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NEWS Giving Goes Viral

Donations to Central Oregon Gives eclipsed all expectations in 2019. Two top fundraising nonprofits from 2019 share how they saw success

By Laurel Brauns

Last year, two Bend entrepreneurs joined forces to raise $50,000 for local nonprofits. Instead, they raised more than 10 times that amount, with donations totaling $575,000 by December 31, 2019.

The funds went directly to 72 organizations ranging from children’s advocacy groups to environmental watch dogs.

For more than two decades, the Source Weekly has published the annual Central Oregon Give Guide during the holidays to help raise awareness about the many organizations in the community that work to help others survive and thrive. Last year, the Source’s publisher Aaron Switzer teamed up with Rys Fairbrother of WhatifWeCould.com to create a seamless integration of the print guide with an online donation platform at CentralOregonGives.com.

Fairbrother—a social media and marketing expert—had launched his site earlier that year. His aim was to harness the excitement of crowd sourcing platforms like GoFundMe while helping Central Oregon’s nonprofits tell their story.

Switzer had the connections and stories; Fairbrother had the technology to make giving go viral.

Adding to the synergy, an anonymous donor promised a $25,000 prize to the nonprofit that raised the most money from the new program. This created friendly competition between

groups and provided a strong incentive for these organizations to help direct incoming donations through WhatifWeCould.com.

On top of all that, every donation earned a special perk from a popular local business such as a free drink or an appetizer. This created an easy story for nonprofits to share on social media and in their newsletters. Within a few clicks, donors could donate to their favorite nonprofit and then head down to the pub for a celebratory free pint.

This year, Switzer and Fairbrother want to raise $500,000, a worthy goal in the midst of a worldwide pandemic that continues to impact local people, organizations and businesses. They are breaking up the $25,000 grand prize into one $15,000 gift to the nonprofit that raises the most overall funds, and then awarding $2,000 to each nonprofit that raises the most within its category: These categories include: education, family and children; animal welfare and environment; arts & culture; basic needs; and health and wellbeing.

A 2019 Success Story: Boys & Girls Clubs

“It is astounding to me that there is such a strong community effort towards philanthropy,” said Rachel Cardwell, the director of development at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Bend, the organization that took home the $25,000 grand prize last year. The nonprofit offers fun and

Courtesy Boys & Girls Clubs of Bend Courtesy Boys & Girls Clubs of Bend

Rachel Cardwell is the director of development for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Bend.

educational programs for kids ages 5 – 18 at its two locations in Bend.

Cardwell said that her staff changed the organization’s donations page during the campaign to feature the WhatifWeCould.com payment portal with an explanation about the possible prize money.

“Donating through the platform was a way to deepen their giving,” Cardwell said.

“[The additional $25,000] was a transformational amount of money,” she said. “If we were going to participate, we wanted to be active, not just see what rolled in of its own accord.

“Every single time we were in front of donors, we put this program in front of them as well,” Cardwell said. During every fundraising event last year, Cardwell and her staff found creative ways to help energize the organization’s biggest supporters to funnel their donations through WhatifWeCould.com.

“Our organization is on the front lines of dealing with issues that have been on the front lines of the pandemic,” Cardwell said. “So giving right now is an incredible act. Even if there is a competition, at the end of the day, we’re all serving underserved populations.”

2019 Success Story: Saving Grace

Saving Grace, a domestic violence prevention nonprofit, raised the second-largest amount among the participating organizations.

Cassi MacQueen, the executive director of Saving Grace, said she “jumped in with both feet” when she learned about the new model and the potential prize money. It was her first holiday fundraising campaign since she joined the team. For years she’d worked in leadership positions within Portland nonprofits and had experience getting behind similar fundraising models enabled by perks, prize money and easy online transactions.

“We utilized this campaign with all our holiday giving efforts,” she said. “It was in all of our marketing, newsletters and social media. We cast the net wide.”

