Building a Community for Lasting Change

In 2014, the Meyer Foundation awarded more than $10 million in grants to nonprofit organizations across the Washington, DC region — the largest annual grants total in the Foundation's 70-year history.

During the year, the Foundation's extraordinary grantees worked in a variety of ways to improve the lives of low-income people. Some were supporting students to succeed in school and move on to higher education. Others were helping families find stable housing. And still others were delivering literacy and training programs and connecting adults to family-supporting jobs.

2014 Highlights  
Building a Community for Lasting Change:

2014 Highlights

Building a Community for Lasting Change

Calvary Women’s Place provides housing, health, employment and education programs that empower homeless women in Washington, DC to change their lives. (Photo credit: Lisa Helfert)

The year's highlights:

  • Meyer's grantmaking in 2014 included nearly $7 million in grants across four program areas, and more than $3 million in grants through the Children and Family Capacity-Building Initiative.

  • The Foundation led three major capacity-building efforts for the region's nonprofits. These included the Children and Family Capacity-Building Initiative, an initiative to strengthen the sustainability of 126 grantees of the Freddie Mac Foundation that serve vulnerable children and families.

  • Meyer also emerged this year as a leader in the region's response to the crisis of children fleeing violence in Central America.

  • And in a year of transition for the Foundation, we said goodbye to longtime leader Julie Rogers and welcomed Nicky Goren as president and CEO.

At the same time that we were supporting grantees and others to address current problems and needs, the Meyer Foundation also was engaged in deep discussions about the future.

Nicky Goren spent much of her first three months on the job reaching out to more than 150 people across the region, including nonprofit, business, government and community leaders. In the course of her listening tour, she heard profound concern about the disparities affecting low-income people. She heard about urgent needs — needs that are not being met — in crucial areas from affordable housing and education to adult literacy and homelessness. And she heard a consistent call for more collaboration among foundations and the region's nonprofits, including suggestions for how Meyer can use its voice and influence to help spur real and lasting change.

At the end of the year, the Meyer board of directors and Nicky commenced a planning process so the foundation and our partners can move from conversation to collaborative action on the problems confronting the region.

We look forward to reporting on the results of that process later in 2015. In the meantime, we hope you will join us in honoring our grantees' tremendous achievements of the past year — and in once again thanking Julie Rogers for her 28-year tenure of compassion, innovation and impact.

 

 

Grantmaking

In 2014, the Meyer Foundation awarded 218 grants totaling nearly $7 million across four program areas. Grantees estimated that this funding helped them reach more than 520,000 low-income children, families, and adults throughout the Washington, DC region. Meyer also awarded more than $3 million in grants through the Children and Family Capacity-Building Initiative.

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    Grantmaking

    In 2014, the Meyer Foundation awarded 218 grants totaling nearly $7 million across four program areas. Grantees estimated that this funding helped them reach more than 520,000 low-income children, families, and adults throughout the Washington, DC region. (Meyer also awarded more than $3 million in grants through the Children and Family Capacity-Building Initiative.)

    Geographic Area Served

    Geographic Area Served
    Region Map

    Program Areas

    • Economic Security

      Economic Security

      Through our Economic Security program area, we aim to help low-income adults and families stabilize their lives, build assets, and achieve financial independence.

      Grantees & Impact

    • Education

      Education

      Through our Education program area, we seek to improve the lives of children and youth from low-income families by supporting efforts across a comprehensive education continuum.

      Grantees & Impact

    • Healthy Communities

      Healthy Communities

      Through our Healthy Communities program area, we aim to build thriving communities where low-income adults and families have access to health care and other essential services, and to support public policy changes to reduce poverty.

      Grantees & Impact

    • Strong Nonprofit Sector

      Strong Nonprofit Sector

      Through our Strong Nonprofit Sector program area, we seek to increase the effectiveness, sustainability, and influence of our grantees and Greater Washington's nonprofit sector, and to strengthen philanthropy in the region.

      Grantees & Impact

    Management Assistance Program (MAP)
    MAP provides grants to help Meyer grantees strengthen their management and leadership so they can serve the community more effectively. In 2014, the Meyer Foundation awarded 26 grants, totaling $418,500.

    Benevon Program
    Giving from individuals is an important and often untapped source of income for nonprofit organizations. To support our grantees in becoming more effective at raising money from individuals, Meyer has developed a partnership with Benevon, a firm that provides training and coaching to help nonprofits implement its proprietary model for raising money from individual donors. To date, grantees receiving support to implement the Benevon model have raised more than $4.7 million. In 2014, five grants totaling $60,000 were awarded.

     

     

Capacity-building Initiatives

Capacity-Building Initiatives

During 2014, the Meyer Foundation increased its support for efforts to strengthen the capacity of the region's nonprofits to make a difference for low-income people. The foundation's capacity-building focused on three major initiatives.

