Your Support Builds Hope and Homes
Every donation helps WeShine create safe, welcoming micro-villages where Portland’s unhoused adults can heal, rebuild confidence, and transition to permanent housing. Together, we’re turning compassion into lasting community change.
Willamette Week’s Give!Guide is one of Oregon’s most effective and accessible ways to support local nonprofits during the giving season. Each year, this grassroots campaign brings the community together to raise millions for organizations that uplift and strengthen Portland. Since its launch in 2004, Give!Guide has generated more than $73 million for 550+ nonprofits across the region—fueling everything from housing and health services to arts, education, and community care.
Give!Guide doesn’t just raise money—it raises awareness and makes giving simple, transparent, and fun. The campaign encourages community-wide generosity, attracts younger donors, and partners with local businesses to boost contributions through incentives and matching gifts.
Last year, Give!Guide raised $8.8 million for 250 nonprofits across Portland. This year’s goal is even bigger: $9 million for 275 organizations. When you give to WeShine through Give!Guide, you join a city-wide movement that expands safe micro-villages and supports unhoused neighbors with dignity and stability.
Choose your way to give below and help build a more compassionate Portland.
Together, We Shine
Mission
WeShine designs, builds, and operates neighborhood-based micro villages that provide safe, transitional shelter with wrap-around services for Portland’s underserved, unsheltered adults as they prepare to become successful tenants in permanent, affordable housing.
Bottom Line for Portland
WeShine stands for Welcoming, Empowering, Safe Habitation Initiative with Neighborhood Engagement.
Our model is rooted in the value of community, which restores self-esteem and heals the trauma that results from life on the streets. Guests experience peer support and are connected with services. This supportive service model leads to success that is nearly impossible when living outside.
Our vision is to create a network of micro villages based on this model, and provide vulnerable adults with a path to permanent housing.
Quote
“I don’t even really feel like we are in a shelter anymore. I feel like more of a community. I did not know how important that was until I saw the other side of it”. N (WeShine Villager)
Give & Get Rewarded.
Give, shine, and celebrate! Every donation to WeShine during Give!Guide helps our neighbors thrive — and comes with exclusive rewards from generous local sponsors.
Incentives
- Every donor gets a cute vinyl WeShine sticker.
- Any donation between $50 and $100 will get a WeShine key chain.
- First 10 donors 35 and under will get a Subway Gift Card.
- First 10 donations of $30 or more on Big Drinks Day will get a Starbucks Gift Card.
- Donations of $50 or more get a free bag of coffee from Portland Coffee Roasters (while supplies last!)
- First donations of $100 will be matched by 2 generous private individuals.
- Our first donor over $50 during Animals Category Week will receive a gift basket of dog or cat supplies from TreBone Pet Supplies.
- 3 $500 dollar donations will be matched by Integrus Architecture, Scheller Financial, and Shiels Oblezt Johnsen.
- Donor over $200 on Giving Tuesday/Big Blazers Day gets a $75 Gift Card to Gado Gado Indonesian Restaurant.
- First donor under 35 on Big Relaxing Day gets $150 off Laser Hair Removal at Laser Babes!
- Two donors of $50 or more on Big Drinks Day will receive a $25 gift card to Blackbird Wine Shop.
- $100 donation on Big Relaxing Day will get a $40 gift card to Living Room Wines.
- Donor under 35 on Big Groceries Day will get a gift card to Ps and Qs Cafe.
- Donor under 35 on Big Cruise Day will get a gift card to My Vice Food and Spirits.
- $50 donation during Creative Expression week will receive two tickets to a Portland Center Stage production and two free drinks!
Giveguide Events
A Special Thank You to Our Give! Guide PArtners
Support WeShine Through Give!Guide 2025
Join Portland’s most inspiring giving tradition and help build safe, supportive micro-villages for our unhoused neighbors. This year, WeShine is proud to be featured in Willamette Week’s Give!Guide—a citywide campaign that makes giving easy and impactful.
How to Give:
01
Make a One-Time Gift That Changes Lives
Today, we invite you to make a donation and become a part of this transformative story. Together, we can overcome the systemic barriers to housing that limit our community’s potential.
02
Become a Sustaining Donor
Recurring gifts provide reliable funding that helps WeShine grow, maintain, and improve the micro-village communities we serve.
03
Mail a Check to Support Our Micro-Villages
If mailing your gift feels most comfortable, your contribution will still make a powerful difference in supporting WeShine’s mission.
WeShine Anthem 2025
How much would you like to donate today?
Donations
You can make a difference
At WeShine, we believe that everyone in our community deserves access to a place to call home and the opportunity to write their own unique and powerful story.
Today, we invite you to make a donation and become a part of this transformative story. Together, we can overcome the systemic barriers to housing that limit our community’s potential.
There are many ways to support WeShine:
- Make a one-time donation
- Mail a check
- Become a Monthly Sustainer
- Through a Donor Advised Fund (DAF)
- Contribute from an IRA (Required Minimum Distribution)
Please make your check payable to WeShine Initiative Inc. and mail it to:
3539 NE Sandy Blvd #525,
Portland, OR 97232
Frequently Asked Questions
Is my donation tax-deductible?
