Cycle Oregon doesn’t just expose riders to richly diverse Oregon communities. It also provides much-needed financial support to those communities. Proceeds from the rides have been placed in the Cycle Oregon Fund at the Oregon Community Foundation since January 1996, when Cycle Oregon created its fund at the Oregon Community Foundation. We have now awarded 382 grants totaling $2.9 million through our community and signature grants.

Cycle Oregon also provides approximately $150,000 each year to community groups for the services they provide on our events. They assist greatly in planning our events and provide hundreds of volunteers whose passion and dedication make our rides a success.

Apply for a Community Grant

Grants awarded through the Cycle Oregon Fund support projects and programs throughout Oregon in three key areas: Environmental Conservation and Historic Preservation, Bicycle Safety & Tourism and Community Projects.

  • Apply for a Grant

    Submit grant request and attachments to grants@cycleoregon.com. There is no need to mail a physical copy of the application.

    1. Click this link to download the Cycle Oregon Grant Application and save as a Microsoft Word document (use the name of your organization or community in the file name).
    2. Attach IRS letter verifying 501(c)3 nonprofit status if not a governmental organization.
    3. Attach (in MS Word) project description and application including:
      • Project/Program Goals
      • Timeline
      • Budget: include matching funds, if applicable

     

    Questions? Email grants@cycleoregon for help.

  • Organizational Eligibility
    • Applicants must be a government agency or have 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. If you are unsure of your eligibility, just ask us. Alternatively, you may have a qualified fiscal sponsor (i.e., a sponsoring and eligible tax-exempt organization).
    • Applicants must have submitted required evaluation reports for all prior grants from the Oregon Community Foundation.
    • The request must be for at least $500.
    • Projects must be completed by December 2024.
  • 2023 Grant Award Timeline and Reporting Requirements
    • Applications are accepted September 25 through October 27 (at 5:00pm).
    • Notification of awards will occur in December 2023.
    • All approved grants will be required to submit a report detailing the project results by December 2024. Click Here to download the Grant Evaluation Form.
  • Project Eligibility

    Typically Not Eligible for Funding

    • Annual fund appeals and contributions to endowments
    • Grants to fund scholarship or re-granting programs
    • Purchases or activities that occur prior to grant decisions
    • Deficit funding
    • Replacement of government funding
    • Lobbying to influence legislation
    • Scientific research
    • Religious activities

Community Grants

Cycle Oregon’s community grants program helps provide important support for communities. Projects fit into one of three categories: Environmental Conservation and Historic Preservation, Bicycle Safety & Tourism and Community Projects.

2022 grantees include:

  • The first bike racks installed in Toledo
  • Construction of a play yard in St. Helens
  • Funding for Shift Community Cycles R.A.C.E program
  • Building an outdoor community space in Fossil
  • Funds for the Upper McKenzie Community Center’s ADA accessible remodel
  • Multilingual information boards in Halsey
  • and more! See our recent blog post for a complete list of 2022 grant recipients

 

Signature Grants

Cycle Oregon’s signature grants are determined by Cycle Oregon’s board of directors. Signature grants have provided important funding to catalyze or conclude important projects that have statewide impact.

  • Halfway Fairgrounds

    In 2005 Cycle Oregon awarded a $50,000 Signature Grant to help the community of Halfway complete a long-term funding project to repurchase the land for its county fairgrounds. With Cycle Oregon providing the last boost to hit their overall fundraising goal, Halfway was able to reacquire their fairgrounds. And the concept of the Cycle Oregon Signature Grant was born.

  • Diamond Lake Restocking

    In 2007 our Signature Grant helped restock Diamond Lake with trout. An invasive non-native fish species was ruining the lake’s ecosystem, and so the lake was intentionally poisoned to kill off the invaders. Afterward, an ambitious program set out to re-stock the renowned fishing lake with new trout, and Cycle Oregon contributed $50,000 toward the effort. Six months after stocking the lake, people were pulling trophy trout out of Diamond Lake. The restocking project successfully returned the trout population to Diamond Lake.

  • Wallowa Lake Moraine Preservation

    In 2008, our Signature Grant was dedicated to helping protect Wallowa Lake’s glacial moraines from development pressure. These rare geological features, carved by ancient glaciers, rise above the east and west shores of pristine Wallowa Lake. They’re considered both naturally and culturally precious by Native Americans and lovers of the land. Cycle Oregon contributed $50,000 toward the ambitious effort to preserve this land from further development.

