Doug Stamm's Blog

We trust you had a delightful summer in this amazing corner of the world, despite the economic challenges we all face. Now that we're in back-at-it mode again, I want to provide another update as part of our commitment to keep you informed about our efforts and thinking in light of the economic downturn that continues to hit our region especially hard.

Here is a short summary of the specific steps we've taken so far:

• Our trustees decided to keep the amount we award at the same level it was last year even though it means we will exceed the 5% payout requirement. In addition, we cut about $1 million from our operating expenses to have more funds available for grants.
• In May and July, we awarded $584,000 through our Operating Support Fund and planning grants to NPOs to explore reducing operating costs and increasing community impact through sharing resources. Both these programs are new and specifically designed to respond to economic difficulties facing nonprofits. The second round of awards in the Operating Support Fund will be made in December.
• We've made more than $1 million so far in grants to help meet emergency needs for food, rent & utility costs, for foreclosure prevention and assistance, and to contribute to longer term hunger relief solutions. In addition, we have made more than our customary number of grants to support populations particularly vulnerable right now, e.g. seniors and low income families with children, providing core support and bridge funding to nonprofits in recognition of economic challenges.
• MMT has been very active in support of bringing our share of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) funding to our area, both through participation in planning and strategy development the Oregon Department of Education's application for The Race to the Top funding and The Oregon Way and by supporting efforts from organizations competing for these federal funds.
• Many of our staff members have been actively tracking other activities and efforts and participating in these events when opportunities present, from the Rural Development Initiative's “Funding Good Work in Uncertain Times” to the joint Grantmakers of Oregon and Southwest Washington/Willamette Valley Development Officer event “We Are All in this Together.” We initiate and sponsor events when we can, including the upcoming "Managing the Bottom Line: Leverage Resources to Confront Increasing Needs" trainings in Medford and Portland in early November and Bend in Early December.
• As always, we hold ourselves to our commitment to communicate with you about what we learn and what we are thinking and doing, especially through this blog and our email alerts. We've also made special efforts to share this and additional information about nonprofit opportunities in ARRA, advice for nonprofits during economic downturns, and providing free and easy access to information about funding opportunities in connectipedia.

In addition to continuing to honor our commitments and reflecting on our work to look for ways to improve, here's what we see ahead for 2010:

• Consider additional funding strategies to respond to the economic challenges predicted to continue in our service area.
• Continue to focus special attention on human service organizations responding to unprecedented needs while financial resources are reduced.
• Continue to award grants to NPOs in other fields (e.g., arts, environment, etc.) where proposals are strong. Amounts and duration of grants may be more modest than in the past.
• Explore new ways to use loan-related opportunities to assist nonprofits in this current economic environment.
• Continue to find ways for MMT to contribute to promoting access to ARRA funds within our region.
• Explore ways to strategically support nonprofits as the economy recovers, e.g., technical assistance opportunities to strengthen and stabilize organizational and financial management.

As we've challenged ourselves to find new and better ways to provide support that is needed during the last 12 months of economic turmoil though reflecting on our work and searching for continuous improvement, one thing has never been more clear to us:

All our efforts must be primarily aimed at doing what we can to help NPOs become as strong as they can be. It's not about us. It's about you and the important work you do for all of us.

We know for many organizations and communities, these are unprecedented times, and we recognize that our region may be slower to recover than other places. While we look to the future with hope and resist being discouraged, we know we need to keep challenging ourselves to find ever more ways to help those we support.

We invite your ideas, comments, suggestions, etc. in the comment section below. In large part, we rely on you to tell us what you need.

Doug
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Doug Stamm
CEO, Meyer Memorial Trust

Comments

Posted by: Randall Koch | September 29, 2009 10:22 AM

Have you considered meeting with a group of independent school leaders to understand their contribution to educational leadership, model building and how progressive educational activities happen outside of the public school world. There is much to be learned in these small but active educational "laboratories" which often are more responsive to educational innovation than public schools.

Many have been working hard in ways you have noted —cutting budgets, creating programs for public school children when the school week goes to four days, providing art activities available to home school and public school children... making partnerships and using facilities availability to benefit the community and raise revenue.

Some support seems appropriate as these places often work through the kinks in ideas and are willing to share with the educational community things that work both on the daily classroom level and in policy areas.

At Neskowin Valley School we have worked with local schools to reach out and provide services to the Friday students who no longer have school on Fridays, and taken on some educational programs for the public that meet our curriculum goals at the tidepools and in watershed management work.

Posted by: Kim Leval | October 6, 2009 11:16 AM

Doug, I appreciate you sharing with us the realities of this economy. We are feeling the pinch. We are now in our fall major donor campaign, we have stepped up our efforts to write compelling proposals and to build our relationships with our foundation funders, our members and our donors. We are working to engage our members in new and meaningful ways by updating our technology and communication approaches. We are trying to do more with less. And, we are planning our 2010 budget knowing that by all accounts next year will be tougher than 2009. Taking proactive steps like Meyer has done and sharing the reality - great steps and it helps others know they are not alone in what is a really tough time for many people and organizations.

Thank you! Kim

Posted by: Jennifer Bold | October 6, 2009 12:40 PM

Rural communities are especially feeling the pinch as the needs are ever increasing and the availability to resources are dwindling. I definitely need to learn "on the fly" how to manage the decrease in resources and how to be proactive in communication with my partners. We will see it through if we share resources and avoid duplication of effort. Thank you for the information, I view this as a tool to learn from.

Jennifer

Posted by: Robert | October 6, 2009 01:36 PM

". . . we cut about $1 million from our operating expenses . . ." It would be easier to comment sapiently if we were given a breakdown of that $1 million lump sum, i.e., what functions were reduced or eliminated?

Posted by: Jeff Allen | October 6, 2009 09:36 PM

Lots of good thoughts here, as usual! I hope the lessons we're learning, and strategies we're trying, will last past this immediate crisis.

For example, government grant funding is a huge opportunity that many nonprofits overlook, unless they have traditionally received funding through such sources. That funding will remain substantial long after ARRA.

Likewise, Meyer's experiments with operating support, loans, etc. should continue to prove valuable post recovery.

As one of my colleagues used to say... this is another #&#@!'ing opportunity for growth :)

Posted by: Doug Stamm | October 14, 2009 10:38 AM

I'm grateful to all of you for commenting. It's helpful to hear about the challenges you all face, the progress you are making and ways we might support your efforts.

Robert, thanks for your inquiry and sorry for slight delay in response but I have been off the grid the past few days attending a conference and then back-to-back trustee meetings. Just now catching up with my emails and blog updates. To be specific, the reduction in our operating expenses was accomplished by cutting staff benefits and salaries, not replacing staff who leave, greatly limiting our use of consultants and other professionals, reducing staff travel significantly and the fact that when our assets go down, our money managers fees fall.

Posted by: Dana Van Nest | October 15, 2009 12:25 PM

Thanks for the clarity and the communication, Doug. We (The Collins Group) recently did a short survey on the economy with a focus on foundations and communication. The majority of respondents reported positive relationships and cited the need for ongoing, personal communication. You can see the results here.

Given the above comments,sounds like MMT is doing exactly what your audience needs. Kudos!