An added incentive for donors to Saving Grace—besides prize money and perks—was a gift of up to $50,000 in matching dollars from the Aria Foundation for every dollar it collected before the end of the year. The ARIA Foundation is a national grant-making organization that supports a variety of social and environmental causes.

An added fundraising challenge for Saving Grace is that “domestic violence and sexual assault is not your standard dinner-table conversation; it’s not trending in people’s newsfeed,” MacQueen said. “Even though some people think domestic violence is not an issue here, our rates are really similar to other parts of the country.”

MacQueen said she believed that Central Oregon Gives helped her organization reach people that had never heard of Saving Grace before.

“We took it as an opportunity to educate people about what we’re doing,” she said. “It’s been so incredible to have this opportunity to raise awareness.”

Noticias en Español

Escrito por Laurel Brauns Traducido por Jéssica Sánchez-Millar

Padres de familia se estudiantes de Oregon se les ha impedimanifiestan ante el cierre do regresar al salón de clases. El grupo escribió, “Hemos atestiguado de escuelas la perdida del aprendizaje, fallas técnicas,

A medida que los casos de COVID-19 repercusiones no basadas en las activiaumentan en la región, las escuelas de dades escolares, problemas de facilidad Bend-Lapine no están nada cerca de lo de acceso para los alumnos con discapacique estaban en septiembre para abrir dades, y para muchos alumnos problemas sus puertas. Eso tiene bastante frustra- serios de salud mental y emocional. dos a algunos de los padres de familia de ED300 exhorto a la gobernadola región como para salir a las calles en ra Kate Brown a eliminar las barreras protesta, mientras que al mismo tiempo actuales al aprendizaje en el salón de organizan una lucha virtual para exigir que clases y pedir a los superintendentes, los funcionarios electos tomen medidas. a el consejo escolar y a los legisladores

Los organizadores locales, Kelly Vlach a participar con los padres de familia y Indu Fairbanks del grupo de Facebook activistas para implementar un regreOpen Bend-Lapine Schools, unieron so a clases presenciales y a actividades fuerzas junto con una coalición estatal extracurriculares confiables. de grupos de padres de familia llamada La coalición también exigió que se ED300. Conforme lo indica el comunica- eliminen los parámetros y los mandatos do de prensa del 9 de noviembre emitida a nivel condado del estado. En su lugar, por ED300, la coalición esta presionando la coalición quiere pautas adaptadas a los a los funcionarios electos para disminuir enfoques a nivel comunidad. las restricciones del aprendizaje presen- La declaración indico, “No estamos cial y para abrir las escuelas para el 6 de concordando con otros 42 estados que enero. El comunicado indico que este es tienen pautas a seguir en vez de mandael primer esfuerzo en conjunto llevado tos. Los mandatos demasiado contuna cabo por miles de padres de familia de dentes de Oregon prolongan el cierre todo Oregon. de escuelas y perjudican a los alum-

El 6 de enero marca el día numero nos de cualquier edad, desde los alum300 en el que a la mayoría de los 600,000 nos aprendices hasta los estudiantes de preparatoria que necesitan apoyo en su camino hacia la educación superior.

El 30 de octubre, la gobernadora Brown y el departamento de educación de Oregon (ODE) anunciaron toma de decisiones a nivel condado al anunciar parámetros de reapertura menos restringidos. De acuerdo a las nuevas normas, los distritos escolares pueden comenzar a abrir las escuelas primarias para recibir educación presencial una vez que el condado cuente con menos de 100 casos por cada 100,000 habitantes basándose en un lapso de 2 semanas. Cuando se publicaron por primera vez las nuevas pautas del ODE, el promedio de casos en el condado Deschutes en el lapso de dos semanas, del 11 al 24 de octubre, fue de 67.9 casos por cada 100,000 habitantes.

Pero de acuerdo a los datos publicados el 2 de noviembre por Oregon Health Authority, el promedio más reciente durante un lapso de dos semanas, del 18 al 31 de octubre fue de 113.5 casos por cada 100,000 habitantes.

