About Us

It’s On Us Corvallis was created to retain local dollars the most impactful way - by retaining local jobs. It’s an economics concept called Local Multiplier Effect. Rather than gifting meals or cash to folks who have lost their food service job, we hoped to help retain local employment opportunities and lessen the economic impact for people and families. The idea is to solve two problems with one program. 

The mission of IOU Corvallis is to build community and help the local economy through food. This program is not intended to be used as an emergency food program for individuals experiencing food insecurity or other symptoms of poverty. We know there are many other resources in Corvallis for folk who are experiencing food insecurity to obtain food resources. 

IOU Corvallis is a community-building program with a food access side-effect. We intend to create a feeling of community support through gifting and supporting our local businesses to retain paid workers. A strong community gives freely and seeks support when needed. We hope to work toward such a strong community. 

We don't think we can judge if someone is in need and we don't want to be the judge of some else's level of need. We don’t agree with existing measurements of need because we don't think they fully account for individuals' unique experience. Other food-aid programs use need proxies like low income, hours worked, or housing status to determine need. We don’t think there is a way to measure the need for a gift and we encourage anyone who wants a gift to ask for one from IOU Corvallis - and pay it forward when they are able. 

IOU Corvallis makes an effort to support restaurants that reflect the diversity of our donor base in ownership and cuisines. We work closely with Kuto to prioritize the inclusion of first-generation immigrant, women, and minority-owned restaurants in Benton County. 

Sometimes we need a regular customer or community member who knows the owner already to explain the concept first.