The Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation (BAMM) was a left-of-center private foundation created and operated by United Farm Workers activist Barbara Meyer. ¹ It primarily made grants to left-of-center community organizers in rural areas of the southeastern states. ²

Meyer and BAMM’s other board members created the Southern Partners Fund (SPF) in 1994, and in 2010 BAMM ceased operations, having transferred most of its remaining assets to the SPF. ³

History and Leadership

The Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation (BAMM) was founded in 1984 by Mary Meyer, a volunteer United Farm Workers of America (UFW) activist. ⁴ Its grantmaking primarily supported left-of-center community organizers in the rural American southeast. ⁵

Meyer endowed BAMM with $2 million in United Parcel Service (UPS) stock inherited from her father, who was one of the first employees hired by UPS as a delivery boy and eventually retired as the company’s national sales manager. ⁶ By 1994, the foundation had a reported endowment of $7.5 million. ⁷

Meyer, who worked as a full-time volunteer for the League of Women Voters, UFW and other left-of-center organizations from the late 1970s until the mid-1980s, described herself as “in the closet” about her inherited wealth before she founded BAMM. ⁸

Creation of Southern Partners Fund

In 1994, Mary Meyer and the other Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation directors worked with representatives of nonprofits that had received grants from the foundation to create the Southern Partners Fund (SPF) under BAMM’s auspices. ⁹

SPF is considered an early example of “participatory grantmaking,” a largely left-leaning philanthropy model under which grant recipients are engaged in foundation governance. ^{10 11} SPF’s bylaws require at least 80 percent of board members to be representatives of current or previous SPF grant recipients. ¹²

BAMM provided $966,625 in grants to SPF in 2008, $829,063 in 2009 and $5,531 in its final year of operation in 2010. ^{13 14 15} BAMM also made grants of $5,230,800 in 2009 and $926,000 in 2010 to the Dade Community Foundation, now known as The Miami Foundation, to create a fund dedicated to the support of SPF after BAMM’s dissolution. ^{16 17 18}

1. “About SPF.” Southern Partners Fund. Accessed January 17, 2024. https://southernpartnersfund.org/about-spf/.
2. Arrillaga-Andreessen, Laura, and Victoria Chang. “Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation and the Southern Partners Fund.” Stanford Graduate School of Business, April 12, 2010. https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/case-studies/bert-mary-meyer-foundation-southern-partners-fund.
3. Arrillaga-Andreessen, Laura, and Victoria Chang. “Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation and the Southern Partners Fund.” Stanford Graduate School of Business, April 12, 2010. https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/case-studies/bert-mary-meyer-foundation-southern-partners-fund.
4. “About SPF.” Southern Partners Fund. Accessed January 17, 2024. https://southernpartnersfund.org/about-spf/.
5. Arrillaga-Andreessen, Laura, and Victoria Chang. “Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation and the Southern Partners Fund.” Stanford Graduate School of Business, 2010. https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/case-studies/bert-mary-meyer-foundation-southern-partners-fund.
6. Arrillaga-Andreessen, Laura, and Victoria Chang. “Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation and the Southern Partners Fund.” Stanford Graduate School of Business, 2010. https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/case-studies/bert-mary-meyer-foundation-southern-partners-fund.
7. Arrillaga-Andreessen, Laura, and Victoria Chang. “Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation and the Southern Partners Fund.” Stanford Graduate School of Business, 2010. https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/case-studies/bert-mary-meyer-foundation-southern-partners-fund.
8. Arrillaga-Andreessen, Laura, and Victoria Chang. “Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation and the Southern Partners Fund.” Stanford Graduate School of Business, 2010. https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/case-studies/bert-mary-meyer-foundation-southern-partners-fund.
9. “About SPF.” Southern Partners Fund. Accessed January 17, 2024. https://southernpartnersfund.org/about-spf/.
10. Buhles, Kelley. “A Primer for Participatory Grantmaking – Non Profit News: Nonprofit Quarterly.” Nonprofit Quarterly, November 2, 2021. https://nonprofitquarterly.org/a-primer-for-participatory-grantmaking/.
11. Goldberg, Alison, and Karen Pittelman. “Creating Change through Family Philanthropy.” Soft Skull Press, 2006. https://resourcegeneration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Creating-Change-Through-Family-Philantropy-Book.pdf.
12. Buhles, Kelley. “A Primer for Participatory Grantmaking – Non Profit News: Nonprofit Quarterly.” Nonprofit Quarterly, November 2, 2021. https://nonprofitquarterly.org/a-primer-for-participatory-grantmaking/.
13. “IRS Form 990-PF Return of Private Foundation – Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation, 2008.” Guidestar, August 13, 2009. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2008/592/348/2008-592348082-0548afb7-F.pdf?_gl=1*1cy9ogw*_gcl_au*MjA0OTgyNzY5Ni4xNzA1MjcyMDMx*_ga*NjA5NDc0Nzc2LjE3MDUyNzIwMzI.*_ga_5W8PXYYGBX*MTcwNTUyNTcyMS4zLjEuMTcwNTUyNTc2NC4xNy4wLjA.
14. “IRS Form 990-PF Return of Private Foundation – Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation, 2009.” Guidestar, April 30, 2010. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2009/592/348/2009-592348082-05f3988c-F.pdf?_gl=1*fk1rop*_gcl_au*MjA0OTgyNzY5Ni4xNzA1MjcyMDMx*_ga*NjA5NDc0Nzc2LjE3MDUyNzIwMzI.*_ga_5W8PXYYGBX*MTcwNTUyNTcyMS4zLjEuMTcwNTUyNTc0Ny4zNC4wLjA.
15. “IRS Form 990-PF Return of Private Foundation – Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation, 2010.” Guidestar, November 11, 2004. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2010/592/348/2010-592348082-07b3d23d-F.pdf?_gl=1*cpdg6*_gcl_au*MjA0OTgyNzY5Ni4xNzA1MjcyMDMx*_ga*NjA5NDc0Nzc2LjE3MDUyNzIwMzI.*_ga_5W8PXYYGBX*MTcwNTM1MTkzNy4yLjEuMTcwNTM1MjE0NC42MC4wLjA.
16. “IRS Form 990-PF Return of Private Foundation – Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation, 2009.” Guidestar, April 30, 2010. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2009/592/348/2009-592348082-05f3988c-F.pdf?_gl=1*fk1rop*_gcl_au*MjA0OTgyNzY5Ni4xNzA1MjcyMDMx*_ga*NjA5NDc0Nzc2LjE3MDUyNzIwMzI.*_ga_5W8PXYYGBX*MTcwNTUyNTcyMS4zLjEuMTcwNTUyNTc0Ny4zNC4wLjA.
17. “IRS Form 990-PF Return of Private Foundation – Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation, 2010.” Guidestar, November 11, 2004. https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2010/592/348/2010-592348082-07b3d23d-F.pdf?_gl=1*cpdg6*_gcl_au*MjA0OTgyNzY5Ni4xNzA1MjcyMDMx*_ga*NjA5NDc0Nzc2LjE3MDUyNzIwMzI.*_ga_5W8PXYYGBX*MTcwNTM1MTkzNy4yLjEuMTcwNTM1MjE0NC42MC4wLjA.
18. “The Miami Foundation Inc – Form 990 for Period Ending Dec 2010.” Nonprofit Explorer, November 14, 2011. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/650350357/2011_12_EO%2F65-0350357_990_201012.