Roundhouse Foundation Irrv Charitable Trust

Roundhouse Foundation began as a small family charitable trust affiliated with Pine Meadow Ranch — a working ranch in Sisters, Oregon — and operated at under $1 million per year through 2019. A transformative endowment influx of $246 million in contributions (2021 alone, after $113M in 2020) catapulted the foundation into an entirely different tier. Today it holds roughly $400 million in assets and is widely recognized as one of the most active rural philanthropies in the Pacific Northwest.

The governing structure remains family-centric: Frank and Kathleen Deggendorfer serve as unpaid trustees alongside their daughter Erin Borla, who functions as both Trustee and Executive Director (compensated at $147,947 in fiscal 2023). First-time applicants should know that Borla and her two program directors — Rebeckah Berry (rural healthcare) and Joshua Smith (Indigenous programming) — are accessible and genuinely want pre-application conversations. This is not a foundation where cold proposals succeed; relationship-building before you hit submit is part of their explicit model.

Roundhouse's giving philosophy draws on trust-based philanthropy principles: they value authentic, plain-language proposals over polished grant-speak, and they fund the full range of rural Oregon organizations — 501(c)(3) nonprofits, government entities, special districts, and Tribal governments. Their four focus areas are arts and culture, environmental stewardship, social services, and education, but they deliberately avoid rigid siloes. The 1,641 grants tracked in their database span everything from aquarium capital campaigns ($3M to Oregon Coast Aquarium) to rural food delivery ($401K to Neighborimpact) to Indigenous forestry workforce training ($251K to Lomakatsi Restoration Project).

For first-time applicants, the clearest path is the biannual Open Call (capped at $30,000 per award). Demonstrate rural Oregon benefit, connect with staff before the deadline, use a well-documented itemized budget, and tell a story about the real-world difference your work makes. Organizations that have received funding in the prior 12 months are generally ineligible for another grant, so timing your application cycle matters. Multi-year commitments are possible but typically capped at four consecutive years.

Roundhouse's financial trajectory is one of the most dramatic in Oregon philanthropy. Total giving grew from $764K (FY2019) to $1.9M (FY2020) to $12.5M (FY2021) to $15.9M (FY2022) to $18.9M (FY2023) — a 24.7x increase in four years — driven by $112.9M in contributions received in 2020 and $246M in 2021. The 2026 grantmaking budget is set at $21 million against a $400M asset base, implying an approximately 5.3% payout rate.

Across the 1,641 grants tracked in the foundation's historical database, the average grant is $24,278 and total cumulative giving exceeds $39.8 million. The median for the current Open Call program is approximately $20,000, with a hard cap of $30,000 per request. Capital campaigns can secure substantially more: Oregon Coast Aquarium received $3 million across three grants (average $1M per grant) for Phase 1B and Phase 3 of its capital campaign.

Geographically, 93.7% of grants (1,537 of 1,641) are in Oregon. The remaining 6.3% reflect small out-of-state giving — Washington (22 grants), California (18), DC (17), New York (10), Virginia (7), Hawaii (3), New Mexico (3), South Dakota (3), and Ohio (3). The Oregon-focused portfolio is overwhelmingly rural, coastal, and tribal.

By program theme, education and universities claim the largest share: OSU Foundation alone received $2.09M across 39 grants (avg $54K), while five community colleges (COCC, KCC, TVCC, Clatsop CC, Baker Technical Institute) collectively received over $1M. Arts and culture is the second major pillar — High Desert Museum leads all grantees at $3.8M over 12 grants (avg $317K). Health, anchored by OHSU's Casey Eye Institute and rural outreach programs, accounts for $3.05M to OHSU Foundation over 14 grants. Environmental stewardship (Trust for Public Land, $1.39M; Willamette Partnership, $163K; Lomakatsi, $251K) and Indigenous community support (Warm Springs CAT, $315K; Klamath Tribes, $140K; Museum at Warm Springs, $220K) round out the portfolio. Food security has become a growing priority, with Neighborimpact ($401K), High Desert Food & Farm Alliance ($119K), and Oregon Food Bank ($135K) all receiving multi-grant support.