  • Scenic Bikeways

    In 2009, Cycle Oregon’s Signature Grant went to Oregon’s Department of Parks and Recreation. Cycle Oregon partnered with State Parks to champion a shared vision for an official network of State Scenic Bikeways. These mapped, marketed and maintained routes will connect communities and highlight the scenery, history and culture of the state, showcasing the essence of Oregon to residents and visitors alike. The Cycle Oregon Fund contributed $50,000 to help that vision become reality.

  • Salmonberry Trail Project

    In 2012, Cycle Oregon made a Signature Grant of $100,000 to start planning the “Salmonberry Trail,” with the Oregon Departments of Forestry and State Parks and the Port of Tillamook Bay. When a giant storm tore apart the route of the Banks to Tillamook railroad, trains could no longer operate through the rugged, roadless Salmonberry canyon. A broad coalition of supporters is now working toward what will one day become 80+ miles of cycling nirvana, a rail-with-trail that stretches from Banks to Tillamook. The Concept Plan was completed in 2014.

    Cycle Oregon continues to support this transformational project and to date has contributed $265,000 to continue the momentum into the next phase of the project, shifting from concept to reality by supporting a major capital campaign and project management.

Grants Awarded

  • Signature Grants
  • Community Grants

Stories

When Cycle Oregon rolls through town with a couple thousands riders, tents, and bikes and everything that goes with it, the casual observer may see organized chaos. But look a little closer and you’ll see prosperity and community riding into these rural Oregon towns as well. These cyclists aren’t just passing through – they are connecting with the locals, spending in local establishments, and hopefully making plans to come back real soon. And that is what Cycle Oregon is all about. Since the very beginning, Cycle Oregon has been giving back to the Oregon communities that have given so much to us. Over the last 31 years, grants from the Cycle Oregon Fund have gone to preserve historic buildings, to protect natural resources, to create programs for low income families, and have helped make Oregon even more bike friendly than it already is.

To highlight some of the ways in which Cycle Oregon and its riders have helped make it possible for important work to be done in the state, we created a series of videos.

 

Wallowa Lake Moraines

Cycle Oregon loves the Wallowas. How can you not? The beautiful lake, the gorgeous mountains, the friendly people. That’s why we were very excited to be able to provide funding through the Cycle Oregon Fund to help in the formation of the Wallowa Lakes Moraines Partnership 11 years ago.

The big news is that just last week the WLMP reached an agreement to purchase 1,800 acres of the east moraine from a private family to make that land county-owned by 2020! This means 60% of the east moraine will be conserved, converted into responsibly managed forest, and handed over to the community. This exciting new purchase perfectly aligns with the Partnership’s goals of maintaining sustainable working landscapes to contribute to the local economy and rural ways of life, providing public access respectful of the landscape and its scenic beauty, and protecting open space for wildlife, recreation and natural resources. The uniquely unspoiled nature of this area will live on and we are thrilled to have been part of it.

 

Pine Valley Fairgrounds

Last year’s Classic traveled through Pine Valley and got a taste of their warm hospitality and amazing surroundings. This video focuses on the Pine Valley Fairgrounds and how a grant from Cycle Oregon has helped the community weather a tough storm and continue with their way of life.

 

Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland

The Nez Perce people have a deep connection with the land surrounding Joseph and Wallowa that goes back thousands of years. They lived in reciprocity with the land here until 1877 when, under pressure from the US Government, Chief Joseph and the walwáama band of Nez Perce were forcibly removed. What followed was a violent and months-long military pursuit of fleeing families. The people of Wallowa were eventually captured and punished for their desire to be free when they were exiled to the Colville Reservation in northern Washington. Today, dispersed tribal members again steward this land, as Board Members for the Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland. Recently grants from Cycle Oregon helped the tribal-led nonprofit acquire 320 acres of their homeland, establishing a place for descendants to gather, celebrate their customs, and to sustain their culture.

 

Elgin Opera House

In September 2019, when Cycle Oregon was in Elgin, we were treated to a sneak peek performance of Mary Poppins by a cast made up of local performers of all ages. These talented actors blew the roof off the 108 year old theatre/city hall/ onetime jail and won the hearts of everyone in attendance that night. Grants from Cycle Oregon have helped in the restoration of the Opera House and continue to support the programs that bring musical theatre, and a greater sense of community, to this part of rural Oregon.