We recently completed our first round of grantmaking for 2018 at the Meyer Foundation! On June 5, our board of directors approved 73 grants totaling $3,205,000.

This grant round made significant strides toward what will become our new normal – an approach to grantmaking that considers racial equity in all aspects. We are focused on building a grantmaking strategy that supports our partner’s efforts to eliminate racial disparities in housing, education, employment, and asset building through addressing the systems—the policies, practices, cultures, and norms—that allow these disparities to persist. This is an evolving process as we and our partners learn and develop our capacity to advance racial equity in our work. This grant round was the first under the revised selection criteria and goals we released earlier this year, and it encompasses other significant shifts from how we’ve worked in the past. Here are some key highlights:

• A few years ago, we reorganized program directors around geographic areas, instead of goal areas as we have previously. With the addition of Nadine Duplessy Kearns as the District of Columbia Program Director, Sonia Quiñónez as the Northern Virginia Program Director, and Julian Haynes’ tenure as the Maryland Program Director, we are better positioned to apply a sharper focus on the geographic areas where we fund, and the ability to identify the challenges and opportunities that exist within each one.
   
• We’ve committed to increasing the depth of our relationships and grantmaking in suburban jurisdictions in Maryland and Northern Virginia, recognizing that economic challenges and racial inequity are not confined to DC. We continue to make progress toward this commitment, as shown in our list of first round grantee partners below.
   
• Our application and proposal guidelines were redesigned to incorporate new questions. Applicants were asked to describe their work toward systems change, their commitment to advancing racial equity, and to share demographic data about the racial/ethnic constitution of their board, staff, and constituents of the organization. Their responses provided valuable insight into how organizations reflect and respond to their communities, view their needs and assets, and how the curriculum for our capacity-building program might be heightened to create changemakers. Yes, changemakers!
   
• When we resolved to take on a new strategic direction and to cultivate relationships with new grantee partners, we anticipated that we would not be able to award a grant to every organization we have in the past. We are committed to maintaining the valuable relationships we’ve established with the many organizations providing critical direct services in the region, even as we transition some of those organizations away from Meyer funding. We expect to continue to transition organizations out of the Meyer portfolio over the next few grant rounds as we pursue a clear focus on systems change efforts that advance racial equity.

I’m pleased to share the grants awarded earlier this month. They represent the very beginning of our evolution toward funding systems change. This evolution doesn’t come without growing pains, but we believe that together we can make a difference in our region. Read on for more details:

Next up: We invite you to visit our recently-restated strategic plan and our growing racial equity resource page as we dive into round two of our 2018 grantmaking. Applications close on July 17. 

Terri D. Wright, Ph.D., MPH is vice president for program and community at the Meyer Foundation.