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Dear Friend of OCF,
We would like to report to you on the special efforts of The Oregon Community Foundation to help the communities of Oregon address the challenges they face in this time of crisis. We are privileged to be able to connect donor resources to community needs, organizations to organizations, and people to each other.
Our work is guided by a vision that Oregon communities must have both a strong safety net of emergency services for times of crisis and long-term goals that will result in economic and social health in the future.
Here is a brief summary of our current efforts. We welcome your feedback.
- Response to the Recession: We have convened some of the state’s leading emergency service providers to identify how communities can build a strong safety net to help people in need. Going forward, we intend to:
- Bring leaders together in each region of Oregon to maximize and coordinate the local service response
- Strengthen access points for help, such as the 211 crisis line
- Support local emergency funds that provide direct aid to people
- Provide “how to help” giving guides for businesses
- Support a “neighbor helping neighbor” community campaign
- Focus on Education: Because Oregon’s long-term future depends on a well-educated population, we have increased our commitment to early childhood, K-12 innovation, and access to higher education. Our board has set an ambitious and attainable work plan for education; we encourage you to check our website: www.oregoncf.org.
- A Stable and Growing Endowment: Our endowment declined by 24% in 2008 due to the economic crisis. The OCF investment committee has re-balanced the portfolio, maintaining a high quality bias. Our asset allocation positions us well for the economic recovery. And, we work closely with our donors to increase endowment assets.
- Grants to Communities: Despite the decline in endowment OCF will continue to provide a stable level of funding for grants and scholarships over the next two years. This is a time when we must serve communities and provide sufficient funding to address needs.
We will move forward with these four strategies with urgency and thoughtfulness and will be in touch as we engage all of our partners in this work. In the meantime, we encourage you to see where you can make a difference close to home: help a neighbor, volunteer at a food bank, donate to a local nonprofit.
We are fortunate to have so many friends who are connected to OCF and committed to the ongoing wellbeing of Oregon.
Sincerely,
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Steven Corey
Chair
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Gregory A. Chaillé
President
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