The five peer foundations identified by asset size all fall in the $342M–$349M range, comparable to Roundhouse's $358.8M (FY2023). However, Roundhouse stands apart from its asset peers in several critical ways: it is the only one with a strict geographic constraint (rural Oregon only), the only one with a truly open competitive application process for grants up to $30,000, and the only one that has demonstrated the capacity — and will — to deploy emergency funds at scale in direct response to federal policy changes.

Roundhouse's open and accessible application portal at grantinterface.com distinguishes it sharply from the Karsh and Farash foundations, which operate primarily through invited relationships. Compared to Dodge — the most operationally similar peer — Roundhouse has a narrower geography but a more flexible thematic mandate. For Oregon-based rural nonprofits, Roundhouse offers a level of accessibility and transparency that most foundations of comparable asset size do not provide.

Roundhouse's most significant recent development is its emergence as a rapid-response funder in the face of federal policy disruptions. In 2025, the foundation deployed a $5 million emergency fund and subsequently committed $6 million specifically to rural food banks and food pantries across Oregon, directly responding to SNAP and Medicaid cuts embedded in the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act.' Executive Director Erin Borla publicly called on peer funders to match the commitment, and several made high-dollar pledges in response — marking Roundhouse's first major convener role in Oregon philanthropy.

On the governance front, 2024 saw the addition of the foundation's first community trustee — a departure from the Deggendorfer family-only board structure that defined the first two decades of the trust's existence. A second community trustee is expected to join the board in 2026, indicating a deliberate governance evolution that may over time affect grantmaking priorities and processes.

The foundation's 2025 Annual Report, published in 2025, documents the maturation of Pine Meadow Ranch programs alongside the grantmaking portfolio. Featured grantee stories include Tater Tots Therapy Services (Klamath Falls), Pendleton Center for the Arts, Columbia River Maritime Museum's Indigenous Voices initiative, and rural EMS capacity-building — a diverse cross-section that illustrates the breadth of Roundhouse's rural Oregon portfolio. The 2026 Artists-in-Residence Program at Pine Meadow Ranch has also been announced, with recent residents including poet River Dandelion and fiber artist Christie Lower. Inside Philanthropy profiled Roundhouse in early 2026 as 'one of the most active rural funders in the Pacific Northwest.'

Contact staff first — this is not optional etiquette, it is the foundation's explicit model. Roundhouse asks all interested applicants to connect with a staff member before submitting, particularly for the Open Call. Email inquiries@roundhousefoundation.org or call (541) 904-0700. Contact at least two weeks before the deadline, not two days before. Program directors Joshua Smith (Indigenous programming) and Rebeckah Berry (rural healthcare) are your best entry points if your work touches those areas.

Demonstrate rural Oregon benefit with specificity. The eligibility bar is absolute: all proposals must show 'a clear and compelling benefit to rural Oregon.' Urban-headquartered organizations must identify a distinct rural program, rural population served, or rural partner. Tribal communities are explicitly included and represent a genuine foundation priority — do not treat Indigenous applicants as a subcategory.

Write like a person, not a grant writer. Roundhouse staff have explicitly stated they want applicants to 'leave the script at the door.' Paint a before-and-after picture: what does the world look like without your project, and what does it look like with it? Be honest about challenges, learning, and limitations — this builds credibility rather than undermining it.

Right-size your ask. The Open Call hard cap is $30,000, with a median award of approximately $20,000. Requesting the maximum for a project with a $10,000 scope is a red flag. If you need more, apply through the Capital Grants track (rolling review, no stated cap) and ensure you have a multi-year relationship and a significant capital need such as a building project or major equipment acquisition.

Use the exact budget format they provide. Download the Excel Project Budget Template from roundhousefoundation.org/granttools and fill it out in full with itemized income and expenses. Vague or summary-level budgets are consistently flagged during review.

Apply racial equity and DEI framing. The eligibility guidelines explicitly require that proposals 'apply racial equity and DEI perspectives.' This should be woven into program design, staffing, and community engagement — not added as a final paragraph.

Never apply within 12 months of a prior grant. Organizations that received funding within the past year are generally ineligible. Time your cycle accordingly, and use the intervening year to build the relationship and document impact from prior support.