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CORPORATE
PHILANTHROPY
Holidays are at time for cheer — and for giving
The holiday season is here. It’s a time when the spirit
of giving stirs an elevated sense of goodwill and generosity
toward others. And for businesses, that typically means
increased opportunities to give to worthy causes. However,
whether you have an established charitable giving program or
choose to make special seasonal contributions, the wealth of
choices can be daunting. To make sense of business giving
options — year-round as well as during the holiday season
— here are some guidelines to help your company pick a
worthy charity and direct its charitable contributions to the
best return on investment for your organization and the
recipient nonprofit. HAVE A PLAN.
Get ahead of the game by developing a business-giving plan.
With a proactive giving plan, a business can better align
philanthropy with its corporate mission. Without a plan, it can
be easy to yield to mailed donation requests from nationally
based organizations, instead of directing funds toward
deserving local nonprofits. Moreover, articulating the plan to
employees prior to the holiday crush allows your entire
organization to focus its efforts on the chosen cause or
causes. MATCH THE CHARITY TO THE VALUES OF YOUR ORGANIZATION.
Another key step is to clarify your organization’s
mission and values. By having a clear understanding of what
values are important to your organization, you can better
identify the type of cause you prefer to support. Creating a
short list of causes consistent with your organization’s
mission — for instance, support for children and
families, hunger, education, the arts, fighting poverty, and so
on — can help pinpoint which requests or needs your
company will contribute to. CONDUCT A SITE VISIT.
In addition to matching causes with an organization’s
values, a business will want to identify the importance of
where the charity conducts its work. Do you want to give to a
national or international organization or will you give only to
nonprofits that provide programs and services in the local or
regional area? If you decide to direct giving to local
programs, consider a visit to several nonprofits to see their
work first hand, which can further narrow your list of
charities to support. CONSULT LOCAL RESOURCES.
You might wonder, however, where you can find a list of local
nonprofit organizations to consider. An excellent resource is
the “Oregon Involved” website, a statewide effort
to make it easy to get involved and make a difference in your
community. Accessed online at www.oregoninvolved.org, the site
provides a wealth of information and resources as well as an
easy-to-use statewide search function to help you identify
nonprofit organizations in your area. The “Find an
Organization” interactive tool allows you to generate a
list of nonprofit organizations based on county or region, type
of organization (such as animal-related, youth development,
food/agriculture, mental health, education and so on) or by
specific organization name. GET THE FACTS.
Contact your target charities to obtain basic credentials, such
as proof of 501(c)(3) status (required for tax deduction
purposes), an annual report and a copy of their bylaws.
(Remember, even if the organization is tax exempt, that
doesn’t guarantee you a tax deduction.
OREGON NONPROFITS
The 7,150 nonprofits in Oregon employ about 141,000 Oregonians
and add approximately $4.6 billion to the state’s economy
through paid wages. Those wages comprise more than 10% of
Oregon’s private-sector payroll. In addition, there are
2,336 nonprofits providing services in Oregon with their main
office out of state. The bulk of the state’s nonprofits
are in education, human services, arts, environment and
recreation. Oregon nonprofits by type
Nonprofits by region
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