Non-profit

Street Roots

Website:

www.streetroots.org

Location:

Portland, OR

Tax ID:

93-1271399

Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Budget (2022):

Revenue: $5,275,089
Expenses: $1,467,594
Assets: $4,507,739

Type:

Community Newspaper

Formation:

1999

Interim Executive Director:

Rebecca Nickels

Budget (2023):

Revenue: $3,042,186
Expenses: $1,898,111
Total Assets: $5,588,883 15

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Street Roots publishes a weekly left-of-center newspaper that advocates for homeless people in Portland, Oregon. It recruits vendors to sell the paper, typically people who are experiencing homelessness and poverty. 1 The vendors buy the newspapers for 25 cents and sell them for a dollar, keeping the profit as income. 2

Donors to Street Roots include the Northwest Health Foundation, Seeding Justice, the Solutions Journalism Network, the Proteus Fund, the Oregon Community Foundation, the New Venture Fund, the Network for Good, the Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program, the American Online Giving Foundation, and the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund. 3

Background

Street Roots evolved from a newsletter entitled Burnside Cadillac which was published by students at an adult literacy program beginning in 1990. It started a vendor program in 1996 and became Street Roots in 1998. 4

Street Roots started as a volunteer operation in 1998 in Portland, Oregon, publishing the newspaper and allowing street vendors to sell the papers and keep the profits. Vendors are typically homeless or poor. By 2015 Street Roots was published weekly and sold by over 150 vendors. 1

In 2024 Street Roots moved to a new $8 million building. 5 The move was partially funded by a $1.1 million grant from the Portland Clean Energy Fund, which is a tax levied on large local retailers. 6

As of the end of 2024, Street Roots has more than 800 vendors, with about 75 percent of them homeless. 2

Work Areas and Advocacy

Street Roots covers “economic, environmental, and social inequity” related to the homeless. 7 It advocates for the decriminalization of homelessness, low-income housing, and addressing, “the relationship between climate change and homelessness.” 8 It supports homeless cities including Portland’s Dignity Village from the early 2000s and the more recent C3PO camp villages. 8

In 2016 Street Roots was involved in launching the Welcome Home Coalition to advocate for the development and preservation of low-income housing in Portland. 1

In 2019 Street Roots advocated for Portland Street Response (PSR), which proposed that 911 calls that involve mental health issues are responded to by a PSR team member rather than by the police. PSR began as a pilot program and became a citywide service by 2023. 1 9 10

In 2019 Street Roots advocated for a stop to homeless sweeps in Portland, claiming that the “sweeps are traumatizing” to the homeless. 11

Starting in October 2024, Street Roots partnered with ProPublica through its 50 State Initiative to create one reporting partnership in each state. It will continue to focus on Portland’s homelessness situation. 7

Street Roots publishes the “Rose City Resource Guide,” which is a booklet that contains a comprehensive list of services for the homeless and poor in Portland. It is funded by Multnomah County and the City of Portland’s Joint Office of Homeless Services, along with Goodwill Industries International, the ACLU of Oregon, the local Salvation Army, and the local Planned Parenthood. 12

Memberships

Street Roots is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, 8 the International Network of Street Papers, and left-of-center Institute for Nonprofit News (INN). 13 Other member organizations of INN include Mother Jones, ProPublica, and Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.” 14

In December 2024, the Street Roots staff announced a plan to unionize under the Communications Workers of America. 5

Funding

Street Roots reported $3,042,186 in revenues and $1,898,111 in expenses on its 2023 tax returns. It received $1,421,032 in government grants. 15 16

Donors to Street Roots include the Northwest Health Foundation, Seeding Justice, the Solutions Journalism Network, the Proteus Fund, the Oregon Community Foundation, the New Venture Fund, Network for Good, the Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program, the American Online Giving Foundation, and the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund. 3

Leadership

Kaia Sand became executive director of Street Roots in 2017. She earned a master’s degree in fine arts from George Mason University and worked as a poet, an artist, a community organizer, and a university professor. 17 18  Sand resigned on December 6, 2024, after a leave that began on October 31. 19 Rebecca Nickels, a nonprofit consultant, began as interim executive director on December 16, 2024. 19

Rambo became editor-in-chief of Street Roots in 2021. Rambo earned a degree in journalism from Iowa State University and was managing editor of its affiliated Iowa State Daily. He was an intern at local news outlet IowaWatch then moved to Oregon and became an intern for The Oregonian, 20 covering police accountability during the 2020 Portland riots. 21 He became an investigative journalist for the Albany Democrat-Herald and its sister publication, the Corvallis Gazette-Times, and then moved to Street Roots as its editor-in-chief in 2021. 22 23

Nick Bjork is the board chair of Street Roots. Bjork earned a master’s degree in business from Portland State University and held roles as a journalist, a digital marketing sales executive, a publisher, and a managing director. He joined BridgeTower Media as its director of product development in 2021. He has been a member of the Street Roots board since 2019. 24

