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MICHAEL DUNNE: I'm Michael Dunne. If there's a silver lining to the massive cuts made by the White House to hundreds of federal programs, it's the work of NGOs, nonprofits and foundations to try and fill the gaps. Often, these entities must scramble, scrape and cobble together programs and funding resources so that vital efforts like feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, and educating our youth can continue. Today on the show, you'll meet the leader of Oregon's premier funder of nonprofits, the Oregon Community Foundation. Lisa Mensah, having learned and lived the importance of federal funding during her stint in the Obama White House, is keenly aware and equipped to navigate the Community Foundation towards the areas where it's most needed. Lisa Mensah, the President and CEO of the Oregon Community Foundation, Lisa, thanks so much for coming on and talking with us.
LISA MENSAH: Thank you.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I know you're a very busy person with a very, very busy organization, why don't you remind people kind of what OCF does? What's your mission, what's your vision?
LISA MENSAH: Well, the Oregon Community Foundation is a 52-year-old community foundation that is really Oregon's resource for giving. We're made up of over 4000 funds from generous donors, and we make grants throughout the state and really in the world. We exist to help Oregon thrive, and, frankly, to support good causes around the world. So, in 52 years, we've been able to do a lot of good, and we've become one of the largest community foundations in the country.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, about your leadership style and sort of how you work both with your team, but then also talk about your relationship with the clients that you serve, and the and the and the fund, the funding organizations that you work with?
LISA MENSAH: Michael, I've been pleased to be at the helm here at Oregon Community Foundation for the last three years, and I'm an Oregon girl that came home and my leadership style has really been forged in the other careers that I've had before this one. I started life as a banker. I moved over, trained as a commercial lender. That was not a natural thing for me to really do discounted cash flows, but I got it, and I ended up at the Ford Foundation for and where I really developed my home base, which is really in how to help communities thrive, particularly rural communities. And I used my finance background to really help develop a field of community development financial institutions across the country, and that later led me to the Aspen Institute and into the Obama administration as Under Secretary of Agriculture. And what I've learned, whether I'm leading a team of 5000 like I was in the agriculture department, or five as I was in a think tank at the Aspen Institute, is that people like being called to a purpose. And I've had leadership roles where I got to call people to a purpose. Here at Oregon Community Foundation, it's such a wonderful purpose. Who wouldn't want to be in an organization who's dedicated to making the world better? Yeah, and it's a I feel like I have what they call the galvanizer approach to leading to getting people to be able to do their best work and to being more ambitious about the time we have on Earth. And I felt that the thing that served me most as a leader is to combine ambition and heart with the kind of call to purpose, and that's what I feel is so perfect for this job, where it's just so clear, you got to have a heart to be a resource for giving you got to have ambition, because there's so many needs in our state, you got to be able to call people in you asked an interesting word about clients. We kind of have an interesting role here, because part of our clients are the donors, the givers, the people who want to bring their funds here to do more good in the world. And those are a huge set of folks. We have 1000s of them that make up the 4000 scholarship and grant funds. But our clients are also the broad nonprofit community and all of the stakeholders that surround that. And so many times they're actually some of the same people. You know, you'll have a donor that's active on a board or active in their community, but really, the clients are this broad set of both givers and doers, and it is. It's a fascinating role to play as the Oregon Community Foundation, because you're just aware of all these folks with deep interests and all these folks with deep abilities and causes that all want to make things better.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I always think of Oregon as somewhat of a unique place in that, along the I-5 corridor, we're a very urban state with big population centers, but then, of course, not that far away, we're a very rural state with a lot of smaller towns and communities. Talk a little bit how your organization kind of looks out at that landscape and resources appropriately, or the to the best year of your ability to help those two Oregon’s.
