ADVOCACY

Work for Art raising record sums

IT SOUNDS ALMOST TOO GOOD to be true: a way to raise money for arts and culture while at the same time creating and cultivating audiences. But that’s exactly the accomplishment of Work for Art, the six-year-old RACC workplace giving program that raised a record amount in 2011 and is aiming to repeat the feat in 2012.

In June 2011, the year’s Work for Art honorary chair, Greg Ness, president and CEO of the Standard, announced the record sum of $764,830 raised from employees at 64 local businesses, foundations, and nonprofits, bringing the program’s five-year total to more than $3.1 million. At least 1,600 donors participated in the 2011 campaign, with over 80 percent of them doing so through payroll deductions. “That’s really the underpinning for this kind of fundraising model,” says Kathryn Jackson, the Work for Art program manager, adding that payroll deduction dates back to Henry Ford helping his employees buy war bonds. Through RACC, the funds raised with Work for Art go directly into grant funding for arts organizations.

The most commonly donated annual amount is $60. At that level, donors can receive an Arts Card that provides 2-for-1 admission to events from some 60 local groups. For the donor, that’s incentive to check out performances that might otherwise be out of reach. For RACC, that $60 is instantly doubled thanks to matching donations from a group of public and private supporters: the City of Portland; Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington Counties; and private entities that included the Firstenburg Family Foundation in 2011 and the RingSide Fish House in 2012.

Jackson has heard from people who are attending things they wouldn’t usually go to thanks to their Arts Card. The 2-for-1 price also makes it easier for families to bring the kids, building an audience for the next generation. Cardholders get a monthly e-newsletter about happenings in the arts and culture community. Taken together, says Jackson, the card is a way to provide access for donors, an audience builder for local arts organizations to fill empty seats (Arts Card tickets are always subject to availability), and an education tool for the community.

The card continues to be an incentive for the 2012 Work for Art campaign. PGE Foundation President Carole Morse, honorary chair for the 2012 fiscal year (following Ness and NW Natural CEO Gregg Kantor), is working with a goal of $850,000 by June 30, 2012. “She’s doing an incredible job,” says Jackson, who calls the goal a very ambitious one. One step toward it is to partner with new companies: new enrollees for 2012 range from accounting firms to the staff of the Portland Timbers. Work for Art’s advisory committee actively creates a list of companies to approach.

Jackson and the Work for Art team take artists into the workplace to kick off company campaigns. One group might be treated to a performance by BodyVox or a visit from Imago Theatre’s penguins or raccoons, while another might host a caricature artist to create portraits of employees—while they’re posing, Jackson notes, is a great opportunity to chat about the program.