2016 Highlights

In 2016, the Meyer Foundation began implementing a new strategic plan introduced in late 2015. That plan expressed a commitment to better align all our resources with the most urgent needs of residents and communities throughout the Greater Washington region, to foster collaboration and collective action for greater impact, and to address head-on the structural and systemic racism at the root of poverty and inequality.

As we announced our evolution and moved forward in our commitment to tackling racial inequity, a divisive election and its aftermath threatened to disrupt progress and move the country in the opposite direction.

What is happening at the national and local level only deepens our belief that the time to build an equitable Greater Washington community is now. We are encouraged by the many partners in government, business, philanthropy, and the nonprofit sector who share this conviction and want to work in partnership. We will continue to think boldly, and to work toward ambitious shared goals for the region. And we know we can only reach them by moving forward together.

2016 Highlights  

2016 Highlights

The Meyer Foundation’s 2016 highlights include:

2016 Highlights

  • Launching Leading for Impact with The Bridgespan Group, a five-year initiative helping 50 nonprofit leadership teams in the region accelerate their organizations, programming, and skills.

  • Awarding four inaugural Julie L. Rogers Sabbatical Program grants, aimed at replenishing the stores of energy and inspiration in our community’s visionary nonprofit leaders.

  • Investing an unprecedented $1 million from our endowment to support the production and preservation of affordable housing in the Greater Washington region through Our Region, Your Investment, launched by Enterprise Community Loan Fund and the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers.

  • Partnering with the Consumer Health Foundation in an ongoing effort to shed light on the current state of inequity among DC residents, and to highlight opportunities for policy change. This initiative began with a report produced by Urban Institute, A Vision for an Equitable DC, and continues through ongoing community conversations.

  • Awarding 38 Organizational Effectiveness and Organizational Effectiveness Partners grants as part of our capacity-building initiatives.

  • Investing more than $8.4 million in combined traditional grants and capacity-building initiatives across the Greater Washington region.

 

Grantmaking

In 2016, the Meyer Foundation awarded 176 grants totaling nearly $7.2 million across the Washington region. Our strategy has been to fund organizations that are strongly aligned with our goals, and to provide consistent annual general operating support, leveraged by periodic capacity-building support. We increased the number of multi-year grants awarded from 15 to 29, and introduced a more streamlined grant renewal process.

We support nonprofit organizations that work to advance three broad and interconnected goals for the Washington region:

  • Create an adequate supply of housing that low-income individuals and families can afford, and services that enable individuals and families to remain stably housed;

  • Ensure that individuals and families in the bottom quartile of income build assets and increase financial security;

  • Prepare youth and adults to obtain family-sustaining jobs and remain employed.

In 2016, we adopted a new staffing model with program officers focused on expanding Meyer’s grantmaking and presence in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland and Northern Virginia in response to growing inequity outside of DC.

Beyond Grantmaking

Beyond Grantmaking

Grantmaking is one of four strategies outlined in our strategic plan, and only a part of what we do. In 2016, as we began implementing the plan, we stepped up our capacity-building, collective action, and convening and advocacy work.

  • Capacity-Building  

    Capacity Building

    Meyer invests in the capacity and sustainability of grantee organizations and their leaders. We did this in 2016 through:

    Leading for Impact

    The Meyer Foundation invested $1 million to launch Leading for Impact, a new partnership with the nonprofit and consulting advisory firm The Bridgespan Group, that will provide training, coaching, and consulting support to the leadership teams at 50 Washington region nonprofit organizations over the next five years. The program will give these locally-focused nonprofits an opportunity to hone their strategic and organizational management skills and apply those skills to projects that will have an impact on the community.

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    Organizational Effectiveness Program

    In 2016, the Foundation awarded 38 organizational effectiveness grants totaling more than $1,145,000 million in the region.

    Organizational Effectiveness Grants

    View Grantees  

    Our Organizational Effectiveness (OE) program provides grants to help our nonprofit partners strengthen their management and leadership, assess and increase impact, and expand their resources. We also help organizations and networks align to meet shared community goals.


    Organizational Effectiveness Partners Grants

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    We partner with leading capacity-building providers to offer targeted, high-impact programs that strengthen the organizational effectiveness of grantee partners and provide opportunities for shared learning and networking.


    Julie L. Rogers Sabbatical Program

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    The Julie L. Rogers Sabbatical Program is aimed at replenishing the stores of energy and inspiration in our community’s visionary nonprofit leaders.

     

    Learn More  

     

     

  • Collective Action  

    Collective Action

    Meyer supports and participates in efforts to align organizations, businesses, and government agencies working toward shared goals, and to promote collaborative approaches and work to attract additional capital to those efforts. In 2016, we supported:

    Raise DC

    Raise DC is a cross-sector partnership of local stakeholders formed to promote a culture shift from competition over Washington, DC, resources to collaboration, in providing every youth with opportunities to succeed from cradle to career.

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    Montgomery Moving Forward

    Montgomery Moving Forward builds on collective people power and talent in Montgomery County, MD to bring together committed and invested leaders from all of the county’s communities and professions to work together to solve problems.

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    Greater Washington Workforce Development Collaborative

    The Greater Washington Workforce Development Collaborative, an initiative of the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region (now the Greater Washington Community Foundation), is a coalition of local workforce investors with a common commitment to address poverty and income inequality by helping workers advance their skills and credentials to earn family-sustaining wages.

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    Early Care and Education Collaborative

    The Early Care and Education Collaborative, an initiative of the Washington Area Women’s Foundation, is a multi-year, multi-million-dollar collective funding effort to increase the quality and capacity and access to early care and education in the Washington region.

