NNG Grants Program

Ninety-nine Girlfriends offers annual Impact Awards ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 to nonprofits in the Portland Metro/SW Washington area. The grants focus on four key areas: educational equity for youth, environmental sustainability, housing stability, and women's economic empowerment. Emphasizing equity and trust-based philanthropy, they seek organizations that demonstrate a commitment to community impact and inclusivity. Applications are open to 501(c)(3) entities and fiscally sponsored groups, requiring a minimum annual revenue of $100,000.

About our Grant Making
Ninety-nine girlfriends makes annual grants, called Impact Awards, in the Portland Metro/SW Washington region from a pool of money contributed by our members. Impact awards range from $50,000-$100,000 each year, depending on that year’s pool.
We fund equally in four focus areas, selecting nonprofits whose work is aligned with our vision of a more equitable future for all and our values of strength in diversity, collective action, and community impact.
Letters of Interest are due in late March. These organizations are invited to submit applications.
Guiding Principles
In addition to our eligibility criteria, we apply the following principles and trust-based philanthropy to guide decision-making on grant applications.
Equity - Grant making must be grounded in equity.
Trust - We believe the organizations that apply for our grants are the experts in their field.
Responsiveness and Transformative Impact - We fund organizations that respond to a critical need and/or are working to address the root causes of systemic issues.
We educate ourselves about implicit bias, equitable grant making, and consensus-building, and we are embedding racial equity in our work. Each year is a new year of grantmaking at ninety-nine girlfriends. Community context changes as do our members, our grant review teams, and our annual Funding Priority. In the end, what we fund is determined by the votes of our members.
Focus Areas
Our vision is a more equitable community for all, therefore we prioritize funding that supports communities that are historically and/or currently underserved with respect to socioeconomic status, race, identity, or ability.
Child And Youth Educational Equity
We seek to fund organizations working to improve educational equity, opportunity, or education-related services for children and youth from pre-K through high school in the areas of:

• Early childhood education and development
• Out-of-school time and summer learning
• Programs that work to close achievement and opportunity gaps
• Career and/or college readiness tools and skills for high school students
• Arts education, cultural education, and creative expression
• Environmental Equity & Sustainability
• We seek to fund organizations working to ensure everyone has equal access to resources and safe spaces, across environmental issues in the areas of:
• Access to environmental resources - healthy food, homes, water and green space
• Countering environmental burdens - pollution in air, water, and land
• Providing educational resources around sustainability and climate change preparedness
• Advancing participation in the green workforce

Promoting systems change that includes meaningful and inclusive participation in the environmental decision-making process, that promotes environmental justice and equitable environmental policies
Housing And Home Stability
We seek to fund organizations delivering trauma-informed services that focus on housing solutions and home stability for families, youth, and adults in the areas of:

• Prevention of homelessness and helping people stabilize and keep their housing
• Emergency, temporary, and transitional housing and shelters
• Housing placement
• Resources and support that help prevent adverse childhood experiences or provide healing resources for families experiencing housing/home instability
• Wrap-around services that strengthen housing/home stability including mental and physical health services, recovery support, and domestic violence advocacy
• Women’s  Economic Empowerment
• We seek to fund organizations that advance the economic security and financial well-being of women by removing barriers to work in the areas of:
• Job readiness - including skills training, trades, and education
• Adult literacy and language proficiency
• Financial literacy
• College and post-secondary success
• Accessibility to affordable and reliable childcare
• Accessibility to safe and affordable healthcare including physical, mental, dental, and reproductive health

Ninety-nine girlfriends recognizes the complexities of gender identity and gender expression, and welcome cisgender women, transgender women, and gender non-binary, gender non-conforming, or gender queer persons.
Use of Funds
Funds may be used for general operating or project support to advance your mission.

Eligibility

Ninety-nine girlfriends welcomes applications that meet all of the following criteria. The applicant is a 501(c)(3) or a Tribal Entity or has a tax-exempt fiscal sponsor.If you are not an independent 501(c)(3), you still must meet the annual revenue and years-in-operation criteria (see above).The applicant can show an annual revenue of at least $100,000 in the most recently completed fiscal year.In most cases, we will verify this using the first page of your form 990. However, if your organization's budget includes significant in-kind professional services (e.g., you're a community health clinic staffed by volunteer doctors and nurses, or a free legal clinic staffed by pro bono attorneys) we will also accept internal financial statements showing the value of these services as part of your income/expense. These must be year-end statements for your most recently completed fiscal year. The applicant has operated as a 501(c)(3) or been fiscally sponsored by a 501(c)(3) in the state of Oregon and/or SW Washington for at least three full years as of April 1, 2024.The applicant can demonstrate that their work impacts at least one of these counties: Clackamas, Clark, Multnomah, and Washington County (Portland/SW Washington).

Ineligibility

We do not make grants for:Organizations whose primary mission is to advance a specific person’s political campaignLobbying, as defined here: https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/lobbying501(c)(4)s - Because ninety-nine girlfriends’ grants are unrestricted and cannot be used for lobbying or political campaigning expenses, we cannot grant to 501(c)(4) organizationsEndowment fundingGeneral capital campaigns, as described here: https://www.donorsearch.net/capital-campaigns-guide/Churches or church-affiliated programs receiving more than 30% of their base support from or through a church or religious organization.  Any activities/programs/organizations that require adherence to religious/faith beliefs or practices as a condition of service or employment.