La ciudad podría financiar servicios para los habitantes sin hogar

El consejo municipal contempla un impuesto fiscal para financiar servicios sociales para las personas sin hogar

El consejo municipal de la ciudad de Bend, durante su junta del 4 de noviembre, debatió sobre varios impuestos fiscales a la construcción para financiar servicios para las personas sin hogar. De acuerdo con Central Oregon Homeless Leadership Coalition el número de habitantes locales sin hogar aumento en un 60% desde el 2015 a un aproximado de 969 personas en el 2020.

El gestor municipal Eric King presentó la propuesta como respuesta a la petición de fondos para el planeado Central Oregon Veterans Village, el cual puede ser terminado durante este invierno.

Lynne McConnell, la directora del programa de vivienda explico que, en el 2006, Bend fue la primer ciudad de Oregon en implementar un impuesto especial de construcción (CET) del .33% en casi todos los permisos de construcción nuevos, usando el dinero para proveer viviendas accesibles. Desde entonces, el estado ha estado tabaleando, primero restringiendo por completo los nuevos CETs y luego suspendiendo la prohibición de en el 2016 con una serie de restricciones y consideraciones hacia los nuevas CETs residenciales.

McConnell explico que los nuevos CETs en edificios comerciales e industriales no tienen las mismas restricciones del estado. Si la ciudad decide proceder con un impuesto adicional sobre estas estructuras, 50% de los fondos podrían ser destinados a servicios de apoyo para las personas sin hogar y 100% de los nuevos fondos permanecerían bajo el control de la ciudad.

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City May Fund Services for the Unhoused

Bend City Council considers a tax levy to fund social services for people without homes

By Laurel Brauns

The Bend City Council debated various building tax levies for funding services for the unhoused during its Nov. 4 City Council meeting. The number of local people experiencing homelessness went up by 60% since 2015, according to the Central Oregon Homeless Leadership Coalition, to an estimated 969 people in 2020.

City Manager Eric King introduced the proposal as a response to a request for funding for the planned Central Oregon Veterans Village, which may be completed sometime this winter.

“We’ve taken this opportunity to broaden that conversation towards the need for more services and more housing options for those families earning less than 30% of the Area Median Income,” King said. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the 2019 Area Median Income in Bend was $78,600 for a family of four and $23,580 for a family of four earning 30% of AMI.

In 2006, Bend was the first city in Oregon to implement a .33% construction excise tax on almost all new

By Laurel Brauns

Bend-La Pine Schools is no closer to opening its doors than it was in September. That has some local parents frustrated enough to take to the streets in protest, while simultaneously organizing an online effort to demand action from elected officials.

Local organizers Kelly Vlach and Indu Fairbanks of the Open Bend-La Pine Schools Facebook group joined forces with a statewide coalition of parent groups, called ED300. The coalition is pressuring elected officials to ease restrictions on in-person learning and to open schools by Jan. 6, according to a Nov. 9 press release from ED300. This is the first joint effort by tens of thousands of parents from all over Oregon, the release stated.

Jan. 6 marks the 300th day that the majority of Oregon’s 600,000 students have been forbidden to return to school buildings.

“We witnessed learning losses, technology failures, repercussions of no school-based activities, accessibility issues for students with disabilities, and significant mental and emotional health challenges for too many students,” the group wrote.

ED300 encouraged Gov. Kate Brown to remove the current barriers to building permits, using the money for affordable housing, Lynne McConnell, the city’s affordable housing manager, explained. Since then, the state has gone back and forth, first restricting new CETs altogether, then lifting the ban in 2016 with a host of restrictions and caveats for new residential CETs.

New CETs on commercial and industrial buildings don’t have the same restrictions from the state, McConnell explained. If the City decides to move forward with an additional tax on these structures, 50% of these funds could go toward supporting services for people without homes, and 100% of the new funds would stay within the City’s control.

An additional .17% CET on commercial and industrial buildings would raise and additional $299,000 a year, while an additional .33% would raise $581,000, and .67% would raise $1.2 million.

