Program Officers Blog

Having been responsible for submitting many grant proposals in my pre-MMT life, I know how it feels to try to figure out what foundations mean when they issue messages about what they are looking for in grant proposals.

May I never lose that perspective. :)

In Doug Stamm's recent post outlining Meyer Memorial Trust's expectations about our grantmaking over the next year, we talk about our interest in innovation.

We thought it might be useful to provide some additional information about our statement that:

"We are actively encouraging proposals that take innovative approaches to challenges we face in this "new normal" economic climate. For example, we like to see new approaches to service delivery, internal operations, etc. that are responsive to economic conditions and, consequently, are more sustainable financially.  We are interested in seeing proposals that rethink business and program models.

As they say, sometimes the best way to explain is to show. Over the coming months, we will be highlighting a few organizations and their MMT-supported endeavors that reflect what we mean by innovation.  Here are two:

• ChristieCare, a leading provider of mental health services for Oregon’s children with serious mental health challenges, had reached the point of having a 34% funding gap.  It approached the Trust with a plan to make efficiency improvements in its facilities and staffing structure, and to modify its programming to include a continuum of services from residential to intensive in-home services.  These changes are positioning the organization for long-term sustainability and better outcomes for kids. READ AND SEE MORE
  
• Bridge Meadows is another innovative nonprofit serving vulnerable children.  This organization is taking an unconventional approach to supporting adoptive families of foster children by creating an intergenerational neighborhood that offers permanency and community to children and a sense of purpose to older adults. READ AND SEE MORE

MMT has a long history of supporting innovation in our nonprofit community through grantmaking.  We believe the current challenging conditions in our communities and sector present opportunities for fresh takes on operations and service delivery, both to better address increasingly complex issues and to ensure verdant nonprofits – and we are very interested in grant proposals in these areas.   

To be clear, we are no way suggesting that nonprofits need to come up with the “latest and greatest” shiny project in order to receive a grant from MMT (something we know foundations can be guilty of).  But, we do know that there are courageous and intriguing ideas out there to make our communities stronger. . . . and we want to explore opportunities for partnering with you to move compelling plans forward.   

Stay tuned for more examples of innovative MMT-supported efforts, and let us know about your innovations.

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