References

  1. “History.” Street Roots – About. Accessed December 22, 2024. https://www.streetroots.org/about
  2. Vendors.” Street Roots. Accessed December 22, 2024. https://www.streetroots.org/vendors
  3. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Search for ’93-1271399’. Accessed December 22, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text_search?form%5B%5D=IRS990ScheduleI&q=93-1271399&sort=best&submit=Apply
  4. Cory Elia. “Street Roots celebrates community in 20th anniversary exhibit.” PSU Vanguard. March 18, 2019. Accessed December 22, 2024. https://psuvanguard.com/street-roots-celebrates-community-in-20th-anniversary-exhibit/
  5. “Street Roots staff are unionizing.” Northwest Labor Press. December 19, 2024. Accessed December 22, 2024. https://nwlaborpress.org/2024/12/street-roots-staff-are-unionizing/
  6. Sophie Peel. “Street Roots Executive Director Kaia Sand Is on Leave.” Willamette Week. December 3, 2024. Accessed December 22, 2024. https://www.wweek.com/news/2024/12/03/street-roots-executive-director-kaia-sand-is-on-leave/
  7. K. Rambo. “Letter from the Editor. Street Roots joins ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network.” Street Roots – News. September 25, 2024. Accessed December 22, 2024. https://www.streetroots.org/news/2024/09/25/letter-editor-street-roots-joins-propublica-s-local-reporting-network
  8. “Advocacy.” Street Roots. Accessed December 22, 2024. https://www.streetroots.org/advocacy
  9. “Portland Street Response.” Portland.gov. Accessed December 22, 2024. https://www.portland.gov/streetresponse
  10. Rolando Hernandez. “Report highlights what’s working and what’s not inside Portland Street Response.” OPB. June 27, 2023. Accessed December 22, 2024. https://www.opb.org/article/2023/06/27/report-highlights-whats-working-and-whats-not-inside-portland-street-response/
  11. Street Roots responds to continuation of Portland homeless sweep.” KGW8. December 21, 2019. Accessed December 22, 2024. https://www.kgw.com/video/news/local/homeless/street-roots-responds-to-continuation-of-portland-homeless-sweeps/283-4d4c9dc5-1803-40c8-a9c3-be654f573774
  12. “Rose City Resource.” Street Roots. Accessed December 22, 2024. https://www.streetroots.org/rose-city-resource
  13. “About.” Street Roots. Accessed December 22, 2024. https://www.streetroots.org/about
  14. “INN Network Directory.” Find Your News. Accessed December 22, 2024. https://findyournews.org/campaign/inn-network-directory/
  15. Street Roots. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax. (Form 990 – Part I). 2023.
  16. Street Roots. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax. (Form 990 – Part VIII). 2023.
  17. “Kaia Sand.” Street Roots – About. Accessed December 23, 2024. https://www.streetroots.org/users/kaia-sand
  18. LinkedIn – Kaia Sand. Accessed December 23, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaia-sand-a03930222/
  19. Sophie Peel. “Kaia Sand Resigns From Street Roots After Going on Leave.” Willamette Week. December 10, 2024. Accessed December 22, 2024. https://www.wweek.com/news/2024/12/10/kaia-sand-resigns-from-street-roots-after-going-on-leave/
  20. LinkedIn – K. Rambo. Accessed December 23, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/k-rambo/
  21. “ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network Selects Five Partners for Its 40 State Initiative.” ProPublica. Accessed December 22, 2024. https://www.propublica.org/atpropublica/propublicas-local-reporting-network-selects-five-partners-for-its-50-state-initiative
  22. Albany Democrat-Herald eedition website. Accessed December 22, 2024. https://democratherald.com/eedition/
  23. Corvallis Gazette-Times website. Accessed December 22, 2024. https://gazettetimes.com/
  24. “Nick Bjork.” Street Roots – About. Accessed December 23, 2024. https://www.streetroots.org/users/nick-bjork
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Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: June - May
  • Tax Exemption Received: May 1, 2000

  • Available Filings

    Period Form Type Total revenue Total functional expenses Total assets (EOY) Total liabilities (EOY) Unrelated business income? Total contributions Program service revenue Investment income Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. Form 990
    2022 Jun Form 990 $5,275,089 $1,467,594 $4,507,739 $75,613 N $5,213,282 $61,048 $759 $71,331
    2021 Jun Form 990 $1,599,020 $1,376,964 $840,312 $133,107 N $1,467,341 $47,441 $870 $66,482
    2020 Jun Form 990 $1,334,932 $1,043,741 $590,314 $105,165 N $1,179,567 $87,398 $503 $63,859
    2019 Jun Form 990 $750,223 $833,600 $207,022 $13,064 N $631,263 $132,444 $548 $63,733 PDF
    2018 Jun Form 990 $878,292 $791,021 $288,720 $11,363 N $764,741 $115,821 $211 $59,181 PDF
    2017 Jun Form 990 $648,131 $656,271 $55,388 $4,107 N $480,391 $119,922 $535 $57,507 PDF
    2016 Jun Form 990 $508,763 $567,633 $66,088 $18,895 N $341,568 $119,256 $1,213 $46,915 PDF
    2015 Jun Form 990 $492,861 $464,343 $116,847 $15,424 N $384,024 $85,754 $90 $42,553 PDF
    2014 Jun Form 990 $357,667 $360,080 $84,457 $10,670 N $267,675 $63,243 $50 $42,067 PDF
    2013 Jun Form 990 $330,586 $320,227 $92,449 $14,712 N $265,951 $64,454 $42 $0 PDF
    2012 Jun Form 990 $275,432 $287,039 $71,398 $4,094 N $205,611 $69,377 $42 $0 PDF
    2011 Jun Form 990EZ $131,775 $130,101 $78,672 $2,682 $0 $0 $0 $0 PDF

    Additional Filings (PDFs)

    Street Roots

    281 W BURNSIDE ST
    Portland, OR 97209-3914