Volunteers

OCF's volunteers serve on advisory and leadership councils, evaluate grant proposals and oversee programs. This broad level of community involvement creates opportunities and mechanisms for volunteer leaders to share the knowledge, ideas and resources that make OCF such a powerful force for good.

Board of Directors

The board of directors and standing board committees including Audit, Education, Grants, Investment, Marketing, Nominating, Public Policy, Strategic Opportunities and Strategic Planning committees.

Grant Evaluators

Trained volunteer grant evaluators help the Foundation conduct proposal research and site visits, offer a local perspective on community needs, and share objective findings on grant proposals’ fit with OCF's goals.

Grant Evaluator Responsibilities

Volunteer grant evaluators produce written and verbal reports on organizations that apply to OCF for grants. Where needed, they also conduct follow-up reviews to assess the outcome of grants nine months after the awards are made. Evaluators are placed in regionally based teams. Support is available from a lead volunteer and OCF staff.

Grant Evaluator Qualifications

Grant evaluators should have a general knowledge of the community and its nonprofit sector. This includes understanding the variety and complexity of the community's needs, and valuing the community's diversity of charitable activities. Other necessary skills include analyzing and comparing grant applications impartially; communicating concisely, both orally and in writing; conducting careful and judicious grant investigations; and exercising discretion with confidential data and information. 

Grant Evaluators

Community Fund Advisors

Community field of interest funds are developed by individuals or groups of donors to address a particular community need or geographic focus. Community fund advisors develop recommendations for program direction and grant recipients.

Scholarship Advisory Committees

The Foundation places a high priority on education and works to ensure that all Oregonians have the resources available for postsecondary education. OCF administers one of the largest and most diverse community foundation scholarship programs in the United States; 900 volunteers serve on scholarship advisory committees throughout Oregon. Scholarship advisory volunteers help select scholarship recipients and ensure that the original intent of the scholarship fund is carried out.

Leadership Councils

Every Oregon community has its own character and strengths. OCF’s leadership councils represent eight regions: Central Oregon, Eastern Oregon, North Coast, Northern Willamette Valley, Metropolitan Portland, South Coast, Southern Oregon and Southern Willamette Valley. Council members are volunteers and leaders in their communities; they provide information and guidance to the Foundation’s board of directors on local needs, OCF services, and leadership efforts around the state. OCF's leadership councils are catalysts for informed civic action and philanthropic leadership in Oregon.

Leadership Council Responsibilities

• Assess regional trends and needs, and regularly recommend goals to OCF and to their communities.
• Guide the OCF Community Grant Program on local grant priorities. A rotating subcommittee in each council meets with grant evaluators and staff to review current grant proposals and post-grant results.
• Inform the OCF Strategic Opportunities committee on ways that OCF's leadership can help Oregon address its most pressing problems, and work with the committee to implement solutions.
• Develop regional or statewide strategic leadership initiatives, which may include convening leaders and nonprofits, public policy work, grantmaking and leveraging additional philanthropic resources.
• Be vocal advocates for increased philanthropy, helping to develop new OCF philanthropic funds for the community.
• Meet periodically with other OCF leadership councils to foster statewide community, discuss statewide trends and issues, and recommend future action by OCF and the philanthropic community.

Council Member Qualifications

Leadership council members should demonstrate an appreciation for a variety of charitable activities in the community, and an interest in promoting private philanthropy to support those activities. Members must be willing to represent OCF in their communities and attend leadership council meetings. Members should have a general knowledge of the region and its nonprofit sector, and understand the variety and complexity of community needs. A term on a leadership council lasts three years.

Central Oregon Leadership Council Members

Eastern Oregon Leadership Council Members

North Coast Leadership Council Members

Northern Willamette Valley Leadership Council Members

Metropolitan Portland Leadership Council Members

South Coast Leadership Council Members

Southern Oregon Leadership Council Members

Southern Willamette Valley Leadership Council Members

The Giving in Oregon Council

This council of nonprofit professionals, advisors and philanthropists advocates for and measures philanthropy. The council produces the annual Giving in Oregon Report that tracks giving trends in the state.

Giving in Oregon Council Members

Sally McCracken, chair
Gregory Chaillé
Kathleen Cornett
Steven Holwerda
Sharon Kitzhaber
John Korb
Eli Lamb
Mark Langseth
Ross Laybourn
Kenneth Lewis
Lynn Loacker
Craig McPherson
Andy Nelson
Bill Swindells
Jeffrey Thede
Julie Vigeland
Duncan Wyse

For more information about volunteers at The Oregon Community Foundation, contact Carly Brown, Volunteer Programs Coordinator, at cbrown@oregoncf.org or 503.227.6846.