Mardi Schnitzer Spitzer Foundation

About Mardi Schnitzer Spitzer Foundation

Mardi Schnitzer Spitzer Foundation gives most of its recent support to a small circle of repeat grantees, with Jewish Federation of Greater Portland and Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research standing out as the clearest anchors. The pattern is consistent across 2023 through 2025: a major share of grants goes back to the same organizations, often for mission support, which points to relationship-based philanthropy rather than a one-time project model. The foundation’s giving sits at the intersection of Jewish communal support and biomedical research. One track centers on Jewish life in the Portland area, where the foundation has backed Jewish Federation of Greater Portland multiple times. The other track supports research into myeloma and bone cancer, with repeated grants to Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research. Around those core commitments, the foundation also funds Oregon-based health, camp, senior-care, and community organizations, all within a regional grantmaking pattern. Its recent grants are not spread broadly across many fields; instead, they concentrate on a limited set of organizations that recur year after year. That makes the foundation useful to researchers looking for funders with stable, recurring support for local Jewish institutions and disease-focused research groups, plus targeted grants to nearby nonprofits in the Portland and Oregon ecosystem.

What Mardi Schnitzer Spitzer Foundation Funds

Jewish communal support is one of the foundation’s clearest priorities. In 2025, it gave $16,536 to Jewish Federation of Greater Portland to accomplish its mission, following a $15,000 grant in 2024 and a $20,350 grant in 2023. That repeated support suggests an ongoing relationship with the Portland Jewish community. Biomedical research is the other central track. The foundation awarded $10,000 in 2025 to Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research, matching the same amount it gave in both 2023 and 2024. That three-year pattern shows sustained support for research tied to myeloma and bone cancer. The foundation also supports women’s health and related clinical work through OHSU. In 2025 it gave $5,000 to Ohsu Foundation for the OHSU Center for Women’s Health Circle of Giving, and it also made grants to Ohsu Foundation and Ohsu-knight Cancer Institute in earlier years.

How Mardi Schnitzer Spitzer Foundation Gives