Android Ethic plays a
benefit concert for FOOD
for Lane County Friday.
BY CHRISTINE MATHIAS
The Giving Gift
Non-profits need your help this holiday season.
E
ven if you don’t have time this holi-
day to build a home for the home-
less, plant a thousand acres of trees,
or help Iraqi children learn to read, you can
still consider giving charitable donations or
volunteering your extra time to local organi-
zations that do all that and more. Eugene is
home to hundreds of great nonprofits doing
great work in our community and in the
world. We can’t list them all but here are a
few you might consider making donations to
this holiday season.
Have fun while you contribute to FOOD
for Lane County. Just show up at Café
Paradiso this Friday to hear local band
Android Ethic rock out for a good cause. The
cover is just $8 and half of it will go to help
feed hungry people in Lane County.
There are plenty of other ways to help put
food on tables this holiday season. Try donat-
ing extra box and canned food to the
Emerald Community Center emergency
food box at 90 Lawrence St., or volunteer at a
local soup kitchen such as the Eugene
Mission, located at 1542 W. First St.
Don’t forget that the four-legged furry
friends who have to spend Christmas in a
shelter need to eat too. The Greenhill
Humane Society has its annual “Share A
Little Love” campaign this time of year; do-
nate to their fund by sending your contribu-
tion to 88530 Green Hill Road, Eugene, or by
logging on to www.green-hill.org
Eugene’s Growers Market supports
local organic farmers. Visit their selection of
fresh health food at 454 Willamette St. from
4-7 pm on Tuesdays, or call 687-1145 for
more information on how you can help.
To help protect and preserve Oregon’s
natural landscape and wildlife, send dona-
tions to Oregon Chapter Sierra Club at
2950 SE Stark, Suite 110, Portland, OR
97214. You can also find meetings and other
ways to take action by visiting Oregon.sierr-
aclub.org
St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane
County supports the Eugene community in
a wide variety of ways. To donate goods, visit
one of St. Vincent’s drive-through donation
centers listed in the phone book or call 345-
0595 to arrange for pick-up of larger house-
hold items and appliances. You can donate
your vehicle to St. Vincent’s “Cars for a
Cause” program by calling 607-4541, or you
can volunteer your time at their social service
office by contacting Roxanne at 689-6747 or
Julie at 607-9733.
If you can’t find anything to do with all
your old office or kitchen supplies, you
should log on to the Downtown Initiative
for the Visual Arts (DIVA) website at
www.divanow.org to check out their “wish-
list.” Your donation to DIVA helps support
local artistic culture and keeps Eugene artists
painting into the new year.
The Oregon Cultural Trust supports
our unique Oregon culture as well. Their
wide range of support varies from museums
to dance performances, and the ways you can
donate range just as much. Check out their
website to find out how you can help––from
sending funds to buying an abstract license
plate design. www. culturaltrust.org (see
story below).
Local theaters need your help too.
Willamette Repertory Theatre, Lord
Leebrick Theatre, The Very Little
Theater, Actor’s Cabaret and Cottage
Theatre all work on tight budgets and aren’t
supported by a larger instituntion such as UO
or the LCC. Yet they continue to entertain,
enlighten and challenge social norms and the
status quo.
The Eugene Education Fund supports
students in School District 4J by funding
projects to ensure they have the best educa-
tion possible despite cuts in state funding. To
donate to the entire project or to a school of
your choice, send checks to “EEF” (and any
additional designations) to EEF, P.O. Box
1015, Eugene, 97440.
Sexual Assault Support Services
(SASS) works to end oppression and sexual
violence through youth education, support
services, and outreach programs. Send dona-
tions to 591 W. 19th Ave., Eugene, or call
484-9791 to find out how you can help.
To support the efforts of our troops in Iraq,
consider Operation Iraqi Children for
your charity. The organization is a grass-roots
program that enables Americans to send
School Supply kits to the schools that were
severely neglected under the dictatorship of
Saddam Hussein. To give a tax-deduc-
tible donation, visit the website at
www.operationiraqichildren.org.
ew
BY SYLVIE PEDERSON
Oregon Cultural Trust
Make your cultural donation and keep it too!
