Mission + Values
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Our Mission
We dismantle sexism, racism, and structural oppression through the movement of resources and ideas in our region. We work side-by-side with open-hearted leaders and communities toward real and lasting gender justice.
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Liberation
We are committed to the full transformation to an equitable world where each of us is thriving and free from systemic oppression.
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Justice
We believe that sovereignty and self-determination are the birthright of every person and each community.
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Collectivity
We honor multiple ways of knowing and being, and we celebrate our interdependence.
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Courage
We believe that courage, rooted in bravery of the heart, is vital to dismantling and transforming systems of oppression.
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Joy
We believe joy and whole-hearted living are core to building just and thriving communities.
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Integrity
We are committed to showing up as our full, authentic selves and to ensuring that our words and actions are in alignment with our values and purpose.
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Growth
We recognize the inherent value of curiosity and innovation and are committed to a stance of learning and flexibility in all aspects of our work.
WFO Mission Statement
We dismantle sexism, racism, and structural oppression through the movement of resources and ideas in our region. We work side-by-side with open-hearted leaders and communities toward real and lasting gender justice.
Liberation
We are committed to the full transformation to an equitable world where each of us is thriving and free from systemic oppression.
Justice
We believe that sovereignty and self-determination are the birthright of every person and each community. We believe in community-led systems for healing and transformation that honor individual and collective dignity.
Collectivity
We honor multiple ways of knowing and being, and we celebrate our interdependence.
Courage
We believe that courage, rooted in bravery of the heart, is vital to dismantling and transforming systems of oppression.
Joy
We believe joy and whole-hearted living are core to building just and thriving communities.
Integrity
We are committed to showing up as our full, authentic selves and to ensuring that our words and actions are in alignment with our values and purpose.
Growth
We recognize the inherent value of curiosity and innovation and are committed to a stance of learning and flexibility in all aspects of our work.
Our Impact
How We Work
Grant Applications
We’re dismantling the historic process of grant applications that have long created systemic barriers for those seeking necessary funding, building sustainable and equitable models that move resources where they are most needed.
Gender Justice
What is Gender Justice and what does it mean for our work here in Oregon?
Immediate Impact Fund
Immediate impact funding is a crucial feature of the Women’s Foundation of Oregon grant making approach. The Women’s Foundation began offering this funding in 2017 as one opportunity for women, girls, transgender, and gender non-binary Oregonians to access financial support in cases of immediate need.
Immediate Impact Fund Overview Video
Our Timeline
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Two founding foundations merge their assets to form the Women’s Foundation of Oregon—Portland Women’s Foundation and Women’s Care Foundation—with a combined 200+ years of philanthropic investment. While these precursor Foundations were visionary in many ways, they were also rooted in a broader history of problematic philanthropy, of giving that often perpetuates the very inequalities and injustices it seeks to eliminate, by hoarding resources and upholding a particular version of the “worthy recipients” of institutional giving.
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We make our first round of annual grants to support gender-focused service providers in our region.
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Our “Listen To Her” Listening Tour hears from over 1,000 women and girls across the region. All these voices informed the Count Her In report.
Our “Count Her In” report—the first comprehensive report on women and girls in Oregon in nearly 20 years—is published. The report is released on the steps of the State Capitol in Salem.
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We publish a set of policy briefs to accompany the Count Her In report: “Count Her In Companion Briefs: Promising Policies for a State that Can’t Wait.” These briefs laid out dozens of ways that state and local leaders can make their communities more equitable.
We host of the Eight That Can’t Wait Discussion Series on pressing gender justice topics in Oregon.
Our Immediate Impact Fund launches and becomes one of the fastest rapid response programs in the state. These grants support urgent and unexpected needs for service providers who focus on gender justice.
We publish our first Count Me In Calendar, a weekly call-to-action that promotes personal, every-day actions that build gender justice.
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Foundation leadership announces the Foundation’s ongoing commitment anti-racism. The Foundation shares results of recent work to examine, challenge, and transform our own equity analysis at an organizational level.
We celebrate investing over $500,000 in grants and programs in our first three years.
Our membership model is overhauled to welcome folks of all genders and all income levels.
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The Giving Project pilot launches, a community-driven approach to grantmaking that centers learning, collective fundraising, and anti-oppressive grantmaking. This pilot also intentionally moves the Foundation away from membership.
Six new board members join five continuing Board members. The now-majority BIPOC and LGBTQ2SIA+ Board publicly affirms the Foundation’s commitment to intersectional gender justice.
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We scale up our Immediate Impact fund in response to COVID-19, rampant wildfires, and a nation-wide movement for racial justice. We move over $750,000 into the community.
The Board of Directors unveils new values and mission.
Libra Forde, Executive Director
As a former athlete and business owner, Libra champions elite personal behavior. She uses her education and elite athletic experiences to cultivate thought partnerships that is actionable, manageable, and sustainable. In addition, over 25 years corporate, racial/social justice and orator experiences enable her to relate to diverse communities, professional groups, and individuals. Libra is currently the Executive Director for Women’s Foundation of Oregon, a philanthropist non-profit organization that focuses on the dismantlement of systems that impede gender justice.
