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.
Hear us out! We truly love all three of our villages: Parkrose, Avalon and St. Andrews. @gathermakeshelter has contributed to the mural art on all three villages surrounding fences. We always say WeShine would not be WeShine without GatherMakeShelter! They JUST finished this stunning addition to Avalon’s fence mural and we are so charmed. They worked with our staff and villagers, their staff and volunteers and the wonderful new cohort of kiddos at @tivnu
Scroll through the cuteness.
@gathermakeshelter helps WeShine’s whole mission in aiding the discussion on who gets to live in uplifting and beautiful spaces. Why do we put in efforts to make our neighborhoods pretty and livable for EVERYONE? What kind of spaces do we want to bring our unhoused neighbors into?
Hit our link in bio to donate to WeShine through @giveguide !!
#gathermakeshelter #livingspaces #communityart
Can you believe it’s Big Give Day 8! Support our lovely community based neighborhood microvillages today! You have til midnight tonight to donate to win the Big Dinner Cruise Package! We are almost at 50% of our goal! Help us get to $25,000 by December 31st! Click our link in bio!
#willametteweekgiveguide #nonprofitgiving #alternativehomelessshelters
The vault closes on the @giveguide in 29 days! There are still more great Big Give Days on the way and December 10th is Big Dinner Cruise Day! Support WeShine through our link in bio on December 10th and you could be entered to win a fabulous dinner cruise on our beautiful Willamette River with @portlandspirit AND a night stay at the cool and swanky @thenineshotel
Have a very sweet Portland Experience by donating to a sweet non profit like WeShine!
#microvillageshelters #portlandnonprofit #endofyeargiving
In October we were lucky to get to tour The Nick Fish apartment complex on NE Halsey not too far from our Parkrose Village! Our good friends at @ourjustfuture have their central offices there! The stunning building is a great example of what community can mean when we create affordable and beautiful living spaces for ALL Portlanders no matter their income! In a perfect world we would not need homeless shelters; but working for more shelters AND low income housing are both part of the solution to homelessness. We love shouting out our @giveguide partners in the #home category and we value our relationship with Our Just Future!
#communitypartners #affordablehousing
Hey this was the cute day in October when our buddies from @ourjustfuture delivered our community meals (for our villagers) from our other buddies at @pdxstonesoup
It’s a 3 way of love for our non profit buddies in this year’s @giveguide! We will be shouting out Our Just Future more in the coming week♥️
We are having so much fun in this year’s Give!Guide especially because of the partnership aspect of the fundraising. We call it friendraising! We believe all of the nonprofits in the #giveguide are interconnected through our love of Portland, Community, Social Justice, Oregon and more!
#communitypartnership #portlandnonprofit
We are here til 7! Come see us at the Holiday Market at @adxportland with amazing food and crafts and our non profit buddies in this year’s @giveguide
Hurray for @forestparkconservancypdx @craglawcenter @1000oregon @orlandtrusts
At WeShine we believe our world is better with all people with all different bodies and abilities! Our St. Andrew’s Village hosts participants who are 45 years of age or older and folks of any age with physical disabilities! Happy #internationaldayforpersonswithdisabilities
#disabiltyawareness #unhousedneighbors
Check out our board members, volunteers and staff working hard in our sweet Central Office in the lovely @westprespdx Our Volunteers come in weekly to help send our thank you letters to our @giveguide donors!
We are also mailing out coffee, gift cards, cute keychains and stickers as a way to say “thanks” for everyone’s generosity this #givingseason
Click our link in bio to donate so we can send you a cute card and goodies OR check our website (in bio) for ways to volunteer
#officevibes #volunteering
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