L
as little as $250.
ocal arts organizations are struggling to keep their
People interested in participating should note, however,
doors open while many Oregonians could easily afford
that if their contribution exceeds their state tax liability, they
to make donations, but are not aware of the generous
will not get all of their money back because this is not a refund-
tax breaks now available.
The Oregon Cultural Trust (OCT) is a statewide program leg- able tax credit. “You get it refunded only up to your tax liabil-
islated into existence in 2001 to preserve and support Oregon’s ity,” says Hollis, a CPA and member of the DIVA Board. “You
should make a check with the amount you think you’ll be taxed
culture and heritage, and to encourage public funding for the
by the state.”
arts.
“OCT is the only example of direct democracy in taxation in
OCT’s goal is to build up, largely from donations, a pro-
the U.S.,” said Palmer. “It allows you to say: I want my money to
tected long-term endowment of more than $200 million that
go to culture.”
will in turn generate substantial funding for cultural organiza-
Palmer sees the Cultural Trust tax credit as a great leverage
tions and activities. Oregon currently ranks near the bottom in
for arts organizations to raise money: “The OCT tax credit ex-
terms of state support for arts and culture, behind Arkansas
ists to make people increase their contributions to cultural or-
and Alabama. The oldest state-funded society in Oregon, the
ganizations and to augment the cultural state fund.”
Oregon Historical Society, lost all state funding last year.
Forty-two percent of OCT funds are distributed annually
However, Oregonians clearly care about the arts and culture
through grants to Oregon’s 36
and many make individual do-
counties and nine Indian tribes,
nations. All donors now have
‘OCT is the only example of direct to local cultural organizations,
the opportunity to effectively
double their contributions at
democracy in taxation in the U.S., and to five statewide cultural
partner agencies (the Oregon
no cost to themselves by
It allows you to say:
Arts Commission, the Oregon
matching such contributions
with a donation to OCT in ex-
I want my money to go to culture.’ Council for the Humanities, the
Oregon Heritage Commission,
change for a 100 percent tax
– Scott Palmer
the Oregon Historical Society
credit. “Tax credit reduces your
and the State Historic
tax bill, whereas tax deduction
Preservation Office). The remaining 58 percent feed the en-
lowers your taxable income,” says Scott Palmer, OCT’s trust
dowment.
manager since last August.
The Trust receives money from the sale of the OCT license
Yet Palmer notes that so far only 4,500 people in Oregon
plate designed by artist Kelly Kievit and the sale of surplus
(243 in Lane County) take advantage of tax credits per year:
state land, but gifts from individuals and businesses are its
“That’s 3 to 5 percent of the total number of people who write
most important source of funding.
checks for cultural purposes, a very small percentage!”
Donors interested in doubling their contributions at no cost
To contribute to OCT and get money back as a dollar-for-
will find OCT brochures at their favorite cultural nonprofits.
dollar tax credit, individuals must first make a (tax-deductible)
Further information is available at www.culturaltrust.org or by
donation to a nonprofit cultural organization of their choice,
calling (503) 986-0088. Palmer also advises potential donors
then write a matching check to OCT. The amount given to OCT
to talk to their CPA or tax adviser. To purchase the OCT license
(up to $500 per person and $2,500 for corporate organiza-
plate, contact your local DMV or go to
tions) will be returned in the form of a state tax credit.
www.oregondmv.com/Vehicles/sample_plate.htm.
For a person in the middle-bracket income, a $1,000 dona-
Contributions made by the Dec. 31 deadline will qualify
tion to a cultural nonprofit matched by a $1,000 contribution
donors to receive a dollar-for-dollar credit on their 2004
to OCT will result in a $2,000 federal tax deduction and $1,000
Oregon State income tax. – Sylvie Pederson
state tax credit. The actual cost of a $2,000 donation may be
DECEMBER 16, 2004 13