LISA MENSAH: That's a wonderful question, because this is so innate to the way Oregon Community Foundation was formed 52 years ago. We were always the Oregon Community Foundation. We were always an all of Oregon, all in, you know, and I think some of the business leaders that helped in our early days saw the total unity if you were going to be whether you were raising strawberries or you were timber, or you were in the fisheries sector, you were in all of Oregon, that there was reason you had any wealth. It's because of rural areas. And I think we've had, in our foundational story, an intention to be all of Oregon, place I-5 yes, but all 36 counties and all for us, it's an eight-region approach. And we deliberately build a board that represents all of those regions. We've always done that. We have grantees that represent all of the regions. We have leadership councils around the state that represent all of those regions. And I think deeply we just believe that there is more that unites us. You know, Oregon needs housing. Oregon needs early childhood. Oregon needs to get the fires down and to help communities recover after they do experience a fire emergency, and those are rural and urban issues, and I think it's so woven into our DNA that we can kind of stand as a beacon in these times where it is too easy to divide us and call us the other or two state thing, I really I saw this so clearly representing rural America, that rural and urban America are they? We need each other so desperately, and so I delight in running an organization that actually doesn't struggle with that. You know, our staff is in place in communities around this region. We're going to be opening next year in an office in Baker City, so we can serve our Eastern Oregon colleagues better. You know, it's just fundamental to who we are. And I think when you just dig a little deeper, that's part of the beauty of this state. We all know it. We all get it that we have a treasure of a state here, it's just so darn beautiful. And I've yet to meet a person that doesn't want to spend a little time at a coast or spend a little time in the mountains or get you know, if you're east of the mountains, you want to come west once in a while. If you're west, you want to go east once in a while. It's just beautiful.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Let me reintroduce you to the audience, talking with Lisa Mensa, the President and CEO of the Oregon Community Foundation, you know, closer to where I am, here in Lane County, maybe you can take us through sort of how you're resourced in in our county, and your different leadership centers. Talk a little bit about that specific to our county.
LISA MENSAH: Well, Lane County is right in our district called the southern Willamette Valley, and so we have an office in Eugene and in our region. Last year, we made over $21 million in grants and scholarships. And I'm really proud that you got two of our biggest universities, Oregon State, and U of O in the southern Willamette Valley, and we had over 600 students that we supported. For us, it's everything from, you know, the food banks there in Lane County to feed the hungry. It's things like the Camas Valley Rural Fire District, which doesn't just fight fires, but helps people prepare for them. It's the McKenzie Community Land Trust, which is a land conservation organization. So, it's this broad range of grantees and scholarships. You know, we're also really proud to have an office in Eugene. It's really our biggest office, and nearby and in Central Oregon, we've got another team there and we love having people in place who know how to reach our donors and know how to reach our communities and put the two together. So, we feel like we have a kind of a sensing device, sensing our needs and the challenges and the opportunities that they are different in all communities. So, it's great to have a structure where we can listen and be better partners.
MICHAEL DUNNE: You mentioned your time in the Obama administration. I'm sure there you realized how important the federal government is and the kind of role it plays in providing grants and funding for the nonprofit community throughout the nation and certainly here in Oregon. And I did want to ask you about how OCF Oregon Community Foundation is sort of helping to fill the void left from you know, there's been a big policy shift at the federal level about funding organizations, and we're talking in the midst of a pretty long government shutdown, what can and what is OCF doing to fill the void?
LISA MENSAH: Yeah, well, it was a big honor for me to have a chance to serve at the federal level, and shout out to all the federal employees, so many of whom are working through this shutdown phase. It's hard work to run the federal government, and we're all hoping for an end to the shutdown. The void is enormous. We have a hugely successful government with deep, deep programs that really can't be filled by philanthropy. The math doesn't work. We need a federal government to play a role in all aspects of our lives. And of course, when the government pulls back. There are ebbs and flows. We understood we were in a global pandemic, and the government needed to step in higher during that time. So, we understood, sure there was going to be some reduction once we're out of that pandemic. But I think what we're seeing now is a void that is bigger than what philanthropy can fill, and it puts us in a role of trying to be a nimble partner to nonprofits who are trying to hang on to arts organizations that are trying to push through this. You can't fill all the void, but you can be a nimble partner. You can listen, you can try to help nonprofits build their case. The truth is, our donors have been stepping up. They've been helping. They've helped in the pandemic. Those were some of our biggest years of giving. They are listening to areas of great need and increasing their giving. We have an interesting role to play in this state, because we're still in touch with living donors. You know, we don't just have a static endowment. We have people that can continue to give. So that gives us an extra attempt to bring to the attention of our donors when we have emergencies or big needs. I had the experience of doing that, not in the government shutdown, but earlier, as our arts organizations were recovering from their pandemic, and we were able to call more donors into that. But the truth is, this is a time of challenge, of fear, of great, great, great need. And one of the things we have to admit and have to help the government see is that we're here to be a partner, but we can't fill all the voids, and we are going to need our government to play its role and to help sustain our families, make the big systems work.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Yeah, you know, you touched on something about how, and I've talked to a lot of nonprofit organizations that talked about the fact that during Covid, funding went up. I often think, you know, we live in such a polarized society, and there's so much screaming and shouting at each other, but I wonder, from your perspective, and I know you weren't leading OCF exactly at the time of Covid, but you were certainly very much involved. Does it give you kind of hope that in such a generational crisis like Covid - a lot of people, whether they were big donors or small donors, stepped up?
