Nike & OCF Launch $1.5 Million Nike Employee Grant Fund for Local Area Nonprofits
NIKE, Inc. today announced the launch of the Nike Employee Grant Fund of The Oregon Community Foundation. The fund, through The Oregon Community Foundation (OCF), will grant up to $500,000 per year for three years to local nonprofit organizations or schools that wish to join Nike in creating positive social and environmental change, primarily through physical activity.
Nike employees will be heavily involved in the fund and its grant program, serving on an advisory committee to develop grant recommendations for OCF and volunteering their time and professional experience to help nonprofits achieve their overall objectives.
The Nike Employee Grant Fund awards will be made to nonprofit organizations or schools in the greater Portland area (Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington, Yamhill, and Columbia counties in Oregon and Clark County in southwest Washington) twice per year. Eighty percent of the Nike Employee Grant Fund will go to organizations that seek to effect social and environmental change through the lens of sport, and 20 percent will be given to nonprofits making strategic efforts to improve the lives of children and families.
“We want to benefit communities where Nike employees live, work, and volunteer through this new employee backyard grant and volunteer program,” said Hannah Jones, Vice President of Nike Sustainable Business and Innovation. “Nike believes in the power of sport to bring people together and build communities, and to engage youth in the benefits of physical activity.”
Continued Jones, “While giving through the lens of sport is our primary intent, a portion of our grant resources will be applied to projects that address broader family and children’s issues through sustainable, innovative and replicable community solutions.”
OCF President Greg Chaillé said: “This is the first time we have joined with a company in this way to bring our grant-making and community knowledge to help a company and its employees have a bigger area impact. We think Nike is a great partner for us. They have long demonstrated their commitment to supporting Oregon nonprofits in their own backyard and beyond, and we are excited to help them increase their local support.”
Funding Priorities and Grant Guidelines
The program’s four funding priorities are environment, education, inclusion, and health. Within each funding priority are goals that include physical activity as a key element and goals that do not include physical activity but do have the potential for broad, lasting community impact.
Nike will award up to $500,000 per year over two grant cycles. Applications will be submitted electronically. Deadlines are June 15 for a board decision in September and November 15 for a board decision in February.
The minimum grant will be $5,000 and most will not exceed $20,000. Grant periods will be one year or less and the largest grants will be reserved for those with the greatest strategic impact. Complete guidelines, including which projects or organizations are not eligible for funding, are available at www.oregoncf.org/nike and Nikebiz.com.