photo credit: Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Many actors on the stage at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Grant Programs

The Miller Foundation believes in supporting our applicants every step of the way. Organizations can apply for funding for arts and K-12 education activities in Oregon.

Get connected with a grant

Welcome! Are you trying to figure out if your organization or project is a fit for Miller funding?

Who is eligible

  • Oregonians: We fund organizations in Oregon with activities in arts or K-12 education.
  • Established: Organizations can apply after providing programs or services to the community for 3 years or more.
  • Charitable: Applicants can be 501(c)(3) organizations, public entities, tribal or municipal governments, schools, or school districts. We sometimes fund work that has a fiscal sponsor.

We provide operating support through our standard grant process. (Occasionally we also provide project support.) To help our grantees succeed, we offer a flexible partnership model with single- and multi-year grants.

We understand that for some of our applicants, the opportunity to apply for operating support is rare. The Miller Foundation has been prioritizing operating support for well over a decade because we want you to have maximum flexibility in your work. We know that to realize your vision, you need support that helps you keep the lights on, make payroll, and respond to unexpected challenges and opportunities.

Explore grant opportunities

When you can apply

  • Apply once per year: Organizations that do not have current open grants with Miller may apply once in a 12-month period.
  • Submit final reports: Organizations with current open grants with the Foundation are eligible to re-apply after submitting their final report.
  • Re-Applying: Prior grantees are eligible to reapply 12 months after their last grant decision date (24 or 36 months after a multi-year grant award decision).

See how you fit into our funding world by clicking on your organization's category below. From there, we'll guide you through what you need to know to apply!

Deadline:

Apply Anytime

Arts (Small Org.)

For organizations with
annual expenses of:

$25,000

-

$499,999

Deadline:

3x per year

K-12 Education

For organizations with
annual expenses of:

$25,000+

-

Deadline:

3x per year

Arts (Large Org.)

For organizations with
annual expenses of:

$500,000+

-

Arts (Small Org.)

Learn More

K-12 Education

Learn More

Additional funding opportunities

Artist Grants
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Fiscal Sponsorship
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Special Exceptions
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Some special exceptions

The Miller Foundation currently funds several statewide institutions whose scope of activities extend beyond our current arts and education priorities, but which provide important support to these sectors. We fund Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, the High Desert Museum, and the Oregon Coast Aquarium because they provide students and teachers a "classroom like no other" through on-site experiences, online resources, and teacher professional development, all of which connect to core academic subjects in our state’s schools. Oregon Public Broadcasting provides critical coverage of the arts and education in Oregon, keeping both those sectors and the general public informed and engaged.

Mark your calendars

Artist Grants
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The Miller Foundation has collaborated with the Oregon Community Foundation and the Oregon Arts Commission to fund individual artists. Specifically, we participated in funding the Artist Relief Program and the Artist Resilience Program as part of our COVID-19 response efforts. In 2024, the Miller Foundation will begin providing grants directly to individual artists. Stay informed: sign up for our newsletter.

Fast Track Grants
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Fast Track Grants, for arts organizations with operating expenses between $25,000-500,000, have no relevant due dates, applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.

Standard Grants
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Cycle:

1st Grant Cycle for 2024

Inquiry Form opens:
Jan
1
Inquiry Form due:
Feb
16
Invited Application due:
Apr
5
Recipients notified:
May
29

Cycle:

2nd Grant Cycle for 2024

Inquiry Form opens:
Jan
1
Inquiry Form due:
Jun
14
Invited Application due:
Aug
2
Recipients notified:
Sep
25

Cycle:

3rd Grant Cycle for 2024

Inquiry Form opens:
Jan
1
Inquiry Form due:
Oct
11
Invited Application due:
Nov
22
Recipients notified:
Jan
31

Activities we don't fund

We value your time. To keep staff, grantwriters, and volunteers from applying for something we don't currently fund, please see the list below.

Activities that we do not currently fund include:
  • ​​Capital purchase and permanently installed (non-movable) equipment
  • Facilities construction
  • Debt relief and endowment
  • Religious institutions and programs significantly shaped by religious affiliation (with rare exceptions for religiously-affiliated schools providing tuition-free opportunities to specific student populations)
  • Colleges and universities
  • Requests from individual schools or classrooms for in-school arts projects or programs (arts education courses, assemblies, school trips to performances, school clubs, field trips, art materials, or musical instruments)
  • Adult education, including adult literacy programs and standalone adult arts education

The Miller Foundation has collaborated with the Oregon Community Foundation and the Oregon Arts Commission to fund individual artists. Specifically, we participated in funding the Artist Relief Program and the Artist Resilience Program as part of our COVID-19 response efforts.

WHAT'S NEXT: In 2024, the Miller Foundation will begin providing grants directly to Individual Artists. Stay informed: sign up for our newsletter.

Activities that we do not currently fund include:
  • Museums whose primary focus is not art (except for culturally specific museums)
  • Art therapy/arts programming in therapeutic settings
  • Arts programming in residential or correctional settings
  • Scholarships or tickets to performances
  • Historical societies
  • After-school arts enrichment programs
  • Recreational camps and summer programs
  • Festivals, either single-focus or culturally specific, with the exception of festivals where the primary focus is art (film, music, visual art, literary arts, etc.)
Activities that we do not currently fund include:
  • Social service supports, including mental and behavioral health interventions, foster care and juvenile justice programs
  • Physical education, including sports programs
  • Environmental or ecology education, including gardening programs
  • STEM-focused education
  • Special Education programs or schools focused on a single diagnosis
  • After-school enrichment programs such as Boys & Girls Clubs
  • Scholarships or tuition assistance
  • Private schools with tuition-based, traditional models where most students pay tuition
  • Pre-K/Early Learning supports (we fund these only by invited initiative)
  • Parenting or caregiver education (as distinct from school-based family engagement)
  • Food and housing assistance for families
  • Recreational camps and summer programs (except for programs addressing academic disparities or summer learning loss)
  • Museums (except statewide institutions with extensive K-12 education programming)
  • Career pathways or workforce Development
  • Higher Education institutions
  • Permanent school personnel and activities that fall under public schools' core operating budgets

Reach out to our team

We love hearing from you and look forward to learning about your work!

We value your time and aim to make our application process easy — so you can get the resources you need.

Contact us any time with questions or to request a meeting.