We were built for this
By Carol Cheney
Burning candle held at candlelight vigil
Every January, I get lots of emails and see a lot of blog posts about making new plans or setting new intentions for the year. Believe me, I am excited to say “Good Riddance!” to 2025 and start afresh.
Yet after a year like 2025, it’s hard to think about a reset or diverging from the work we started. I recognize philanthropy has been accused of having an attention deficit problem. Many are eager to pivot when a bright, new shiny initiative comes along, leaving promising projects already in development high and dry.
As we begin a new trip around the sun, I keep in mind that the work we’ve been doing for the last five years (and even well before that) has laid the groundwork for Collins to be a responsive philanthropic partner in tough moments like these and the year ahead we’re likely to experience.
This is what we’ve been up to-
Establishing strategic priorities that demonstrate our commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Embedding trust into our grantmaking and removing the hoops organizations must jump through to receive funding.
Eliminating long application forms that tell us things about organizations we already know or can find out by building deep relationships.
Examining our own internal practices, from compensation to shared leadership, our investment allocations, and mapping out plans and policies to address the inequities we find.
I believe this approach is incredibly responsive to the actual needs of our partner organizations right now.
We also did something new for this year. The Collins Foundation Board of Trustees made the decision to increase our spending rate to 10 percent in 2026. The decision was made in response to the harms our state is experiencing due to federal actions and the risks we’re facing as a country. Trustees heard real stories of terror, threats, and decreased capacity to meet increased needs directly from the communities we serve. Our long held values directed the Foundation to step up when Oregonians are in need.
This decision is unprecedented for us. We don’t know what the future holds for the spending rate beyond 2026. We do know that the long-term systemic problems we experience as a country require long-term systemic solutions. Internally, Collins won’t be creating any new programs or strategic plans; we’re putting more resources toward proven strategies built by our community partners. Our commitment remains to a just and equitable Oregon for all of us.