LISA MENSAH: I love the question that out of crisis, we find some reasons to hope. I think it was really clear I was one of the people that got to work from home and sit on a zoom screen and in my socks to do my work. My son was an essential worker in a grocery store at the time, and so I think those moments of crisis reminded us, you know, of who kept the machine running, you know. And I, I feel hope, not only in crisis, I think we did learn some things in crisis. We got we bridged, we found new ways of working together, certainly Oregon Community Foundation set up pooled funds and more giving. But I also think we tapped into this sense of neighbors, and I think it is one of the most beautiful things to come out of this Covid time. And I think it really was evident in Oregon. I wasn't here during all of the pandemic, but I see it so strongly. And as an Oregon kid, it's really what I feel is our special sauce. I'm on the board of Feeding America, and I love the term we say. We say feeding our neighbors. These are our neighbors who need food. And I feel like Covid revealed. Who are our neighbors, who are our neighbors. You know? Why are we experiencing life differently, and let's not leave our neighbors behind. And I I feel that that spirit runs deep in our state, and I am very hopeful that our little state of 4 million we can be about solving some things, and I really look forward to positioning our foundation to be parts of the solutions to many of the things we see around us as great needs.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I know that your organization is specific to the south Willamette Valley. You know, was part of some, some major funding regarding the Oregon arts community, and including a big grant us the south Willamette Valley. Talk about that, talk about how important arts and culture is in what OCF does.
LISA MENSAH: Yeah, this is such a joy for me. I'm so proud that we have donors that signaled early on in our history that the arts are part of us. And what I discovered when I got here is how fragile some of our arts major institutions are, the big anchors, big ones like Shakespeare and high desert Museum and the art museum, but also the medium and small arts organizations and the case we helped make to both our elected leaders and our donors was that arts are part of a thriving community, but they're also part of a successful economy. We basically can't come back as vibrant institutions without our arts partners, and that's really true for our anchors, but it's also true for our smaller organizations. I love that around the state, we've seen major investment in restorations, restorations of theaters and art spaces. And it is such a bridging activity to bring together communities that, you know, grandparents and parents and children were all part of. You know, they all remembered these theaters. And I just feel like arts are one of the things that bring people together. They bring us out. You know, arts and sports, I think, can cross a lot of boundaries and I just think what we know is that we not only delight in them, but we need them for a thriving economy to work. And so, it was our joy at Oregon Community Foundation to really lean in to an effort called our arts rebuilding. And you know, we weren't alone. We had foundation partners around the state who helped us as well, and who understood this dynamic that Oregon needed to do more, but we enjoy the position at Oregon Community Foundation of really being the state's largest arts funder, and have been for some time. And I, I think its essentialness is what's beautiful to be part of, to see how they delight all ages in our arts sectors, but also how we need them for a successful economy?
MICHAEL DUNNE: You know, Lisa, my last question for you, and you touched on it of bringing people together. How can members of the public, you know, average folk who want to get involved, who want to help. You know, how does an individual get involved with OCF and your mission?
LISA MENSAH: Thank you, because we really have an open door. There are several ways I'll touch on three of them. One is, come get on our website. Take a peek at what we're up to in your area, and just start to get to know us. Start to get to know who's on our leadership councils. We have several funds that you can come to with $5 and just come on in, help be part of the stronger together fund. Help be part of fighting wildfires. Just come on in and get to know us. Make, make a grant today. Come be part of us. A second way is to consider being a donor. Consider being part of our donor community. And this is a good place for your money to sleep, because it's going to do good. You know, think about us in your bequests. Come on in be ready to think about what is your giving, what is your legacy? And consider being a giver with us. And then third, think about being a volunteer with us. We need a lot of volunteers. Volunteers are part of how we make decisions about our scholarships, about some of our community Advised Funds. So, if that sounds interesting to you, you know, you can't raise your hand anymore, I guess, but hop on the website. Let us know your interests, and you know, we made 14,000 grants and scholarships last year, many of those advised by volunteers in the communities. So, we take seriously people who understand their communities. And so, I think, I think the door is wide open for volunteers, for donors and for other grant makers to join us. And I hope, I hope people give us a look.
MICHAEL DUNNE: She's Lisa Mensah, the President and CEO of the Oregon Community Foundation. Thank you so much for spending some time with us.
LISA MENSAH: Thank you.
MICHAEL DUNNE: That's the show for today. All episodes of Oregon On The Record are available as a podcast at KLCC.org. Monday on the show, you'll hear from a reporter at our sister organization, the Northwest News Network, who's produced a documentary about shipwrecks along the Oregon coast and how they connect and collide with indigenous cultures. I'm Michael Dunne, host of Oregon On The Record, Thanks for listening.
