By Christian Smith

Do you like lattes, or charities? Or both? Then you should know that Corvallis’ own Sunnyside Up Café is making radical moves to breathe life into local community commerce. According to their fundraising page on Indiegogo.com, “Everyone knows capitalism is broken,” and we should “occupy everything.”

Bold words from a bold man: Jon Gold, owner and proprietor of Sunnyside Up, is attempting to turn his restaurant into a charitable nonprofit. The end result will include all proceeds from the café going straight to charitable entities such as the South Corvallis Food Bank and Community Outreach.

A noble ideal indeed, this plan cuts out the middlemen and gives customers the peace of mind that they’re helping those in need. To get his plan to come to fruition, Gold has created a crowd-funding page at Indiegogo.com asking for a whopping $225,000.

With less than 20 days left to go (the fundraiser closes on Jan. 31), the campaign has raised $1,810 and needs to receive about $11,000 daily in public donations to reach its goal. Like many crowd-funding campaigns, there are rewards for donors. For Sunnyside Up’s campaign, $50 gets you a free latte, and $1,000 grants a full board of directors seat (there are six seats left). Board members are given a free meal and beverage at every meeting.

If you are interested in contributing to the cause, visit the Indiegogo page at www.indiegogo.com/projects/community-commerce.