Work for Art raised $776,007 in its eighth annual campaign according to honorary chair Jeff Harvey, president and CEO of Burgerville. A total of 1,965 donors participated in the 2013-14 campaign, helping Work for Art surpass last year’s total by 2%. Harvey announced the results on Wednesday evening at a special reception at Portland Center Stage with 140 arts and business leaders in attendance.
“The money raised through Work for Art over the past 12 months will directly contribute to the quality, richness and fulfillment in our daily lives,” Harvey said. “More and more we measure our impact as companies and individuals in these broader terms. Work for Art and the RACC are important partners in this work, and we are grateful to everyone who supported the arts through this year’s campaign.”
The majority of Work for Art revenues (53%) come from workplace giving campaigns, including employee donations and corporate matching gifts. Portland General Electric raised the most money for the third year in a row, up 3% over last year for a total of $85,794; President and CEO Jim Piro accepted an award on the company’s behalf. For the fifth year in a row, Burgerville won an award for the highest employee participation, accepted by chief cultural officer Jack Graves.
Cambia Health Solutions received special recognition as the Best New Company, including a $50,000 contribution from the Regence Fund of The Oregon Community Foundation; Regence’s market president Angela Dowling accepted Cambia’s award. Portland Opera was acknowledged as the RACC-funded organization that raised the most money for the Work for Art Community Fund and the Arts Education Fund. A full 100% of the proceeds to these two funds are passed on to arts organizations in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington Counties through RACC’s existing competitive grant programs.
All of the top 15 campaigns were recognized on Wednesday evening. They include:
- Portland General Electric
- The Standard
- Cambia Health Solutions
- NW Natural
- Burgerville
- OHSU
- State of Oregon employees
- ZGF Architects
- KeyBank
- City of Portland employees
- Stoel Rives
- Multnomah County employees
- Metro employees
- Umpqua Bank
- Portland Timbers
Carole Morse, former president of the PGE Foundation, received special recognition (and a standing ovation) for role as a leading champion of Work for Art over the last eight years. Since 2006, Work for Art has raised a total of $5.4 million for the local arts community.
Although Work for Art is primarily a workplace giving program, anyone can participate by making a donation online at workforart.org. Donors who pledge $60 or more receive an Arts Card, which provides a full year of two-for-one tickets at hundreds of local arts events. All donations up to $5,000 are matched dollar-for-dollar by a matching challenge fund that last year included contributions from The City of Portland, Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington counties, The Regence Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation, the Portland Timbers, and KeyBank.
Participants are already gearing up for another big campaign in 2014-15, with a goal of raising $790,000 by June 30, 2015. Mike Golub, president of business operations for the Portland Timbers, will serve as Honorary Chair, with David Lofland, market president for KeyBank Oregon & Southwest Washington serving as Co-Chair. Company leaders who would like to conduct an employee giving campaign for the arts, or help contribute to the campaign in other ways, are invited to contact Kathryn Jackson, Work for Art Manager at 503-823-5424 or kjackson@racc.org.