Incorporation

The Orbis Cascade Alliance began conducting business as a nonprofit corporation on February 1st, 2011.

For 17 years the Alliance functioned as part of the University of Oregon.

Final Documents

Overview & Motivation

The Orbis Cascade Alliance and its predecessor organizations have served nonprofit college and university libraries in Oregon and Washington since in the early 1990’s. Originally organized as an unincorporated association, the Alliance’s home and fiscal agent is the University of Oregon, with a MOU between UO and each member serving as the legal basis for the consortium. This membership MOU was approved by the Oregon Department of Justice in 1993 and a revised version of this document was approved by the Attorney General Office in Oregon and Washington and signed by all members in 2003.

While functioning as an unincorporated association served the Alliance well for more than 15 years, the consortium added many members and programs in the intervening years. A small project with a small budget serving Oregon public universities grew to become an internationally known consortium with eight staff, 37 members, more than 200 non-members served in seven states. Beyond questions of scale and efficiency, motivations for incorporation included the desire to make it possible for the Alliance to own assets, including collections and intellectual property.

The move to incorporation is the latest evolutionary step for an organization that has always carefully tended to its financial health and legal foundation while moving ahead with great ambition. Although incorporation brings some important changes, the services, strategic agenda, mission, and principal players remain the same.

Personnel Involved in Incorporation

Executive Committee (FY10)

  • Dalia Corkrum, Chair
  • Drew Harrington, Chair-Elect
  • Deborah B. Dancik, Past-Chair
  • Victoria Hanawalt, Member at Large
  • Donna Reed, Member at Large
  • Helen H. Spalding, Member at Large
  • Jay Starratt, Member at Large
  • John F. Helmer, Executive Director

Legal Counsel

Terrence R. Pancoast Stoel Rives LLP