Libra served as the interim Executive Director of Western States Center (WSC) and was the Chief Operating Officer for one of the largest culturally specific non-profits in Oregon. Libra led conservative North Clackamas in being the first to name a high school in Oregon after a person of color. She is an elected member of the North Clackamas School board for which she chaired board during the pandemic.
Libra also has over 25 years of education advocacy experience in Hawaii and Oregon. She has led innovative education reform and structure developments to include the first active-duty military child scholarship program for transitions and hybrid charter school in Hawaii. In addition, Libra’s volunteer work include Governor appointment to Oregon State Commission for Women, State of Oregon Education Recovery Committee, a member of the Oregon Community Foundation Leadership Council, and Executive Board member for the Maurice Lucas Foundation. Libra is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Libra holds awards in racial/social justice, innovation and international speech.
She is the proud mother of a recent college math major graduate, a current college biology student, and soon to be high school student-athlete. Libra calls her children her superpowers because they are the impetus to her drive and success. She is a fighter with a justice heart and systems mind ready to get the work done so we can have a place we can all be proud of beyond our existence.
Kristen Fraley, Director of Operations & Compliance
Kristen Fraley (she/her) is a logistics and operations professional with a desire to solve complex challenges and create solutions using a human-centered approach. Originally from Denver, Colorado, Kristen has spent time living on the East Coast and abroad and enjoys learning about culture and history to better understand how the actions of the past have impacted the present. She received her MBA from the University of Colorado, and has integrated her business acumen with her passion for gender and racial justice for over a decade in the nonprofit world. She is guided by a humanistic mission to work to protect all life and ensure respect and dignity for every human being.
Stephanie Marquez, Advancement & Development Director
Stephanie was born in Portland but was raised in both Oregon and Minnesota. Her parents wanted their children to grow up surrounded by family. Stephanie attended the University of Oregon and embarked on her Human Resources career with an Oregon-based union electrical contractor. As an HR professional, Stephanie was responsible for training staff in Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and Idaho. Over the last decade, Stephanie has worked within the nonprofit sector and has been able to transfer her experience in corporate management, organizational development, and strategic planning with a focus on PEOPLE over profits. Stephanie has found a return to nonprofit work to be both personally and professionally fulfilling and she is grateful to have a lasting impact on the people and the community in which she lives.
WFO Staff
WFO Staff
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libra@w-for.org
As a former athlete and business owner, Libra champions elite personal behavior. She uses her education and elite athletic experiences to cultivate effective goal-setting that is manageable and sustainable. In addition, over 25 years of corporate, social justice and orator experiences enable her to relate to multiple levels of communities, professionals, and people. Libra is currently the Executive Director for the Women’s Foundation of Oregon, a philanthropist non-profit organization that focuses on gender justice. She is also the chair of the North Clackamas School board and the first person of color to run for Clackamas County Commissioner in 2022. Libra recently was the Chief Operating Officer for the second largest minority social service non-profit agency in Oregon, is the founder of the largest hybrid charter school in Hawaii, and has been honored with social justice, equity and world championship speaking awards.
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Kristen Fraley (she/her) is a logistics and operations professional with a desire to solve complex challenges and create solutions using a human-centered approach. Originally from Denver, Colorado, Kristen has spent time living in New York and abroad and enjoys learning about culture and history to better understand how the actions of the past have impacted the present. She received her MBA from the University of Colorado, and has integrated her business acumen with her passion for gender and racial justice for over a decade in the nonprofit world. She is guided by a humanistic mission to work to protect all life and ensure respect and dignity for every human being.
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Stephanie was born in Portland but was raised in both Oregon and Minnesota. Her parents wanted their children to grow up surrounded by family. Stephanie attended the University of Oregon and embarked on her Human Resources career with an Oregon-based union electrical contractor. As an HR professional, Stephanie was responsible for training staff in Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and Idaho. Over the last decade, Stephanie has worked within the nonprofit sector and has been able to transfer her experience in corporate management, organizational development, and strategic planning with a focus on PEOPLE over profits. Stephanie has found a return to nonprofit work to be both personally and professionally fulfilling and she is grateful to have a lasting impact on the people and the community in which she lives.
WFO Board
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Terralyn Wiley is a seasoned community builder and advocate with over 15 years of experience working with local government and nonprofit organizations. She has lived in Oregon for the last 20 years. She currently serves as senior equity and inclusion policy analyst for Multnomah County. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and a Master's degree in Educational Leadership from Concordia University. Her community driven work has afforded her a wealth of knowledge, skills, and abilities in establishing sustainable partnerships with key stakeholders and positively cultivating community relationships. Her advocacy efforts within different organizations have warranted a particular expertise in assessing needs for inclusion, equity and diversity within various systems. Her managerial experiences and scholastic endeavors have given her tools and confidence for empowering members within those systems to work collectively to meet those needs.
