Grants to Oregon Nonprofits, Agencies, Tribes, and Public Entities to Foster Equity and Support Local Communities

Responsive Grantmaking

Agency

Foundation

GrantWatch ID#

167760

Funding Source

THE COLLINS FOUNDATION

Geographic Focus

USA: Oregon

Important Dates

Deadline: 06/09/23 5:00 PM PST

Grant Description

Grants to Oregon nonprofit organizations, government agencies, tribes, and public entities for projects to benefit state residents. Applicants must register in the grant portal and submit a Letter of Intent prior to applying. Funding priorities include social and racial equity; arts and culture; child welfare and development; education; environmental protection; health equity; and a broad range of efforts to enhance community welfare. At this time, the Foundation is encouraging requests for general operating support to maximize organizational flexibility.

The Collins Foundation seeks to be a diverse and inclusive organization, and racial equity is a high priority in their grantmaking.

Funding Priorities:

A central priority for the Foundation is to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion through its grantmaking. They are interested in supporting organizations at various stages in their pursuit of equity, and many successful applicants will have made efforts to learn about the root causes of social inequities and will have thought about how racial equity informs their work and operations.
Each year, they award significant funding in the areas of arts and culture; child welfare and development; education; environmental protection; health equity; and a broad range of efforts to enhance community welfare.
Grants are made in support of programs and projects, capacity-building efforts, collaborations, capital projects, challenge match campaigns, and general operations.
In considering applications for substantial projects, the Foundation prefers to participate with other contributors and strongly encourages applicants to seek support from other sources to share in the total project. The Foundation prioritizes support for the implementation phase of projects over earlier planning stages, so requests for planning and research are generally not competitive.
Particularly in the areas of health, housing, workforce development, and asset building, the Foundation focuses its grants on benefiting low-income communities.

Given that the decision timeline for the Responsive Grantmaking program is approximately four months, and change and uncertainty continue to occur, the Foundation is particularly encouraging requests for general operating support at this time in order to maximize flexibility as organizations seek to adapt to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recipient

Additional Eligibility Criteria

Organizations must meet the following requirements:
1. Organizations with staff and leadership in Oregon and a proposed project or scope of work that directly benefits the residents of Oregon
2. Organizations that are committed to equal opportunity for all persons regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity, age, disability, or any other legally protected status
3. Organizations that either (a) have established tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and are not "private foundations" as defined under section 509(a) of the Code; or (b) have tax exemption as a governmental, Tribal, or other publicly-funded entity; or (c) have a qualified, tax-exempt fiscal sponsor
4. Organizations that have current registration with the offices of the Oregon State Attorney General and the Secretary of State, as required by law
5. Organizations with at least four independent board members

Ineligible

Individual religious congregations, hospitals within large healthcare systems, public schools (including public universities), charter schools, and private K-12 schools that charge tuition are generally not eligible for funding.

Grants are not made for development office personnel, marketing staff or activities, fundraising events, consumable goods for distribution to clients (e.g., food, clothing, school supplies), individual scholarships, endowments, operational deficits, financial emergencies, or debt retirement. The IRS prohibits the funder from funding lobbying or voter registration activities.

Grants are rarely made for sports or outdoor recreation programs, short-term events, youth camping programs, and programs involving animals. Applicants considering applying in one of these areas should contact a program officer before starting their LOI.

Pre-Application Information

Timeline:
- Letters of Inquiry submitted online by 5:00 pm PST February 1, 2023
Will generally receive final funding decisions by June 2023
- Letters of Inquiry submitted online by 5:00 pm PST June 9, 2023
Will generally receive final funding decisions by October 2023

The grant review process begins when the Foundation receives a completed letter of inquiry and usually requires sixteen weeks. Each LOI is read by a group of reviewers and evaluated against the Foundation’s guidelines and priorities. Applicants generally receive an email response to their LOI 2-4 weeks after the LOI due date. Those organizations invited to continue past the LOI stage generally have 3-5 weeks to complete and submit a full proposal. Foundation staff may request additional written material and an interview or a site visit to gain more information about your work. The Foundation’s trustees generally make funding decisions within ten weeks of receiving a full proposal.

All organizations must complete a one-time registration on the application portal. Applicants should register one full week before the LOI deadline, as registration may take a few days to be approved.

Organizations are limited in the number of times they may apply to the Foundation in a given time period:
1. The Foundation will consider only one letter of inquiry (LOI) from an organization in a twelve-month period. For exceptions, see the Full Grant Text RFP.
2. If an applicant's LOI is not approved or the trustees decline their full proposal, the organization is eligible to submit a new LOI 12 months after being declined.
3. Generally, if an organization receives a single or multi-year grant from The Collins Foundation, it may submit a new LOI no earlier than 12 months after the final grant payment is issued.

FAQs: https://www.collinsfoundation.org/responsive-grantmaking-submission-guidelines/frequently-asked-questions
Equity Plan: http://www.collinsfoundation.org/diversity-equity-inclusion-plan

Additional Funding Information

Estimated Total Program Funding:

$10,000,000

Term of Contract

Single and multi-year grants may be awarded. Two- or three-year grants are most often awarded for (1) well-defined projects that need an extended amount of time to become established and sustainable; and (2) large-scale capital projects. Multi-year awards are generally paid in declining amounts each year.

Contact Information

Application: https://collins.fluxx.io/user_sessions/new

For questions about:
- Application timelines or registering with the Foundation’s grant portal:
Contact Kweli Jaoko, kjaoko@collinsfoundation.org
- Eligibility, including fiscal sponsorship requirements, formal collaboratives, and allowable advocacy activities: Contact Leann Do, ldo@collinsfoundation.org
- All other proposal questions: Contact Jackie Murphy, jmurphy@collinsfoundation.org, Paul Tabron, Jr., ptabron@collinsfoundation.org, Tonisha Toler, ttoler@collinsfoundation.org, or Lauren Waudé, lwaude@collinsfoundation.org

The Collins Foundation
1618 SW First Avenue, Suite 505
Portland, Oregon 97201
(503) 227-7171
information@collinsfoundation.org

Grants to Oregon Nonprofits, Agencies, Tribes, and Public Entities to Foster Equity and Support Local Communities

Responsive Grantmaking

We have foundations for

We have grants for

Cookies