We stand in awe of all that the pandemic has brought out in our grantees, colleagues, and our community. That was the last line of our 2020 annual report, when we were all hoping that COVID-19 would soon be in the past. While the challenges, heartbreak, and hardships continued into 2021, so did the innovation, resilience, and creativity.

In this report, we highlight a few of the ways the Medina Foundation supported the incredible efforts of some of our nonprofit partners.

Knowing that youth-serving programs were constantly having to close and re-open their doors, react to unpredictable school schedules, and help families as well as kids, Medina made unsolicited grants to 67 of our recent grantees in this area. These additional grants were meant to help with any aspect of recovery that each organization most needed—technology, staffing, safety equipment, etc.

As Washington saw its rate of households facing food insecurity increase from 10% before the pandemic to nearly one-third of the population in 2021, organizations found new ways to reach people in need.

Medina funded a Grocery Card Program that simultaneously gave more choice to people who were hungry and supported local and BIPOC-owned grocery stores.

At the core of our response in 2021 was general operating support. Unrestricted grants have always been a cornerstone of Medina’s giving because we trust our grantees, believe they know best how to use funding, and want them to have the flexibility to respond to the most critical needs they see. Nearly 70% of our grants were general operating in 2021. We are heartened to see more foundations taking this approach since COVID-19 emerged, and we hope it continues.

To the 168 organizations we funded in 2021, and to everyone working on the front lines in our communities, we thank you. You have done heroic work.

During the crisis, many youth-serving organizations had to close their doors, in-person programming had to stop or go virtual, and programs that worked in schools lost that connection. In summer 2021, as the world was starting to open back up (albeit temporarily), these organizations had to determine how to bring students back, address social distancing needs, and staff-up to provide programming. These changes all cost money, and many of these organizations were already struggling financially.

To address this, Medina Trustees made surprise $5,000 grants to 67 youth-serving Medina grantees in May. These grants had no application process and minimal reporting, and could be used for any need that organizations were experiencing in this trying time. They were above and beyond any other funding from Medina.

Besides helping to pay for a critical need, this funding was also meant as a show of support for Medina’s nonprofit partners that had been struggling after an unbelievably challenging year. These were relatively small grants, but because they were made without an application or restrictions on how the funding could be used, we heard that they made a huge difference. Grants were spent on staffing, technology, personal protective equipment, capital expenses to make sites safer, and direct services for the kids and families they serve. Medina was thrilled to offer this support, and the response from organizations was nothing short of overwhelming.

When faced with these challenges, Medina’s nonprofit partners Food Lifeline and Northwest Harvest got creative and leaned into the use of gift cards.

Gift card programs are not new, but what made these two programs different was that the gift cards were predominately purchased from small, BIPOC-owned and serving grocery stores. This small but significant shift made a huge difference. Not only did it allow families to shop at their local grocer, but it promoted the purchase of culturally appropriate foods (which can often be difficult to source and distribute in large quantities), while also stimulating local BIPOC-owned businesses.

Client choice is a critical part of a community’s efforts to end hunger. Through these two programs, individuals were able to choose their own food, which gave them a sense of dignity and control, limited waste, and allowed them to tailor the help they received to be the best possible fit for their own unique situation.

Medina made special grants in the amount of $25,000 each to Food Lifeline and Northwest Harvest to support their grocery card programs and we applaud this innovation in the face of adversity.

In national surveys asking what nonprofit leaders need most, general operating support always lands in first place. Despite the fact that a lot of funders want to target their giving and see results correlated to specific grants, nonprofit CEOs consistently report that general operating grants have the most impact on strengthening their organization.

Beyond providing stability and flexibility, unrestricted grants allow organizations to respond to immediate needs they see, try creative approaches in their work, and operate more effectively.

These benefits have been even more apparent during the pandemic—when shelters needed to quickly move to larger spaces for social distancing; organizations needed to purchase masks, gloves, and sanitizer; youth programs had to expand to help families; educational and employment programs shifted to meet basic needs; and everyone needed to figure out virtual ways to work.

Historically, only 20-25% of foundation giving has been unrestricted, although there is hope that is increasing as the calls for trusting nonprofits have grown louder. From Medina’s perspective, it is essential for organizations to be able to take charge of their funding to truly be able to achieve their goals.