Working with communities and supported by gifts from people like you, OCF funds a brighter housing future
Homelessness and the shortage of affordable housing are caused by a wide variety of linked social and economic problems, touching every community in Oregon. Since 2015, OCF donors – through gifts large and small – together have contributed $6 million to $8 million a year in grants toward organizations serving the homeless and supporting affordable housing.
This funding goes beyond traditional housing and shelter services to include senior and disability assistance, job training and workforce development programs, education and mentoring for high-risk communities, domestic violence prevention, and culturally-specific family services. In addition, our Oregon Impact Fund provides growth capital for organizations that are preserving and developing affordable housing like REACH Development, NOAH, CASA and Portland Housing Center.
What you can do
Make a gift to the Housing Stability and Ending Homelessness in Oregon Fund to support OCF grantmaking statewide. You can make a gift of $25 or more online. If you are an existing OCF donor, contact your donor relations officer, who can direct you toward more opportunities to support nonprofits and agencies.
OCF, with donors, supports:
OCF gathers and shares comprehensive data about housing and homelessness to support policymaking, philanthropic giving and collaborative action, both by contracting with respected research firms like ECONorthwest and through its own Research Department.
Donor support enables grants to programs working to prevent homelessness among vulnerable populations. Just a few examples:
- Albertina Kerr constructed 120 units of housing for workers who earn 60% or less of the median income for Metro Portland.
- Centro Cultural de Washington County launched LatinoWorks, a comprehensive workforce development program that includes ESL classes, mock interviews, on-the-job training and job placement.
- Northeast Oregon Network improves access to safe and affordable emergency, temporary and permanent housing in Union County.
- Habitat for Humanity of La Pine Sunriver built 19 affordable homes as part of its first-ever multifamily townhouse development.
- Sponsors is developing a supportive housing project in Eugene, which will provide housing and wraparound services for men and women returning to their community after release from incarceration.
- United Community Action Network helps the unemployed, working poor, seniors and people with disabilities to remain housed by assisting with their housing expenses and bills.
Here are a few examples of organizations receiving donor-backed funding for advocacy:
- Leaven Community brings people and organizations together to work on civic and livability issues for marginalized communities. Leaven recently lobbied to legalize tiny homes for low-income Portland residents.
- Outside the Frame trains homeless and marginalized youth to create films about issues that matter to them.
- Welcome Home Coalition is increasing safe and stable housing opportunities in Metro Portland for communities of color and those in poverty.
Donors have long supported a host of organizations providing shelter and supportive services. To name just a few:
- CASA of Oregon supports underserved rural and farmworker communities with housing, facilities and programs that increase families’ financial well-being.
- Compassion First partners with Safety Compass to shelter and aid survivors of sex trafficking and exploitation in Marion and Clackamas counties.
- Coos Cares runs Harmony House, which offers transitional housing, case management and wraparound services to homeless families in Coos County.
- Path Home has a campus in Lents that shelters 26 families in private rooms and offer 24-hour trauma-informed services.
- Rogue Retreat provides services across the spectrum of homelessness in Jackson County, from shelters to tiny homes and affordable apartments.
Project Turnkey: Taking Bold Action
Project Turnkey is the story of what Oregon can accomplish when communities, business, government and philanthropy join forces to take bold action.
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