Organic Consumers Association

What is the Organic Consumers

Association? • online and non-profit public interest organization• deals with crucial issues

• food safety• industrial culture • genetic engineering • children’s health • corporate accountability • Fair Trade • environmental sustainability

• represents over 2,000,000 members, subscribers, supporters, and volunteers• campaigns for health, justice, and sustainability

How It Started • formed in 1998 • headquarters: Finland, Minnesota

• Ronnie Cummins • co-founder and national director • writer and activist

• organic consumers vs. U.S. Department of Agriculture • controversial proposed national regulations

Plans and Actions • preserve standards • challenge and inspire to “Buy Local, Organic, and Fair Made” • more organics • conservation practices and renewable energy• allies with organic consumers, farmers, and other organizations

• Grassroots Network – Organic Consumers Fund • strengthen legislation related to organics, genetic engineering, sustainable agriculture and other food safety and sustainability issues

Campaigns

Save the Bees Campaign

Promote buying foods that are produced and grown without the use of harmful pesticides

Against use of harmful pesticides such as neonicotinoid and glyphosate  

*Use of the pesticides has supposedly been linked to the causation of Collony Collapse Disorder (CCD)

Clothes for a Change Campaign

promote use of organic cotton in clothing

against the use of cotton that's been genetically engineered

against workers having to work in sweatshops in order to produce clothing and other materials

promote fair labor

Protest Starbucks Campaign

Promote selling of Fair Trade products such coffee and chocolate

Promote use of organic milk

Starbucks company has gotten their milk from companies who treat the cows cruelly. The Protest Starbucks campaign has tried to persuade the Starbucks company into having more animal friendly practices.

Mad COW USA

Promotes testing of all cattle who are about to become slaughtered

Against the feeding of animals blood and waste products

Mad cow disease is a disease of the cow's neurological system (Brain). If contracted, it can cause emotional instability, memory loss, severe dementia, and death. it can be passed among both animals and humans.

Working Projects

Fair World Project Est. in 2010 as a branch of the OCA

Promotes fair trade, labor justice, sweat free clothing, and family scale farming.

Works to benefit all classes of people who work in the area of produce.

Pressures big companies into improving their sourcing and labor practices.

Organic Retail and Consumer Alliance (O.R.C.A.)

Aids food producers, retailers, and other such groups in the move towards organic produce.

Helps organizations educate their consumers by including labeling that explains the differences between natural foods and organic foods.

Hopes to increase the amount of organic food sales from $30 billion a year to $60 billion a year.

Vía Orgánica

Non-profit organization based in Mexico to promote good nutrition with organic agriculture.

They also focus on promoting fair trade and a heavy emphasis on protecting the planet.

Donations to Organic Consumers

Association

There Are Many Ways You Can Support OCA’s Work

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is a grassroots 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization. They rely heavily on individual contributions in order to educate and advocate on behalf of more than a million consumers.

About 80 percent of their funding comes from people like us, who believe that they must organize millions of people to resist the corporate takeover of their food and farming systems, and hold politicians and government agencies accountable for decisions and policies that affect our health, and the health of our ecosystem.

One time donation

There are three easy ways to make a one-time, tax-deductible donation to OCA.

 Donate online

 Mail your check to:The Organic Consumers Association6771 South Silver Hill DriveFinland, MN, 55603

 Call their office:218-226-4164

Monthly recurring donation

When you set up a recurring monthly donation, you help provide valuable, predictable and sustained funding for the campaigns they wage on your behalf.

Recurring monthly donations also help you budget your support of OCA, by allowing you to break up a single donation into monthly increments. Because it’s automated, you can set up the monthly donation, for as many months as you like, and not have to think about it again.

To make a recurring monthly donation, go to the online donation page.

Under “Domation Amount” select “Recurring Contribution” then follow the instructions

Or you can just call the office and someone will help you

Gifts of stock

Do you own stocks, bonds, or mutual funds that you'd like to convert, but you don't want to pay capital gains tax on the appreciation?  

Giving non-cash property enables you to help OCA while conserving your cash for other uses. Plus, you may gain greater tax savings than you would if you made an equivalent donation of cash.

Bequests

As you plan for the future of your family, please consider providing for the future of OCA’s work as well.

It's easy to leave a bequest of any specific dollar amount, or a percentage of your estate, by including the proper language in your will. Here’s some sample language you can adapt:

“I give and bequeath ____ percent (or a specific amount) of my residuary estate to the Organic Consumers Association, a Minnesota 501c(3) non-profit corporation, to be used by it for its general and campaign purposes.”Or

“I give and bequeath ____ percent (or a specific amount) of my residuary estate to the Organic Consumers Association, a Minnesota 501c(3) non-profit corporation, to be used by it for its general and campaign purposes. Specifically, the bequest shall be used to support the _________ Campaign.”

Donor-Advised funds

A donor-advised fund allows you to make a charitable contribution, receive an immediate tax benefit and then recommend grants from the fund over time. They work a lot like a charitable savings account.  Often they can be set up with as little as $1,000 or $5,000.

There are about 30 national organizations that sponsor donor-advised funds. Some are the charitable arm of for-profit financial services institutions such as the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, the Schwab Charitable, and the Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program. Others are independent sponsoring organizations such as the National Philanthropic Trust and the American Endowment Foundation.

Community foundations

Community foundations make grants to a wide variety of charitable causes. People make donations through their community foundations

There are nearly 700 community foundations in the United States. Contact your local community foundation to learn how you can make a donor-advised contribution to OCA.

Endowment

Every nonprofit struggles with operational costs and how to remain sustainable from year to year. You can help permanently support OCA by making an endowment gift.

Endowment funds are managed to grow steadily over time. Each year, some of the earnings from the funds are distributed. Over time, an endowment helps us count on steady funding to meet our budget expenses.

Charitable remainder trust

Many families use charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) to increase their incomes, save taxes and benefit charities.

A CRT lets you convert a highly appreciated asset (like stock or real estate) into lifetime income. It reduces your income taxes now and estate taxes when you die. You pay no capital gains tax when the asset is sold. And it lets you help one or more charities that have special meaning to you.

Here’s how it works. You transfer an appreciated asset into an irrevocable trust. This removes the asset from your estate, so no estate taxes will be due on it when you die. You also receive an immediate charitable income tax deduction.

The trustee then sells the asset at full market value, paying no capital gains tax, and re-invests the proceeds in income-producing assets. For the rest of your life, the trust pays you an income. When you die, the remaining trust assets go to the charities you have chosen. That's why it's called a charitable remainder trust.

Consult your financial advisor or accountant if you would like to donate to OCA through a CRT.

Sources https://www.organicconsumers.org/about-oca https://www.organicconsumers.org/staff http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopic

s/organic.html https://www.organicconsumers.org/staff https://www.organicconsumers.org/campaigns https://www.organicconsumers.org/projects https://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50865/p/salsa/donatio

n/common/public/?donate_page_KEY=10174 https://www.organicconsumers.org/other-ways-donate http://fairworldproject.org/about/mission-and-goals/ http://oca-orca.org/about/ http://viaorganica.org/