WW’s 2010 Give!Guide

You must know a nonprofit that could stand to raise a few thousand extra bucks this year—or attract new volunteers. That's what WW's Give!Guide is all about: helping dozens of terrific organizations throughout the Portland area.

The 2010 Give!Guide effort starts now.

The Give!Guide website is up (wweek.com/giveguide) and ready to take applications from Portland-area nonprofits interested in participating in this fall's effort. The site also describes our process for picking participants. If you know of a worthy nonprofit, please make sure it applies by the deadline—midnight, July 31.

For those of you unfamiliar with this effort, Willamette Week started its Give!Guide in 2004. The primary goal was, and is, to develop a fierce annual-giving habit in readers under the age of 36.

Of course, we also want to provide as much support as we can for Portland's incredibly vibrant, hardworking nonprofit community.

Last year, more than 3,000 Willamette Week readers donated over $900,000 to 79 local nonprofits of all sizes in eight categories: Animals, Arts, Community, Education, Environment, Social Action, Wellness and Youth.

Besides getting the word out to nonprofits to apply, here's another way you can help.

The Give!Guide's special appeal is that it provides incentives to donors. This is a great way to thank our readers for their incredible generosity. It's also a great way for local businesses to show their community spirit—and to sample their wares and services to a very special audience.

If you've got something to throw in the Give!Guide incentives pot, please send me an email (rmeeker@wweek.com) and we'll do our best to showcase your generosity.

Surveys conducted for us by Momentum Market Intelligence show items like the following work best: haircuts and other beauty treatments, tickets to cultural and sporting events, food items (both in restaurants and in grocery stores; Stumptown Coffee Roasters has already stepped up with free drinks and beans); and anything that helps readers get around town.

Thank you,

Richard H. Meeker

WWeek 2015