Yes. WeShine is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and all donations made through our website or through Give!Guide are fully tax-deductible as allowed by law. After donating, you’ll receive an emailed receipt you can use for your tax records.
How do I know my donation is being used responsibly?
WeShine is committed to transparency and responsible stewardship of every dollar. Donations directly support micro-village operations, resident services, basic needs, and essential supplies. We regularly share updates, financial reporting, and impact summaries so you can clearly see the difference your gift is making.
Is it safe to donate online?
Yes. Our donation platforms, including Give!Guide, use secure, encrypted payment processing to protect your personal and financial information.
Can I donate by check instead of online?
Absolutely. Many supporters prefer to give by mail, and WeShine welcomes check donations. Mailing a check is a secure option, and it ensures your full contribution goes directly to supporting our micro-villages. Instructions for mailing a check are provided in the “Donations” section.
We are overjoyed to help spread the word about this amazing exhibition at @steloarts by our friends at @humansforhousingorg Please come join us at the grand opening of @dearportlandexhibit on February 7th from 11-3! There will be donuts, music, coffee and more! There is a link to RSVP in our bio!
#homelessnessinpdx #unhousedneighbors #humansforhousing #portlandoregon #weshinepdx
His words still ring true. We are grateful to have the access to Martin Luther King Jr’s words preserved for us and we are grounded in the messages he gave. At WeShine we know that there are policies that harm our unhoused neighbors and increase homelessness in our city! We strive for change and healing.
#drking #mlk #unhousedneighbors #portlandoregon #solvinghomelessness
Our 3rd issue of The Village View is out now! Click our link in bio to read it and sign up to receive it quarterly in your inbox! In this issue we report on our amazing year in fundraising, the Belonging Study we conducted with past and currant villagers and how to join our new Bright Circle of donors! And we highlight Jan’s article on “Making Sense of Our Continuing Homelessness Crisis”.
When you join our mailing list we invite you into our WeShine community. We all care about our unhoused neighbors, getting updates from WeShine helps us to feel like we are part of a solution!
#solutionstohomelessness #unhousedneighbors #portlandoregon #weshinepdx #portlandnonprofit
We are so giddy to start 2026 with such full hearts! We smashed our fundraising goal for the 2025 @giveguide
and we could not have done it without our business sponsors! They donated matching grants and gift cards for incentives to help us encourage folks to donate! We love you all and you are now officially a part of our WeShine family!
@laserbabespdx @psandqsmarket @myvicepdx @gadogadopdx @livingroomwinespdx @blackbirdwineshop @trebonepdx @portlandcenterstage and special thanks to @portlandcoffeeroasters for 48 Bags of Coffee!
Also thanks to @integrusarchitecture Scheller Financial Services, @shielsobletzjohnsen and private donors who gave matching grants!
We ran an awesome campaign together!
#fundraisingforacause #communitysupport #unhousedneighbors
Happy New Year to our amazing non profit partners in this year’s @giveguide !! @pdxstonesoup @artswatch @1000oregon @animalaidpdx @ourjustfuture Congratulations you all smashed your Give Guide goals! The Willamette Week Give Guide is an awesome way for non profits to come together and support each other to spread awareness and raise needed funds for our community! Can’t wait til next year!
@willametteweek
#giveguide #nonprofits #portlandoregon
Become one with WeShine before midnight tonight! Our donors are part of our community of volunteers, staff, board members, neighbors, business partners who make WeShine shine! We shine brightest together!
We are also still giving away coffee to any donation over $50!
@giveguide
#unhousedneighbors #portlandhomelessness #willametteweekgiveguide
Help us reach our goal by midnight on New Year’s Eve! You become part of the solution to homelessness when you support WeShine in this year’s @giveguide
Our unhoused neighbors deserve dignity, warmth, safety, and community to heal from the trauma of being on the streets. WeShine microvillages help folks heal. Our amazing staff work with them for up to two years to gain readiness to be permanently housed!
Help us help them! Click our donate link in bio!
#housing #alternativeshelters #giveguide
The 2025 @willametteweek @giveguide is ALMOST over! 😭😭😭😭😭
Contribute to @weshinepdx before midnight on December 31st! We want to reach our $25,000 and turn that support from you right into supporting your unhoused neighbors at our microvillages! We love our staff, villagers, volunteers, partners and of course YOU! If you are reading this you are a part of our community!
🎉🥳🎊
#endofyeardonation #giveguide #unhousedneighbors
Newsletter
Subscribe to our quarterly newsletter, The Village View. Read the latest edition below, and sign up here to get the next one in your inbox. The Village View highlights recent happenings in our current villages, exciting announcements, articles by staff on homelessness issues in our region, engaging stories about the folks we serve and more. Sign up today!
Let’s Connect
Mailing address
WeShine
3539 NE Sandy Blvd #525,
Portland, OR 97232