This grant opportunity is closed! Read about the grant recipients at Portland.Gov/Vote/Grants.
Welcome. We’re glad you’re here.
Thank you for your interest in helping Portland have successful elections through the Portland Votes 2024 Grant Program. This funding cycle is part of the City of Portland's voter education efforts for the inaugural ranked choice voting election in November 2024.
Do you have questions about the application?
Watch the informational session.
These pages provide important details about funding levels, eligibility, review process, and scoring criteria for the grants. The grant period is June 2024 - December 2024, with the majority of activities completed by November 2024. Applications can be submitted electronically via email by April 30, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. pacific standard time.
The Portland Votes team is available to answer questions and provide technical assistance during the application period. Contact the Transition Team via email, transition@portlandoregon.gov, or call 3-1-1.
Language access
The Portland Votes team is committed to providing meaningful access to information and materials to all Portlanders. We recognize that people interested in grant application may have different interests and needs.
If you would like support with interpretation, translation, alternative formats, or other accessibility services, please email transition@portlandoregon.gov or call 3-1-1.
Before you apply
Please read the following information before you apply for a grant.
Guiding Principles
Information will be provided in an impartial, nonpartisan, factual, and objective manner in order to appeal to all organization members.
Consistent messaging reduces confusion and ensures that all Portlanders receive the same information. Therefore, all materials used for training and education will be co-created by the Portland Votes team and grantee organizations.
For 2024, the “Portland Votes team” is composed of City Transition Team staff, City Auditor Elections staff, and Multnomah County Elections staff, as well as contractors hired to support the city with its first ever voter education efforts. Portland Votes will also provide access to educational videos and will work with grantees to find or produce materials that are both culturally and linguistically accessible to their membership.
Experiencing RCV with hands-on practice is essential to voter understanding of the new ballot. Therefore, all proposals must include at least one mock RCV election and include details on how the membership will be encouraged to participate.
Who can apply
Eligible applicants must meet the following requirements:
- Located within the City of Portland
- NOT on the Oregon Department of Justice list of Disqualified Charities
- Can commit to Use of Funds requirements, complete trainings with the Portland Votes team about ranked-choice voting and the separation of 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4) and permissible activities, and participate in monthly meetings and reporting for the grant period.
Applicants do not have to be voter education organizations to apply.
Training and materials will be provided to grantees. Please consider applying if you are connected with community members from the priority populations and are well positioned to share information with them.
We welcome proposals from individual organizations as well as collaborative applications from more than one organization.
Portland Votes 2024 priority populations
This funding opportunity is part of a comprehensive voter outreach plan and is focused on reaching hard-to-reach voters by providing grant opportunities to local nonprofits and community-based organizations who can assist in disseminating voter education through trusted mediums to members of populations who have traditionally lacked access to voter education and are most likely to benefit from focused supplemental outreach.
These groups are known as priority populations and include, but are not limited to:
- Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color
- Immigrants and refugees
- Seniors (aged 65+)
- People with disabilities
- Members of the City’s minority language communities: Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Russian, Somali, Ukrainian, Romanian, Nepali, Chuukese
- Unhoused and housing insecure residents
- Communities with limited digital access
- Residents of neighborhoods with turnout below the City average (i.e. residents of city council districts 1 and 2)
The City of Portland recognizes that other Portland residents may also benefit from focused outreach and encourages applicants to identify other potentially vulnerable or hard-to-reach populations in their proposals in addition to, or instead of, the populations specified above. If applicants include additional or other populations, please include an explanation of how the population has historically lacked access to city decision making.
Priority populations are referenced in application questions and considered in scoring applications. It is important that grant applicants specify the priority populations that relate to their projects. The Portland Votes team recognizes that these priority populations – especially those whose identities intersect – are disproportionately impacted by structural barriers, discriminatory policies, and culturally unresponsive outreach that limit access to voting information.
Types of grants
Portland Votes 2024 Grants can be used for projects that conduct different types of voter education activities and programing about the new elections system to specified populations.
There are three types of grant categories available including:
- Direct voter education grants
- Community education grants
- Communications grants
Some planning can be part of a voter education grant, but voter education must be the primary focus of the application. Voter education grant activity should be completed by the November 5, 2024 General election, with final reporting in December 2024.