Connection, community, and accountability in a grantmaking system? It’s possible.
By Jackie Murphy
Photo of a red sign with the words “Community is Strength. Be Strong. Let’s Look Out for One Another.” written in white letters in the middle of the sign.
Since launching our new website in June 2025, we’ve shared a lot about the changes in our grantmaking from the purpose and intention to the process. Now, we'd like to tell you about the infrastructure behind the process. Exciting, right? Well, it is.
For Collins to continue to do the kind of grantmaking centered on the people and places that make Oregon a special place to live, the technical foundation of our grantmaking system had to align with our values of equity, community, and connection.
We found partners in two firms with impeccable technical skills and a shared approach to mission-centered work: Grouptrail, a software company and Certified Minority Business Enterprise headquartered in Portland, and Colmena Consulting, a Baltimore-based producer co-op for consultants and coaches. Like us, they center relationships in how they work, offering highly responsive, people-first service.
Grouptrail and Colmena Consulting didn't build a system for us; they co-designed one with us. We're proud to call them true collaborators. The result is a grants management system that focuses on connection and relationships with communities and organizations, not on transactions and compliance.
As we continue to grow as a learning foundation, Collins uses the data we collect from organizations in our grantmaking system to keep us accountable. Our new system allows us to track our entire grant workflow from the first step of the Partnership Alignment Screener all the way through award notification. More importantly, it lets us collect the data we need to monitor our key indicators and goals, so we can honestly ask ourselves: Are we doing what we said we would do? Are we reaching the communities we committed to serve?
Since we reopened the GO Grants in June 2025, here's where we stand:
We have processed 1,337 requests.
848 requests were declined at the Partnership Alignment Screener, Eligibility, or Initial Assessment stages.
225 general operating grants have been awarded, totaling $14,009,000.
17% of submitted requests are being awarded.
77% of organizations awarded have community-specific leadership.
90% of organizations that have been awarded offer community-specific programming.
55% of organizations awarded have budgets smaller than $500,000.
These numbers matter to us. They tell us we're reaching smaller organizations that have historically been passed over by philanthropy. They tell us we're funding groups led by and accountable to the communities they serve. And these numbers hold us to our word.
We heard from the field that some organizations anticipated our more accessible, less burdensome process would ease the competition for funding. The 17 percent award rate tells a different story. Removing barriers to applying makes it easier for organizations to show up and still allows us to hold a high standard for alignment.
General operating support. Community-specific leadership. Organizations with lean budgets doing outsized work. That's who we built this grantmaking system for. That's who we're accountable to. And now, we have the system to prove it.