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Deborah is a seasoned nonprofit professional with 35 years of experience working for social change. She has helped nonprofits increase organizational effectiveness and mission impact in salaried and consulting capacities. Deborah has also served on nonprofit boards, government advisory committees, and coalitions.
Deborah’s work in the area of gender justice includes leading organizations that provide services to survivors of domestic violence and engaging in coalition work and policy advocacy to advance justice for survivors. Deborah has served as a member of the Advisory Council of the Gateway Center for Domestic Violence Services in Portland and as a board member of the Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. In terms of her involvement with WFO, Deborah served as a topic advisor for Count Her In and was a member of The Giving Project in 2019-2020.
In 2022, Deborah launched the Nonprofit Financial Leadership Academy with a colleague to educate and empower nonprofit leaders to be strategic about the money function in their organizations. Deborah also serves on the national faculty for the Futures Without Violence Supporting Organizational Sustainability Institute and has provided training locally and nationally on financial leadership and nonprofit sustainability. She is a frequent presenter and guest lecturer on government funding for Portland State University’s certificate in fundraising and has published articles on grant strategy in the Journal of the Grant Professionals Association. Deborah holds a Master’s in Social Work and a Master’s in Public Policy.
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Briana Spencer (she/her) is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation (CTUIR) and Afro-Puerto Rican. Her Indigenous name is Šápliš Hétsin (Shup-lish Hat-seen)
which means “like a whirlwind”.
She has been involved in activism since she was a child standing on the front lines on the streets or in
boardrooms with her family. She stepped into a prominent leadership role as one of the lead organizers
of Pendleton's Black Lives Matter march. She has continued to support the movement and her
community as the Founder & Board Chair of the Pendleton Community Action Coalition (PCAC), as a
Steering Committee Member for Luchadores por Cambio, and Board Member for the Women’s
Foundation of Oregon (WFO).
Briana draws on her experiences of being a person of color, a woman/female presenting, living in
poverty, being homeless and in foster care to be a strong advocate. She strives to show people with
similar lived experiences that they too, can take up space and have a voice at the table.
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Ms. Malone joined Meketa Investment Group in 2003. A Managing Principal of the firm, Ms. Malone currently works as the lead consultant on a select number of clients on their Defined Benefit, Endowment, and Defined Contribution portfolios. Ms. Malone is a member of the firm’s Board of Directors and the Investment Policy and Corporate Responsibility Committees. Ms. Malone focuses on helping clients achieve their asset allocation, policy, and governance roles.
Ms. Malone received an MBA from the University of San Diego, with a concentration in Finance, and an undergraduate degree in English, with honors, from the University of Maryland. Ms. Malone volunteers with multiple organizations in the Portland area and the Women’s Foundation of Oregon, including Parenting with Intent and Portland Women in Investment Management, where she sits on the Board.
Outside the office, Ms. Malone is a competitive rider at hunter/jumper horse shows and enjoys running and traveling with her two daughters and husband.
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Elizabeth Chin Start is the founder of Start Consulting Group LLC, a Milwaukie-based business. Her career has spanned local government, private industry, nonprofit and consulting, with a focus on the circular economy and materials management. Start Consulting Group works to weave equity and justice into the circular economy. Elizabeth is also a reuse artist and advocate. Her vision for the future includes waste materials management systems that include racial equity and sustainability for a more sustainable and environmentally just world.
Elizabeth Chin Start (she/her) is the founder of Start Consulting Group LLC. Her career has spanned work in the circular economy for the last 20 years, with a focus on materials management. This work has spanned local government, private industry, nonprofit, and consulting. Elizabeth founded Start Consulting Group to ensure inclusion, equity, and justice are ingrained in the circular economy. She is also a reuse artist and magpie who uses any shiny discarded object she can find.
WFO Committees
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Deborah Steinkopf - Chair
Mika Malone
Bre Pangares
Josephine Davis
Libra Forde
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Josephine Davis
Jackie Murphy
Stephanie Peters
Kristen Fraley
Libra Forde
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Kelly Coates
Kristen Fraley
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Kate Kimball
Meg Olson
Tess Fields
Stephanie Marquez
Libra Forde
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Zhou Fang
Casey Houlihan
Tong Zhang
Jessica Mole
Kathryn Latham
Tess Fields
Rachel Prusak
Kristen Fraley
Libra Forde
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Stephanie Marquez
Kristen Fraley
Libra Forde
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Melissa Hicks
Lakeitha Elliot
Jamie McLeod-Skinner
Stephanie Marquez
Kristen Fraley
Libra Forde
Our Financials
IRS Form 990 is an annual report about the Foundation's assets, investments, expenses, and grant awards. We practice full financial transparency as well as voluntary compliance with IRS tax-exempt public inspection guidelines. Our most recent 990s are posted here as they become available.
Use the dropdown menu to access a downloadable link to our most recent financial reports. Historic reports are available in our archive.