Allocation Committee meeting recap (6-18-25)
Welcome to the recap of the Allocation Committee meeting on June 18, 2025.
You can watch a YouTube recording of the video by clicking the image below.
Fiscal year 2024 audit report
Daniel Whitmore, auditor from Merina + Co., presented the fiscal year 2024 audit report. The firm determined that the Portland Children’s Levy complied with the 5% administrative cap, and there were no findings or recommendations.
2025 Community Report
Staff shared highlights from the 2025 Community Report, an annual publication that provides information about how Levy funds were used, demographics of program participants and stories from the programs funded by the Levy.
Small grants funding round
Staff shared that PCL intends to launch the next small grants funding round in the next fiscal year, with timing subject to change depending on the large grants funding round remand by City Council. Any instructions provided by City Council on the large grant remand will be incorporated into the design of the small grants funding process.
Large grant funding round update
On June 4, City Council voted 7-5 to remand the Allocation Committee’s funding decisions for reconsideration pending further instructions. Staff reviewed the financial context, competing priorities, the concerns raised by City Council, information provided to Council to address concerns and next steps.
Funding decisions in the large grant competitive round were made in the context of declining resources and substantially increased demand for funding, especially from organizations currently without PCL funding. The Allocation Committee balanced many competing priorities including continuing funding for programs with positive performance while also allocating funding to organizations without PCL funding that are meeting emerging or underserved community needs, and the needs of diverse populations for a range of services.
Staff reviewed data on the Allocation Committee’s funding decisions, including:
- 76% of culturally specific organizations that submitted applications (28/37) had an application approved for funding.
- 71% of the applications approved for funding (67/94) are from organizations with majority Black, Indigenous and people of color staff.
- 50% of the organizations approved for funding (32/64) are smaller organizations with annual revenues under $6 million.
- 42% of the organizations approved for funding (27/64) have not previously received a PCL grant.
Staff reviewed concerns raised by City Council over the course of three meetings and detailed information provided to Council addressing their concerns.
Staff is proceeding with one-year extensions of current large grants with a 21% cut due to lower revenues, per City Council’s June 4 emergency ordinance.
At this juncture, it’s unclear how or when PCL will receive further instructions from Council regarding the remand, and which parts of the funding process may need to be redone.
Allocation Committee members agreed unanimously to advocate for their original funding decisions to City Council and to request a revote.
PCL will update applicants with next steps as soon as they are known.
Miss the meeting?
Watch it on YouTube. You can also view the meeting slide deck.
Join us for the next Allocation Committee meeting
Agendas for future meetings will be sent to our email list, shared on our social media channels and posted on portlandchildrenslevy.org
We welcome your comment on agenda items or the work of the Portland Children’s Levy. If you would like to join the next meeting to participate, please join our email list stay tuned for the meeting invite.
