A MAX light rail train stopped at Skidmore Fountain station in Portland, beneath the Burnside Street overpass, with autumn leaves scattered across the tracks and yellow maples overhead.
Skidmore Fountain station, under the Burnside Street approach, early November. Photo: Ian Sane · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Our tenth round of micro-grants is open to nonprofits, churches, and grassroots projects across the Portland metro area. We would like to hear the idea you are carrying for your neighborhood. Applications close Friday, October 23.

Five years ago we started from a simple conviction: the people closest to a problem usually already know what to do about it. What they are short on is rarely insight. It is funding that arrives at the right moment.

Since 2022 that conviction has moved real money into real neighborhoods. Today we open round ten.

Granted$263,710
Grants53
Organizations42
Rounds9
This one10

The Fall 2026 round

Spring focused on men, families, and upstream solutions. This fall we are leaving the door open.

We care less about whether your project fits a category than about whether you can tell us clearly what you are going to do, who it is for, and how you will know whether it worked.

Upstream still matters to us. Given the choice, we fund the thing that keeps a problem from happening over the thing that manages it afterward. But that is a lens we read with, not a box you have to check.

Two ways to apply

Nonprofit track

For 501(c)(3) organizations, fiscally sponsored projects, and grassroots community initiatives serving the Portland metro area.

Apply →

Church track

For churches and church plants investing in their communities through new programs, partnerships, or direct neighborhood service.

Apply →

Same review, same pool. The two forms simply ask the questions that make sense for each kind of organization. If you are unsure which one you should apply through, email us at hello@brilliancelabs.org with any questions and we will point you to the right form.

What we ask for

  1. The project. What you will do, who it serves, and why now.
  2. The budget. A real one, line by line. Small and specific beats large and vague.
  3. The outcome. What is different if this works.
  4. How you will know. The markers or metrics you will actually track.
  5. Your partners. Who else is in this with you.

Grant sizes and full eligibility details live on the Portland Grants page. We fund specific projects rather than general operations, and we would rather fully fund a modest plan than half-fund an ambitious one.

Dates

Applications openToday
Applications closeFriday, October 23, 2026
DecisionsWithin 4–6 weeks of close

Coming alongside

A grant is where a relationship starts, not where our part ends. The phrase we keep using around here is coming alongside, and it is not decoration. Money is the part that is easy to count. The rest is introductions, a second set of eyes on a budget, a call when something is not going the way you hoped, and the capacity-building help of partners like Mission Increase Oregon and Together PDX.

We welcome applicants from all faith backgrounds who are serving under-resourced communities. If you have been putting off writing this up, this is the round to do it.

Nonprofit application Church application View Portland Grants →

Not sure whether your project is a fit? Ask us before you write the whole thing — email hello@brilliancelabs.org and we will tell you straight.