Earning Your Trust

In 2010, there is a national movement toward greater accountability, openness and transparency in the world of philanthropy than ever before. Meyer Memorial Trust is proud to have adopted accountability and transparency in our fundamental values nearly a decade ago. Since then we have used our website and other online tools to provide deep and meaningful access to our work.

Guiding Principles

In 2009, MMT adopted Guiding Principles of Grantmakers of Oregon and Southwest Washington:

We are committed to excellence and effectiveness in our giving. We commit to open dialogue, self-reflection and to the exploration of new knowledge and information so as to ensure that our work is aligned with our values and has the greatest benefit to society.

We recognize that we play an important role in our communities, a role sustained by the public trust that carries with it certain obligations. We are committed to fulfilling our work based on principles that reflect those obligations and strive to conduct our affairs in the following manner:

• We are aware of and fulfill our fiduciary and legal responsibilities.
• We serve the public good by adhering to the highest standards of ethical behavior.
• We honor the intent of our donors, founders, and/or founding mandates.
• We are thoughtful and purposeful in our grantmaking and periodically review and evaluate our mission, priorities, policies and practices.
• We recognize the increasing cultural diversity of the communities and constituents that we serve and within the limits of our individual charters seek to reflect this diversity in our giving.
• We deal respectfully with applicants, grantees and donors, as well as those simply seeking information about our programs.
• We publish or otherwise make readily available basic information about our programs, funding priorities, and application requirements.
• We define the expected steps in our grantmaking process and communicate these to applicants and grantees.
• We are accessible and respond clearly, promptly, and as fairly as possible to all requests for information and meetings.
• We respect the confidentiality of applicants, grantees and donors and use discretion in communicating with others about specific organizations or individuals.

Foundation Effectiveness

MMT is committed to monitoring the effectiveness of its funding activities by monitoring progress of our programs and the organizations and projects we fund. We have collected the reports and reflections on our grantmaking in the Lessons Learned section of this website. MMT grantees submit periodic reports on activities and expenditures, which are reviewed by MMT staff and trustees. MMT continues to actively seek ways to improve ongoing evaluation of our grantmaking.

In addition, MMT solicited a formal independent assessment of its activities by FSG, includes grantee evaluations in performance reviews of program staff, and conducted an outside anonymous survey (link) of our program team, grants administration, communication and learning and office operation staff. All these activities inform our search for continuous improvement in all our operations.

MMT actively seeks out and incorporates emerging knowledge and practices in philanthropy from groups like the Foundation Center, Grantmakers of Oregon and Southwest Washington, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, Foundation Financials Officers Group, More For Mission, PRI Makers Network, Foundations for a Better Oregon, Grant Managers Network, Project Streamline, Glasspockets and a variety of other affinity groups and networks.

MMT also applies our values in investing our assets so as not to undo the benefits of our grantmaking.

MMT makes efforts to be flexible in our funding opportunities by tailoring our support in ways it is most effective, making program-related investments like loans and equity investments when they would be useful.

Conflicts of Interest Policy

POLICIES AND GUIDELINES SUBMITTED TO OREGON ATTORNEY GENERAL  (Adopted by MMT Trustees, January 3, 1986, with revisions in June 1991 and January 1992):

1. It is the policy of the Meyer Memorial Trust to encourage the Trustees and staff to remain sensitive to conflicts and potential conflicts of interest in grant making, investment, purchasing, and other decisions related to Trust business.

2. It is recognized that the Trustees of a charitable trust owe undivided loyalty to the Trust. For the purpose of guidance under this policy, a conflict of interest is defined as any set of circumstances that would place a Trustee or staff person in a position of real danger that his or her own self-interest would affect his or her conduct causing the Trust to take or not take a particular action. Guidelines to implement this policy:

(a) The Executive Director will periodically make available to the Trustees, for their review and consideration, current periodical literature on this subject matter.

(b) Trustees and executive-level staff are to inquire of their own minds, not only if a conflict of interest exists in a particular circumstance, but also to inquire if there may be an appearance of a conflict of interest with respect to themselves or other executive-level staff members or Trustees.

3. It is the policy of Meyer Memorial Trust to have all Trustees and executive-level staff members to disclose at appropriate times any conflict of interest that he or she believes they have. Guidelines to implement this policy:

(a) Each Trustee and executive-level staff person is encouraged to err on the side of disclosure.

(b) The disclosure should be made as soon as it reasonably can be made after a potential conflict arises. The format at Trustee meetings should include a specific time for disclosure and inquiry.

(c) The disclosure should be as full and complete as possible, to the end that each other Trustee present should have reasonably complete knowledge of any significant fact.

Whistleblower Policy

Meyer Memorial Trust Employee Protection (Whistleblower) Policy

If any employee reasonably believes that some policy, practice or activity of Meyer Memorial Trust is in violation of law, a written complaint must be filed by that employee with the CEO or Chair of the Board of Trustees.

It is the intent of Meyer Memorial Trust to adhere to all laws and regulations that apply to the organization and the underlying purpose of this policy is to support the organization’s goal of legal compliance. The support of all employees is necessary to achieving compliance with various laws and regulations. An employee is protected from retaliation only if the employee brings the alleged unlawful activity, policy or practice to the attention of Meyer Memorial Trust and provides Meyer Memorial Trust with a reasonable opportunity to investigate and correct the alleged unlawful activity. The protection described below is only available to employees that comply with this requirement.

Meyer Memorial Trust will not retaliate against an employee who, in good faith, has made a protest or raised a complaint against some practice of Meyer Memorial Trust, or of another individual or entity with whom Meyer Memorial Trust has a business relationship, on the basis of a reasonable belief that the practice is in violation of law or a clear mandate of public policy.

Meyer Memorial Trust will not retaliate against employees who disclose or threaten to disclose to a supervisor or a public body, any activity, policy or practice of Meyer Memorial Trust that the employee reasonably believes is in violation of a law, or a rule or regulation mandated pursuant to law or is in violation of a clear mandate of public policy concerning the health, safety, welfare or protection of the environment.

CEO Compensation

MMT uses three methods to set the level of compensation for our CEO:

1. Trustee Chair conducts annual performance evaluation against the Council on Foundations Competencies for CEOs of Private Foundations and yearly organizational/individual goals and performance objectives,  including review of CEO self evaluation, confidential staff input, individual Chair and trustee input, review/discussion of Chair draft evaluation with CEO, review of draft evaluation with all trustees and approval by all trustees of the final review, including compensation package.
2. Review of private industry and foundation compensation ranges/trends/practices for similar or like positions/responsibilities.
3. Engagement of foundation compensation expert to provide independent, third party evaluation.