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    Capacity-Building Initiatives

    During 2014, the Meyer Foundation increased its support for efforts to strengthen the capacity of the region's nonprofits to make a difference for low-income people. The Foundation focused on three major initiatives:

    Children and Family Capacity-Building Initiative

    Children and Family Capacity-Building Initiative

    Launched in May 2014 with support from the Freddie Mac Foundation, the CFCBI is a two-year program to strengthen organizations that serve vulnerable children and families in the region. Through this initiative, Meyer supported 126 former grantees of the Freddie Mac Foundation to engage in a range of capacity-building activities, including strategic planning, board and staff development, and support for financial management, marketing, fundraising, and communications. In 2014, Meyer awarded 62 grants totaling more than $3 million.

    View Grantees  
    Stories Worth Telling

    Stories Worth Telling

    The Meyer Foundation continued its partnership with Georgetown University's Center for Social Impact Communication to support nonprofit organizations to tell their stories more effectively so they can improve fundraising and build more support for their work. During the year, 37 Meyer Foundation grantees participated in targeted storytelling training and took part in "storytelling audits." The Foundation also released a report on storytelling for small nonprofits to expand the reach of these trainings and share the resources more widely.

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    Executive Leadership Intensive

    Executive Leadership Intensive

    In October, the Foundation launched a new leadership training and coaching program for 13 early‐tenure executive directors, in partnership with CompassPoint Nonprofit Services. This three-day program is designed to address the most common challenges facing nonprofit leaders, including fundraising, human resources, and board development.

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Leadership Transition

Leadership Transition

In June 2013, Julie Rogers announced she would be leaving the Meyer Foundation. For nearly three decades, Julie led the foundation as it grew to become a key problem-solving force in the region and as it established a national reputation as an innovator in philanthropy.

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    Leadership Transition

    Julie Rogers and Nicky Goren with the 2014 Meyer Foundation Board of Directors. From left to right: Will Dunbar, Barbara Lang, Ginger Lew, Josh Bernstein, Julie Rogers, Nicky Goren, Kerrie Wilson, Lidia Soto-Harmon, Bob Templin, Jim Sandman, and Deborah Ratner Salzberg. (Photo credit: Lisa Helfert)

    Julie Rogers and Nicky Goren with the 2014 Meyer Foundation Board of Directors. From left to right: Will Dunbar, Barbara Lang, Ginger Lew, Joshua Bernstein, Julie Rogers, Nicky Goren, Kerrie Wilson, Bob Templin, Lidia Soto-Harmon, Jim Sandman, and Deborah Ratner Salzberg. (Photo credit: Lisa Helfert)

    For nearly three decades, Julie Rogers led the Meyer Foundation as it grew to become an anchor philanthropy in the Washington, DC, region, and as it established a national reputation for its focus on sustaining nonprofit leadership and building organizational capacity. During her tenure, the Foundation made more than 6,000 grants totaling nearly $153 million.

    Julie was deeply committed to finding innovative and collaborative ways to support nonprofit leaders and their organizations and networks. She founded major philanthropic collaborations, including the Washington AIDS Partnership, and led the development of the Foundation's Exponent Awards.

    Julie also developed the Nonprofit Sector Fund, which included grants to increase the effectiveness and influence of the Foundation's grantees and the region's nonprofit sector, the Management Assistance Program, and the Cash Flow Loan Program. In recognition of her leadership and vision, Julie received numerous awards for her work and was named "Washingtonian of the Year" by Washingtonian magazine in 1994.

    Following a months-long search, the Foundation's board of directors announced the appointment of Nicky Goren as Julie's successor in March 2014. Nicky arrived at the Meyer Foundation after serving as president of the Washington Area Women's Foundation. A graduate of Brandeis University and Cornell Law School, Nicky also held various leadership positions at the Corporation for National and Community Service, including associate general counsel, chief of staff, and acting CEO.

    Nicky started her job at the Meyer Foundation on July 1, 2014. Her ability to hit the ground running is a testament to the strong organization that Julie Rogers left behind. It also is the result of careful and extensive planning of the sort that Meyer and other funders regularly urge on grantees undergoing their own leadership changes.

     

     

Community Leadership

Community Leadership

As the summer of 2014 began, members of the Meyer Foundation's staff began to hear a common refrain in meetings and site visits with grantees across the region.

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    Community Leadership

    Community Leadership

    Casa of Maryland works to create a more just society by building power and improving the quality of life in low-income immigrant communities. (Photo credit: Carol Guzy)

    As the summer of 2014 began, Meyer Foundation staff began to hear a common refrain in meetings and site visits with grantees. During these conversations, nonprofit leaders and staff expressed concern about the large number of unaccompanied minors who were crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and settling with relatives in the local area. With more than 7,000 of these children arriving in the Washington, DC metropolitan region, nonprofits were struggling to provide them and their families with needed services from mental health to legal and housing support.

