In other words, if you are in a Rose Grant now, you cannot reapply until:

    • Your 12-month grant term has closed

    • Your final report is submitted

    • All or nearly all of the awarded funding has been expensed

    Organizations with grant terms ending during an open application cycle are asked to wait until the following grant cycle opens to apply.

    With questions about reapplication eligibility, please contact us.

  • In a competitive process, it can be tempting to exaggerate data or reframe narratives to be more agreeable to our interests. We will not issue funding to (and will likely bar from future funding) applicants that knowingly or intentionally misrepresent data, narratives, or financial information.

  • We aren’t always looking for the “obvious” response. In fact, for a single prompt, many responses carry little value on their own, but are instead given value in the context of other responses. Selecting the prompt that you think we want, instead of that which is most accurate or applicable, may position us to misunderstand or wrongly interpret your work.

  • With hundreds of applications received each cycle, it is challenging for us to permit applicants to edit or change applications once submitted. Please review your submission for accuracy, including financial statements and other attachments, before you submit.

  • We use your organizational profile (in our grant portal) to learn about your Mission and collect other data points. Updating that profile — including address and contact information — ensures that you don’t have to repeat information later in the application itself, leaving more room for new information or a more abbreviated response.

  • While we work to clarify confusing or incomplete responses, we are sometimes unable to do so depending on the scope of clarification needed. We especially encourage organizations to review financial statements for accuracy and clarity. Organizations should also keep character limits in mind.

  • As artificial intelligence resources expand, we recognize the value of these tools in reviewing narratives, revising content to meet character counts, or proof-reading material. While we do not oppose use of these resources, we remind applicants that you are singularly responsible for the content of your submission. Mistakes or errors made on AI platforms are the responsibility of the applicant.