Gray Family Foundation is founded on the belief that fostering an understanding and appreciation of our natural world is a crucial part of a child’s education.

Gray Family Foundation, a supporting organization of the Oregon Community Foundation, continues the philanthropic legacy of John and Betty Gray by sustaining a permanent organization based on faith in the human spirit and a vision of Oregon as a vibrant, inclusive, and civic-minded society.

Our mission is to engage people in Oregon as active stewards of our communities and natural environments.

We are guided by these values:

  • Place matters: We focus on Oregon.
  • Stewardship: We commit to the highest levels of integrity, humility, and responsibility as stewards of our human, financial, and natural resources.
  • Curiosity: We seek multiple perspectives; we embrace and encourage creativity, calculated risk-taking, and the challenging of perceptions.
  • Collaboration: We actively seek out opportunities to partner with others; we encourage cooperation and coordination to leverage collective experiences, networks, and ideas that deepen our impact and effect long term, transformational change.
  • Flexibility: We strive to embrace risk-taking and the benefits of it in meeting the ever-evolving nature and needs of the community; we place a high value on being nimble and able to respond quickly to new opportunities while being deliberate and strategic.
  • Inclusion: We foster and promote a culture where everyone can engage authentically, there are opportunities to grow our effectiveness, and our efforts reflect a strengthened sense of common purpose.

Our Commitment to Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

Gray Family Foundation acknowledges that systemic racism and other biases are embedded within our institutions, policies and practices. We must address these if we want to ensure everyone has the same opportunity to define, support, and benefit from what a healthy, thriving, and sustainable Oregon means to them and their community.

Gray Family Foundation commits to examine, challenge, and activate to dismantle the systems, practices, and policies that reinforce inequities. We believe this work is essential to achieving our vision of an inclusive, equitable and diverse state with opportunities for all people living in Oregon to strengthen their connection to place through meaningful experiences.

Our vision is an inclusive, equitable, and diverse state with opportunities for all people living in Oregon to strengthen their connection to place through meaningful experiences.

Our 2022-2025 Strategies

  1. Champion and invest in safe, accessible, and engaging experiential learning opportunities for youth that center and reflect the perspectives, traditions and knowledge of diverse populations across Oregon and supports youth stewardship of communities and natural systems.
  2. Champion and invest in educators, programs, and networks that provide place-based, experiential, and geography education opportunities for youth that foster understanding and appreciation of place and our connection to land and our local and global communities.
  3. Ensure youth across Oregon have access to safe, accessible, and inclusive places to learn about and connect with the outdoors through investments in camp facilities.
  4. Invest in relationships with youth, educators, and community leaders to identify, support, and advocate fort community-led and driven solutions which align with our mission and hold the greatest potential to uplift community and environmental stewards.
  5. Identify, explore, and pursue research, coalition-building, narratives, and policies which help ensure youth across Oregon, regardless of background, have opportunities to learn in, work in, and advocate for healthy environments and communities.

Our 2022-2025 Tactics

  1. Engage in policy advocacy, and narrative change as tools to resource, build, and support youth as active stewards of our communities and environment.
  2. Convene grantees, funders, and other stakeholders to increase collaboration and shared resources, disseminate effective practices, network and build movements, and catalyze new ideas.
  3. Work to ensure grantmaking processes and investments build trust, share decision-making power, and center projects and organizations that reflect and amplify diverse perspectives, traditions, knowledge, and relationships of the people across Oregon.
  4. Examine, challenge, and activate to dismantle the systems, practices, and policies related to our mission that reinforce disparities amongst Oregon communities.
  5. Examine, challenge, and evaluate our own internal assumptions, practices, and policies as they relate to our history, mission, goals, and definition of impact.

Anti-Discrimination Policy

Gray Family Foundation does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, gender identity or expression, religion, national origin, political or union affiliation, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, or any other protected status recognized by local, state or federal law. Grant applicants must hold similar standards. Grant applications from organizations known to have discriminatory policies will not be considered.