    In response to what we heard, the Meyer Foundation convened several organizations that serve immigrant communities to explore how philanthropy could help. The Foundation subsequently increased its grant funding to many of these organizations, while also hosting a widely attended briefing to advance understanding and awareness of the crisis among other funders and to mobilize broader support. Foundation President Nicky Goren authored an article for the Washington Business Journal urging business and philanthropic leaders to come together to help ensure the well-being of these children.

    As part of the Foundation’s efforts, we established a special fund to support this work at the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region. By year’s end, the Children Fleeing Violence Fund had attracted $130,000 in donations from the Prince Charitable Trusts, Kaiser Permanente Foundation, and an anonymous individual donor. These funds were subsequently awarded to several local nonprofits in 2015.

     

     

Financials

In 2014, the Meyer Foundation awarded 218 grants, totaling $6,977,220 in new commitments, across our four program areas and the Management Assistance Program; and 62 grants, totaling $3,079,400, in new commitments through the Children and Family Capacity-Building Initiative.

  • Our Financials  

    Financials

    In 2014, the Meyer Foundation awarded 218 grants, totaling $6,977,220 in new commitments, across our four program areas and the Management Assistance Program; and 62 grants, totaling $3,079,400, in new commitments through the Children and Family Capacity-Building Initiative.

    2014 Grant Approvals

    Program Area Amount Number
    Children and Family Capacity-Building Initiative $3,079,400 62
    Management Assistance Program $478,500 31
    Strong Nonprofit Sector $481,720 23
    Strategic Opportunity $205,000 5
    Healthy Communities $2,347,500 60
    Education $1,712,500 52
    Economic Security $1,752,000 47
    Total $10,056,620 280

    Grant Commitments 2010-14

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    Grant Payments 2010-14

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    Statements of Financial Position (December 31, 2014 and 2013)

    Assets 2014 2013
    Cash and cash equivalents $223,366 $1,718,560
    Accounts receivable $204,059 $292,475
    Prepaids and deposits $401,946 $249,496
    Investment trade receivable $7,080,986 $631,029
    Investments $217,117,850 $218,839,719
    Property and equipment, net $890,043 $1,077,457
    Total assets $225,918,250 $222,808,736
    Liabilities and Net Assets 2014 2013
    Current liabilities
    Accounts payable and accrued expenses $171,225 $179,365
    Grants payable $1,591,500 $635,000
    Deferred revenue $148,409 –
    Total current liabilities $1,911,134 $814,365
    Long-term liabilities
    Grants payable, net $221,050 $461,120
    Deferred rent liability $692,253 $745,421
    Deferred excise taxes on unrealized gains $1,075,884 $445,777
    Deferred compensation $354,241 $335,072
    Total long-term liabilities $2,343,428 $1,987,390
    Total liabilities $4,254,562 $2,801,755
    Unrestricted net assets $219,004,088 $220,006,981
    Temporarily restricted net assets $2,659,600 –
    Total net assets $221,663,688 $220,006,981
    Total liabilities and net assets $225,918,250 $222,808,736

    Statements of Activities (December 31, 2014 and 2013)

    2014
    Revenue Unrestricted Temporarily Restricted Total
    Dividends and interest on investments $3,598,261 – $3,598,261
    Unrealized (loss) /gains on investments $(8,199,326) – $(8,199,326)
    Realized gains on sale of investments $16,704,156 – $16,704,156
    Contributions – $5,739,000 $5,739,000
    Other $141,613 – $141,613
    Net assets released from restriction $3,079,400 $(3,079,400) –
    Total revenue $15,324,104 $2,659,600 $17,983,704
    Expenses
    Program $12,493,525 – $12,493,525
    Management and general
    Investing activities $2,471,236 – $2,471,236
    Deferred excise taxes on unrealized gains $630,107 – $630,107
    Other management and general $732,129 – $732,129
    Subtotal management and general $3,833,472 – $3,833,472
    Total expenses $16,326,997 – $16,326,997
    Change in net assets $(1,002,893) $2,659,600 $1,656,707
    Net assets at beginning of year $220,006,981 – $220,006,981
    Net assets at end of year $219,004,088 $2,659,600 $221,663,688
    2013
    Revenue Unrestricted Temporarily Restricted Total
    Dividends and interest on investments $3,286,531 – $3,286,531
    Unrealized (loss) /gains on investments $22,288,861 – $22,288,861
    Realized gains on sale of investments $9,005,481 – $9,005,481
    Contributions – – –
    Other $14,681 – $14,681
    Net assets released from restriction – – –
    Total revenue $34,595,554 – $34,595,554
    Expenses
    Program $8,587,546 – $8,587,546
    Management and general
    Investing activities $2,256,292 – $2,256,292
    Deferred excise taxes on unrealized gains $105,451 – $105,451
    Other management and general $658,794 – $658,794
    Subtotal management and general $3,020,537 – $3,020,537
    Total expenses $11,608,083 – $11,608,083
    Change in net assets $22,987,471 – $22,987,471
    Net assets at beginning of year $197,019,510 – $197,019,510
    Net assets at end of year $220,006,981 – $220,006,981

     

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    View our 2013 990 Tax Return