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Another highlight is Kelley NPC’s work with Business Oregon’s Rural Opportunities Initiative. Kelley NPC provides strategy and capacity support internally to Business Oregon, the state’s economic development arm, while also working with each of the program’s 10-20 grantees per biennium to build each of their capacity in areas of funding, impact evaluation, capital projects, financial management, board development and much more. This “cash + capacity” model, a signature of Kelley NPC’s, has been replicated through several other nonprofit, philanthropic and government sector clients. 

Most recently, Kelley NPC replicated their “cash + capacity” model to secure $6million in six months in both public and private funding to bolster the capacity of a dozen smaller Black-led and -serving nonprofits (all of which Kelley NPC works with personally on a variety of tasks – dubbed, the “Village”) as they continue their effective, grassroots strategies to complement expanding hospital-based interventions – and as together we tackle the increased violence plaguing Portland. This, in turn, has helped them leverage resources and attention, but has also benefitted the overall ecosystem through peer-learnings, though which they have shared their innovative work and allowed for its replication.  So too, have we. Recently the Oregon Health Authority asked to model their own forthcoming grant-making initiative on ours, citing their appreciation for the way we engage the community impacted, to the accessibility and streamlined processes of the statewide RFP we recently launched.

POIC+RAHS is another long-standing client for which Kelley NPC successfully raises $10million to $14million for annually from a combination of foundation grants, corporate support, federal and national awards, and local and state contracts. Additionally, Kelley recently managed all fundraising and messaging to launch POIC’s “The Kitchen” which raised more funding than planned and opened ahead of schedule. This is in addition to the millions of dollars in federal, state and private funding Kelley NPC manages for POIC each year – spearheading all earned and unearned revenue streams. Just a few recent highlights have included a $2million Oregon Department of Education grant; $750,000 in general funds from the NBA Foundation, $700,000 from Oregon Community Foundation, and so much more.

Similarly, for the Black United Fund of Oregon, Kelley NPC has been the consistent anchor of growth over the past eight years, spanning several leadership transitions. First called to help the organization out of a deficit and then stabilize it, Kelley NPC has been working recently to lead aggressive and strategic growth. This includes supporting all aspects of Black United Fund of Oregon’s $30 million capital campaign. Now in its “quiet phase” it has already raised over half of its fundraising goal with recent highlights including a $3.5million Portland Clean Energy Fund grant, a $900,000 Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon Grant, and $750,000 from Meyer Memorial Trust, among congressional earmarks and other supports.

Another long-term client that Kelley NPC has helped grow is Oregon Native American Chamber. Kelley NPC most recently secured a US Defense Logistics Agency (Department of Defense) grant to open a Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC), a one-stop resource exclusively designed to help Native-owned businesses identify, gain, and fulfill government contracts. This is an enormous opportunity to build wealth within Native American communities, as government contracts represent a significant amount of wealth and capital that Native-owned businesses have historically been excluded from. This cooperative agreement provides $360,000 for one year of funding to serve clients through the States of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, with performance-based renewable options in subsequent years.

Kelley NPC has also secured many other sources of support for ONAC including several Kauffman Foundation grants, and many multi-partner awards – from over $1million in small business technical assistance from Business Oregon to spearheading a group project to leverage almost a million dollars from Wells Fargo’s highly competitive “Open for Business” program (with Craft3 as another Oregon grantee of this program). This also includes support of the Community Economic Coalition, a collaboration of culturally-specific chambers of commerce, which includes ONAC (as the convening organization), Black American Chamber, Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber, Philippine American Chamber of Commerce, and National Association of Minority Contractors. The Community Economic Coalition has recently been awarded a $400,000 federal grant from the Minority Business Administration to begin work on a shared facility to house their work.

Kelley NPC also supported all aspects of a new ONAC initiative: Clean Energy Construction Pathways. From planning to leading focus groups among contractors, Kelley NPC then wrote and secured a $778,496 grant from the City of Portland's Clean Energy Fund. This program creates pathways for Native Americans to enter and lead Portland's emerging Clean Energy Construction industry. Program participants gain the skills and knowledge needed to work in this industry, then work on fully-funded retrofit projects, installing energy-efficient upgrades in residential and commercial properties owned by Native Americans in the community. This innovative program builds the Native economy while also creating a more climate resilient Portland.