The Cultural Trust–One of Oregon’s Best Kept Secrets!

 With the memory of April 15th fresh in your mind, it’s a good time to start your 2013 tax planning.  Many individuals make charitable contributions to local arts, heritage, and humanities organizations.  How would you like to increase your support for these important organizations—at no cost to you?  You can—through the Oregon Cultural Trust!

The Oregon Cultural Trust (OCT), a program unique to Oregon, was created by the State Legislature to promote our cultural resources.  In 2001, the Legislature authorized a 100% tax credit for residents donating to the OCT.  The OCT returns these donated monies to local communities in the form of grants from the Trust and its local affiliates such as the Jackson County Cultural Coalition.

Since the tax credit’s inception, Jackson County organizations have received almost $500,000 in grants for programs ranging from art and music enrichment activities, to health and fitness training, to preserving and sharing local history, to encouraging beginning readers to develop a lifelong love of learning.  Jacksonville has seen funding for Britt Festivals, the Britt Gardens restoration, the historic Catholic Rectory’s new roof, and repairs to the historic Beekman House.  Grants have also gone to the Shakespeare Festival, the Film Festival, the Youth Symphony, the Rogue Valley Symphony and Chorale, Ballet Folklorico, SOHS, SMART, the YMCA, Kids Unlimited, CASA of Jackson County and more—65 organizations in all.

These funds provide employment, augment scarce resources, generate additional revenue for the economy, and help create income that allows recipient organizations to survive and thrive.  Economists also argue that such support for arts and culture adds to our capacity for long-term growth, contributes to a desirable quality of life, and creates valuable social bonds.  In short, Jackson County, Jacksonville, and its cultural organizations benefit from the Cultural Trust tax credit, and you and every other resident benefit from our region’s cultural assets.

Here’s how the OCT tax credit works.  If you give as little as ten dollars ($10) to one or more of the registered 1300+ 501(c)(3) cultural organizations and donate a matching amount to the OCT, you can deduct your Cultural Trust donation from the amount you owe the State in taxes up to a maximum of $500 per individual—whether or not you itemize!.  In other words, your OCT donation costs you nothing!  Moreover, it may come back to the community in the form of a grant.

BUT—and it’s a BIG BUT—the OCT tax credit is scheduled to expire at the end of 2013.  You can take advantage of it during 2013, but we could all lose its future benefit.  The Legislature is currently deciding on whether or not to renew this legislation.

You can insure that we continue to benefit from this tax credit and that this funding source continues to be available to our cultural organizations.  Just make a phone call, send an e-mail, or write a letter to our legislators saying “please renew the Cultural Trust Tax Credit.”  To make it even easier, here’s the contact information:

Senator Alan Bates, 503-986-1703, Sen.AlanBates@state.or.us, 900 Court St NE, S-205, Salem, OR, 97301

Senator Herman Baertschiger, 503-986-1702, Sen.HermanBaertschiger@state.or.us, 900 Court St NE, S-403, Salem, OR, 97301  

Representative Peter Buckley, 503-986-1405, Rep.PeterBuckley@state.or.us, 900 Court St NE, H-272, Salem, OR, 97301

Representative Dennis Richardson, 503-986-1404, Rep.DennisRichardson@state.or.us, 900 Court St NE, H-373, Salem, OR, 97301

Representative Sal Esquival, 503-986-1406, Rep.SalEsquivel@state.or.us, 900 Court St NE, H-483, Salem, OR, 97301

 The Oregon Cultural Trust has had an impact on so many lives.  Our legislators pay attention to their electorate.   If they hear you—their voters—asking them to renew the Cultural Trust legislation, then they will be more inclined to do so, and we will all benefit!