Cover Story: Inspiring Kindness Across Oregon

2021: Efforts Realized

Project Turnkey Delivers

Nearly 900 New Units

Entrusted by the Legislature with $75 million, OCF led a public-private partnership that, in under eight months, increased the state’s supply of year-round emergency shelter beds by almost 20%. Community partners in 19 counties can now house and support more wildfire survivors, people experiencing chronic homelessness and other neighbors in need. The project is a powerful example of OCF’s work to develop innovative, cost-effective ways to address Oregon’s housing-related problems.

Investing in Entrepreneurs

Small Business, Big Returns

When business owners, battered by the pandemic, asked for help to grow their companies, OCF donors responded with a new Thriving Entrepreneurs Fund to provide training, mentorship and assistance to access capital. Priority for $580,000 in grants went to nonprofits that offer business bolstering services to people of color, women and rural entrepreneurs, whose enormous potential to contribute to Oregon’s economic vitality is often overlooked by investors.

Surge in Summer Learning Learning

UP TO 340,000 KIDS SERVED

After two school years disrupted by COVID, Oregon students regained some of what they had lost by participating in summer learning programs in all 36 counties. OCF administered $41.2 million in state-funded grants to community-based organizations, lowering cost barriers for thousands of students. The effort strengthened the state’s learning ecosystem, helping to close the opportunity gap for children from low-income families, communities of color and rural areas.

2021: Goals Reached

Community Rebuilding Success

HELP FOR THE LONG HAUL

After 2020’s historic wildfires forever changed many of Oregon’s rural communities, OCF led an effort with Meyer Memorial Trust, The Ford Family Foundation and American Red Cross to raise $10 million to help survivors recover and rebuild. OCF donors swiftly did their part. By the close of 2021, nearly all of the $10 million was at work helping communities in the eight counties ravaged by the fires.

Milestone with Impact

$30 MILLION RAISED

Launched just four years ago, the Oregon Impact Fund grew to $30 million
in 2021, fueled by donor commitments and OCF endowment funds.
Beneficiaries include nonprofit organizations and for-profit social ventures
that create quantifiable impact in areas that are vital to a thriving, equitable
and opportunity-rich state: affordable housing, education, health care access, natural resource management and job creation in underserved communities.

Lands and Waters for Generations

LAND PROTECTED

The Pacific Northwest Resilient Landscapes Initiative is improving community and climate resilience across Oregon, Washington and Idaho. With the support of donors and partners, the initiative is strengthening our land trusts and supporting 24 conservation projects totaling 40,000 acres of natural and working lands — an area larger than Bryce Canyon National Park or 30,500 football fields.

2021: Future Focus

Reaching Creative Heights

NEW ART, NEW IDEAS

OCF’s Creative Heights initiative increases cultural visibility and vitality in the state through unique opportunities for Oregonians to experience innovative arts and culture. In 2021, Creative Heights grants invested $1 million in 12 projects, supporting artists as they stretched their creative capacity, shared new works and tested new ideas.

Scholarships Set Record

FUELING OUR FUTURE

OCF manages one of the largest scholarship programs of its kind in the country. Underlying every OCF scholarship fund is the belief that higher education is a vital investment in Oregon’s future. In 2021, donors topped themselves again, awarding $11.6 million to students of whom nearly twothirds were low-income.

Community Grants Evolve

STRONGER, TOGETHER

OCF made changes to the Community Grants program in 2021 to prioritize marginalized communities who have been most affected by social, economic and/or racial inequities. The multiple crises of 2020 compounded these inequities, which often close off opportunities for children and adults to thrive. By first addressing the pressing needs in Oregon’s most vulnerable communities, donors are building a stronger state for us all.