Grant applications
Pre-proposal applications are due by 5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023.
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Oregon has a long history of leadership when it comes to preventing waste and promoting recycling. Metro is in a unique position to invest in and support innovation from local businesses and communities to reduce the negative impacts of products used and discarded in the greater Portland area.
Metro’s Investment and Innovation grant program supports for-profit businesses, nonprofit organizations, and colleges and universities involved in creative efforts to prevent waste or make better use of waste through repairing, reusing, recycling or composting materials.
The Investment and Innovation grant program also fosters economic opportunities for people who have been left out of the benefits of the garbage and recycling system, particularly communities of color.
The program:
- Offers grants to for-profit businesses, nonprofit organizations, and colleges and universities involved in reducing, reusing, recycling or composting materials that may otherwise be discarded as waste.
- Focuses on strengthening the reuse, repair, composting and recycling systems in greater Portland, as well as reducing environmental and health impacts in the local manufacturing and use of products.
- Helps achieve the goals of the 2030 Regional Waste Plan, the blueprint for improving the garbage and recycling system in greater Portland.
- Advances Metro’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts by investing in projects that benefit communities and workers in the garbage and recycling system, and increases access to services for underserved residents.
- Awards grants through a competitive solicitation process and recommendations by review committees.
2023 Investment and Innovation grants
Metro will accept pre-proposal applications from Jan. 17 to Feb. 23 for program and capital grants. Program grants between $10,000 and $100,000 can be used to support personnel costs, materials and supplies, and equipment. Capital grants between $50,000 and $500,000 can be used to support larger infrastructure improvements and equipment.
Metro expects to award up to $2 million total in program and capital grants in the 2023 cycle. Funding priorities include recycling infrastructure, reuse and repair, food waste prevention and rescue, and transition to durable food service ware and packaging. The proposal handbooks include detailed information about eligibility, proposal requirements and the review process.
2022 Investment and Innovation Annual Report
Since 2018, Metro has awarded more than $10.7 million in grants to local businesses, nonprofit organizations, and colleges and universities in greater Portland. The 2022 Investment and Innovation Program Annual Report is now available.
This annual summary provides an overview of the individual grants awarded to date and the cumulative impacts of completed grant-funded projects across greater Portland. The report highlights the creative ways grant recipients are reducing waste and making better use of waste, while at the same time benefiting communities of color and other marginalized groups.
In addition, a detailed evaluation of the first three years of the Investment and Innovation program was published in 2021.