By Stacy Forster
April 27, 2008
Madison -- In Wisconsin, you can use your license plate to protect endangered resources, celebrate children, support golf and, soon, to promote organ donation.
Those causes are among the eight Wisconsin has designated with special fund-raising plates.
Although groups have lobbied hard for creation of the special plates, interest in many of them has been limited, meaning they don't always produce the fund-raising windfall anticipated.
"Many groups really think that they're going to get a large contribution and (that) this is a good way to do it. . . . They really need to think really carefully about what their market would be," said Carson Frazier, legislative liaison for the state Division of Motor Vehicles.
A standard design keeps costs down and eases law enforcement concerns, but organizations must still pay the cost of creating them.
In all, Wisconsin has about 75 different specialty license plates, most of which are intended solely to honor various groups, such as veterans or firefighters, according to the Division of Motor Vehicles. That's low compared with other states -- Maryland boasts more than 600, and South Carolina has 208, according to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.
Wisconsin's newest plate, available this fall, will promote organ donation, with proceeds going to Donate Life Wisconsin.
Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee), who helped create the organ donation plate, said she's more concerned about giving the issue greater visibility.
In addition to the standard registration fee -- $75 for cars -- drivers pay $15 for the plates the first time they're issued, plus an annual donation of $20 to $25, depending on the cause.
About 50,000 of the state's 5.3 million registered vehicles sport fund-raising plates, and only those benefiting endangered resources, available since 1995, and the Green Bay Packers, since 2001, are considered successful, Frazier said.
More than 18,260 vehicles have the endangered resources plate, bringing in nearly $466,000 in 2007, and about 17,130 drive with the Packers plate, garnering about $436,100 for Lambeau Field restoration, according to the state DOT.
The Donate Life plate must generate $43,200 before it becomes profitable, and the state projects first year sales of 500.
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