Great missions don't always sell themselves. The right telling does.
Most Portlanders had never heard of a furniture bank — let alone understood why it mattered. This, in a city that's home to the largest furniture bank in the country. When an EPA grant arrived with a requirement to increase donations by 50% in three years, Community Warehouse needed more than awareness. They needed a story people could feel.
Finding the Story.
Audience research told us people were moved by the mission once it was explained to them, but confused by how it was being told. What resonated: local impact. Helping neighbors next door. We built a messaging platform around one idea — when you donate to Community Warehouse, someone's life actually changes. Concretely, tangibly, quickly.
Poison Waters
Trusted messengers, not traditional influencers.
Portland doesn't respond to cookie-cutter influencer campaigns — so we didn't run one. Research told us that messages delivered through trusted, familiar community voices would land differently. So we identified three: a celebrated visual artist, a beloved drag queen, and a millennial community figure — each selected to reach a specific audience with a specific message.
Lisa Congdon
Poison Waters showed up in full drag inside the warehouse. Lisa Congdon illustrated an original piece of art for the campaign — limited prints sold for $50. This was Portland talking to Portland. And it cut through.
Candace Molatore
Bolstering the budget with a PR-led integrated campaign.
When building trust with a local community, PR needs to lead. So we built a campaign where creative, media, and earned coverage worked together. Paid media drove targeted conversions. A sponsored KOIN-TV partnership built broad awareness, with bonus media exceeding 60% of the original buy. And PR was the engine — features in the Oregonian, Portland Business Journal, and Forbes shined a light on the 'furniture gap,' a hidden crisis affecting Portland families, and how a local furniture bank — and everyday donations — can help solve it.
Exceeding goals one year ahead of schedule.
The results told one story. The shift in community energy told another. Greater understanding of the mission. Stronger engagement. A growing sense of excitement — the kind that brings in organic partnerships and earned media without being asked. Donations are up 50%. The goal was three years. They got there in one.
The story didn't stay local for long. Earned features put the ‘furniture gap’ — and the furniture bank solving it — in front of readers and viewers across Portland and the country.