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  • Convening and Advocacy  

    Convening and Advocacy

    Meyer serves as a leading regional voice to raise awareness about the barriers that prevent economically vulnerable people from thriving, highlights the examples and ideas from others working to create a more equitable region, and brings people together to achieve greater impact. In 2016, we participated in the following efforts:

    DC in Color: Advancing Health, Economic, and Racial Equity

    In partnership with the Consumer Health Foundation, Meyer convened community members, advocates, and policymakers in the District to unpack the findings of the digital feature commissioned by both foundations, A Vision for an Equitable DC.

    Learn More  

    DC Council Testimony

    Meyer testified, along with several other youth advocates, before the DC Council’s Committee on Education at a public hearing on B21-0865, the Office on Youth Outcomes and Grants Establishment Act of 2016—a first for Meyer staff.

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    Communications and Social Media

    In 2016, Meyer accelerated communications and social media efforts and sought to use our communications platforms to generate greater awareness of the issues directly affecting our region and the organizations working to address them.

    Twitter

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    Facebook

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    Website

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    Using our voice as an institution and as individuals to elevate pressing issues facing residents in the Greater Washington region and the social sector was a significant priority.

    Read 2016 messages from our president:

     

     

Financials

In 2016, the Meyer Foundation awarded 176 grants totaling $7,160,500 across the Washington region; 38 grants totaling $1,145,000 through our capacity-building initiatives and other strategic opportunities; and $103,500 through the Children and Family Capacity-Building Initiative.

  • Our Financials  

    Financials

    In 2016, the Meyer Foundation awarded 176 grants totaling $7,160,500 across the Washington region; 38 grants totaling $1,145,000 through our capacity-building initiatives and other strategic opportunities; and $103,500 through the Children and Family Capacity-Building Initiative.

    2016 Grant Approvals

    Program Area Amount Number
    CFCBI $103,500 16
    Capacity Building $1,145,000 38
    District of Columbia $4,017,500 79
    Maryland $1,107,500 34
    Virginia $1,055,000 28
    Regional $980,500 35
    Total $8,409,000 230

    Meyer Grant Commitments

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    Meyer Grant Payments

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    These totals exclude commitments and payments for the Children and Family Capacity-Building Initiative and payments on behalf of the Acacia Foundation in 2015.

    Statements of Financial Position (December 31, 2016 and 2015)

    Assets 2016 2015
    Cash and cash equivalents $1,085,850 $63,858
    Accounts and interest receivable $165,670 $413,252
    Prepaid expenses and deposits $180,488 $107,839
    Prepaid federal excise tax $189,824 $173,000
    Investments/cash - deferred compensation $154,110 $377,760
    Due from investment manager $3,517,046 $339,446
    Investments $198,072,068 $202,339,552
    Property and equipment, net $569,960 $731,800
    Total assets $203,935,016 $204,546,507
    Liabilities and Net Assets 2016 2015
    Liabilities
    Accounts payable and accrued expenses $109,100 $158,204
    Grants payable, net $3,069,709 $2,839,334
    Deferred revenue $66,343 $75,396
    Deferred federal excise tax $826,487 $733,103
    Deferred rent $535,693 $621,827
    Deferred compensation $154,110 $377,760
    Total liabilities $4,761,442 $4,805,624
    Net Assets
    Unrestricted net assets $199,146,474 $199,570,283
    Temporarily restricted $27,100 $170,600
    Total net assets $199,173,574 $199,740,883
    Total liabilities and net assets $203,935,016 $204,546,507

    Statements of Activities (December 31, 2016 and 2015)

    Support and Revenue Unrestricted Temp. Restricted Total 2016 Total 2015
    Dividends and interest on investments $3 ,072,202 – $3,072,202 $2,952,721
    Net realized gains on sale of investments $4,957,967 – $4,957,967 $7,383,674
    Unrealized gain (loss) on investments $4,669,187 – $4,669,187 ($17,139,017)
    Less investment expenses $1,158,891 – $1,158,891 $1,349,309
    Net investment return $11,540,465 – $11,540,465 ($8,151,931)
    Contributions – – – $40,292
    Other income $43,544 – $43,544 $99,144
    Net assets released from restrictions $143,500 ($143,500) – –
    Total Support and Revenue $11,727,509 ($143,500) $11,584,009 ($8,012,495)
    Expenses
    Grant awards $8,445,375 – $8,445,375 $10,733,975
    Direct charitable activities $2,780,131 – $2,780,131 $2,500,213
    Operations and governance $772,752 – $772,752 $916,034
    Federal excise tax $59,676 – $59,676 $102,869
    (Benefit) provision for deferred federal excise tax $93,384 – $93,384 ($342,781)
    Total Expenses $12,151,318 – $12,151,318 $13,910,310
    Change in Net Assets ($423,809) ($143,500) ($567,309) ($21,922,805)
    Net Assets
    Beginning of year $199,570,283 $170,600 $199,740,883 $221,663,688
    End of year $199,146,474 $27,100 $199,173,574 $199,740,883

    Download Our Financial Statements  

    View our 2015 990-PF Tax Return  

     

     

When we announced our strategic plan, we shared our commitment to build a more equitable Greater Washington region. That commitment continues to drive our work, which we cannot do alone.

We need to move forward together to create a better future for our region. We need to bridge the barriers of race, class, ethnicity, and geography that challenge our progress as a region. No one organization or sector can address those challenges singlehandedly. We need increased collaboration, diverse investments, and new partnerships to advance equity in our region.

Let’s keep moving forward, together.

Take a look at how two of our partners are moving their communities forward.

DCPNI: Elders Tea from Stone Soup Films on Vimeo.

Capital Area Asset Builders: Mertine Moore Brown from Stone Soup Films on Vimeo.

DCPNI: Elders Tea from Stone Soup Films on Vimeo.

Capital Area Asset Builders: Mertine Moore Brown from Stone Soup Films on Vimeo.