3.21.2003 ET

(CSRwire) PORTLAND, OR. – Grants totaling $50,000 will be awarded to community organizations in North and Northeast Portland as part of the Nike Factory Store Grant Program it was announced today. The deadline for applications is April 18, 2003. A committee will review grant applications and notification will be on or before May 5, 2003. Nike will honor grant recipients at a ceremony at the Nike Factory Store later that month.

Nike opened its Portland Factory Store in 1984 and pledged to donate a percentage of the store’s sales to community-based non-profit organizations. Since that time, the Portland Factory Store has donated more than $1,000,000 to North and Northeast Portland organizations. The Portland Factory Store Grant Program, which formally launched in 1997, last year renewed its commitment to donate $50,000 a year through 2007.

All organizations interested in applying for a 2003 Portland Nike Factory Store Grant must be non-profit, community-based organizations serving the North/Northeast Portland area, and must be able to show proof of tax-exempt status by providing a copy of its 501(c)(3) determination letter. Additionally, applicants must have programs that provide at least one of following areas of focus: youth sports and recreational/physical activities, education and mentoring opportunities, and economic development opportunities focusing on women and youth.

Application forms can be picked up at the Nike Portland Factory Store located at 2650 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. All grant proposals must be received or post-marked by April 18, 2003.

About Nike: Nike targets to contribute 3% of its pre-tax earnings annually to non-profit organizations around the world. In its last fiscal year, Nike and the Nike Foundation contributed more than $29 million in cash, product and in-kind services, representing 3.2 percent of its pretax profits. Of that, more than $4.6 million in cash grants and product donations went to hundreds of nonprofits in Oregon, including individual employee contributions of more than $1.2 million, and more than 52,000 volunteer hours in support of causes our employees care about passionately. Nike matches each employee contribution to eligible charities dollar-for-dollar, and volunteer time at $10 an hour—twice that if the programs help increase physical activity among youth. For more information about Nike’s community involvement, visit Nikeresponsibility.com. For information about Nike's ongoing efforts to help motivate kids to be physically active, visit www.nikego.com

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Portland Nike Factory Store Grant Recipients
1998-2002

For Us Northwest
Schoolhouse Supplies
Asian Family Center
Peninsula Children’s Center
Rose City Soccer Club
Open Meadows School
CASA for Children, Inc.
Christmas in April
Youth Opportunity Center
Portland Council PTA Clothing Center
Peninsula Little League
St. Andrew Nativity School
Give Us This Day, Inc.
Friends of Trees
Community Transitional School
Portland House of Umoja
Salvation Army Moore Streets Corps and Community Center
Bethel Lutheran Church
Albina Head Start
Salvation Army Biddy Sports Program
Franciscan Enterprise – Youth Art Workshops
Successful Choices
Piedmond Peace Place After School Program
Chess for Success – Athletics for the Mind
Peninsula Wrestling Club
Oregon Symphony
Operation E.A.S.Y.
Northeast Workforce Center
Friends of Tyron Creek State Park
Albina Ministerial Alliance
Open Meadow Learning Center
Growing Gardens
Portland Area Council of Camp Fire
Northeast Community Development Corporation
Homowo African Arts and Cultures
Lao American Foundation, Inc.
Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center
YWCA of Greater Portland
YMCA of Columbia – Willamette
Hacienda Community Development Corporation
Women of Color Caucus
Reading Tree
Black Educational Center
Sojourner Trust Theatre Company
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority
Title IX Indian Education Project
Sabin Community Development Corporation
Center for Airway Science

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