“While this is a trying time for our commercial center… We haven’t done the calculations yet, but we were expecting some bad, bad news when COVID first hit and it has turned out in a lot of ways to classroom learning and asked superintendents, school boards and lawmakers to engage with parent activists to implement a safe return to in-person learning and co-curricular activities.

The coalition also demanded the removal of county-level metrics and mandates from the state.

“We are out of alignment with 42 other states that have guidelines rather than mandates,” the statement read. “Oregon’s overly blunt mandates are prolonging closures and harming every age student, from early learners to high school students who need support in their journeys to higher education.”

The Oregon Department of Education and Gov. Brown did announce more county-level decision making when she laid out more relaxed reopening metrics Oct. 30. According to the new rules, school districts can begin opening elementary schools for in-person instruction once a county has fewer than 100 cases per 100,000 people, based on a two-week average. When the new ODE guidelines were first released, Deschutes County’s twoweek average for the week of Oct. 11 – Oct. 24 was 67.9 cases per 100,000.

But the county’s latest two-week average between Oct. 18 – Oct. 31 was 113.5 cases per 100,000, according to

By Cheri Helt not impact the City in the way we expected,” McConnell said. “Our construction activity is very steady and increasing.”

Last year, the City had approximately $75,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding that it could use for homelessness services, according to City Councilor Bruce Abernethy. The Central Oregon Veterans Village is a new community planned to provide local veterans transitional shelter and social services. Fifteen small structures will be built around a community center on the campus

The best practice for of the Deschutes County Adult Jail. This is one of the shelters. housing project for people experiencing Councilor Bill Moseley, who argued the homelessness is to have the funding for City should let the free market build housservices for them lined up before the build- ing. “I’m not in favor of re-allocating from ing is constructed, McConnell said, not- one group of people to another like this.” ing that the lack of long-term funding for Both Councilors Abernethy and Barb the transitional homelessness services has Campbell encouraged the City Council been a historical challenge across Oregon. to move forward with an ordinance for

Councilor Justin Livingston spoke a .33% additional commercial/industriagainst the levy, saying an additional tax al CET before the end of the year. King could “kill a project.” Instead, he suggested promised to have the language prethe City use money from the General Fund. pared for a first reading of the new law

“I’m opposed to all of the fees,” said by early December.

Parents Protest School Closure

Thousands of Oregon parents unite in an effort to re-open schools by Jan. 6

As local COVID-19 cases spike,

managing a successful

data from the Oregon Adobe Stock Health Authority published Nov. 2.

This spike dashed BLPS’ plans to reopen and invigorated some members of the Open Bend-La Pine Schools group. So far, it has 2,100 members. Its organizers led a demonstration Oct. 5 in front of the BLPS Adminis tration Building. Oregon is one of only eight states in the U.S. that has statewide COVID-19 metric mandates for school districts instead of recommendations. This

Like ED300, Vlach means students around the country have returned to the classroom. and Fairbanks encourage members to contact local, state and the dean of Brown University’s School federal leaders and pressure them to of Public Health, published in Edure-open schools. cation Week on Nov. 2: “There’s no

“While the latest news of not meet- doubt in my mind that schools need to ing metrics once again has been dis- be bolder than they’re being. There is appointing, our focus remains on a large mental health cost to children. advocating for our children’s safe And we know this is going to very subreturn to school,” Fairbanks told the stantially widen the achievement gap Source. “They have been out of the between wealthier/white students and classroom far too long at this point, poorer/students of color. and it’s just not acceptable.” “I’m not saying schools should nev-

The statewide parents’ coalition is er close. They probably should at some planning an upcoming rally at the Ore- point if things get really horrible. But gon State Capitol Building in Salem on the idea that schools should be the Nov. 16 from 4 to 6pm. first casualty, before casinos, bars, and

ED300 concluded its press release restaurants, in my mind defies logic,” with this quote from Dr. Ashish Jha, Jha said.