Due to the coronavirus pandemic, our community events are on hiatus. You can still engage with our organization and our community through our community facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rewildportlandcommunity/
Monthly Hike
Once a month, on the second Sunday, we take our monthly supporters, volunteers, and staff out of the city and into the more wild places around the Portland area. Some of these trips are exploratory hikes, some are foraging adventures, and others are a combination of both. This is a great opportunity to socialize, learn more about the natural world, get out of the city and into the forest, and more. Details for the hikes are available to monthly supporters, volunteers, and staff only. To become a monthly supporter, go to our donate page. To become a volunteer, please see our volunteer opportunities page.
Lending Library
The Rewild Portland has a collection of over 500 titles that relate
to rewilding. The library is meant to be what we call a “social
library.” We hold regular “Read ins” and research days for people to
come together and collectively research topics of rewilding. This
library is available to monthly supporters and staff of Rewild Portland.
To become a monthly supporter, please see our donation page.
Rewild Portland is a mostly volunteer-run organization. We are
always looking to find more people who want to chip in and make our
mission come to life. We’ve grown a lot in the last year and are seeking
new and more volunteers! We have a variety of volunteer tasks, and
encourage people to help where they feel most inspired. If you are
interested, please attend a volunteer orientation. The volunteer
orientation is a time to familiarize yourself with our organization and
mission, learn about volunteer opportunities for the coming year, and
meet other volunteers and the Rewild Portland staff. It’s also a great
way to become more involved in the Rewild Portland community. We show
our appreciation for regular volunteers by offering free classes
specifically for them, as well as inviting them to come along on our
member hikes.
Teaching, facilitating, and assisting at our monthly Free Skills Series
Our Free Skills Series began with just a few friends hanging out in
the park. Now it involves 30–60 people (and even more projected for this
coming year) coming to learn more about the month’s topic. The growth
of this series is fantastic! It shows that more people are interested in
rewilding, more people are hearing about the community of rewilding in
Portland, and there are more opportunities for “social capital.”
However, with this growth comes the challenge of relating the
information in a way that retains quality. Last year Peter taught the
ivy basketry Free Skills Series class by himself, with more than 50
people in attendance. That was crazy! Although it worked out, that is
not our goal. We are seeking crafters, makers, teachers, and anyone who
would love to help us out with our Free Skills Series. We need people
who can act as greeters for new folks, assistants to teachers, teachers,
and volunteers who can simply facilitate the program with us.
Outreach
We consider outreach to mean educating the public about who we are
and what we do. We have four main outreach goals: documentation,
tabling, flyering, and social media.
Documentation means taking pictures and video of our
programs. We can then use these materials to create flyers, social
media campaigns, and more.
Tabling helps us get the word out about our programs
and is also an opportunity for education. Our table is full of examples
of the kinds of items that we teach people how to make, acting as a
sort of portable “museum” of ancestral technology. While tabling we
engage the public, telling people the histories and stories of each item
on the table.
Flyering is more of just the marketing aspect of our
organization. We want to let people know about our programs. To do
this, we put up posters and handbills in strategic locations around the
Portland area. With more volunteers, this takes much less time!
Social media helps us utilize the internet to
connect people to Rewild Portland. There is an irony to using digital
technology to get people to use it less, but this is the state of things
for most urban people. Social media assistance can be as simple as
sharing our Free Skills Series on your Facebook wall. It can also mean
helping us strategize a campaign.
Grant writing
We are always seeking professional grant writers to help us research and write grants.
Fundraising campaigns
Each year we run three major fundraising campaigns: a silent auction,
a membership drive, and an online fundraiser. We need help putting each
of these together. There are many moving parts and each campaign is
different and requires a different kind of help.
Silent Auction
This event requires many phone calls and e-mails soliciting donations
for the auction. We also seek out musicians to play and a speaker to
give a talk on a subject related to rewilding. Helping out at the event
is key!
Membership Drive
We are still in the process of reconfiguring how to make this work.
Online Fundraiser
Once a year we produce a video and do a Kickstarter-like fundraiser.
While our auction and member drive are driven to bring in local folks,
there are many people who want to help us from afar. This online
campaign helps us reach a larger audience of support. We need help
producing the video and researching places to promote it online.
Web and technical issues
The IT world is very expensive, so any help in this area is greatly appreciated.
Community Programs
COVID-19 UPDATE
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, our community events are on hiatus. You can still engage with our organization and our community through our community facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rewildportlandcommunity/
Monthly Hike
Once a month, on the second Sunday, we take our monthly supporters, volunteers, and staff out of the city and into the more wild places around the Portland area. Some of these trips are exploratory hikes, some are foraging adventures, and others are a combination of both. This is a great opportunity to socialize, learn more about the natural world, get out of the city and into the forest, and more. Details for the hikes are available to monthly supporters, volunteers, and staff only. To become a monthly supporter, go to our donate page. To become a volunteer, please see our volunteer opportunities page.
Lending Library
The Rewild Portland has a collection of over 500 titles that relate to rewilding. The library is meant to be what we call a “social library.” We hold regular “Read ins” and research days for people to come together and collectively research topics of rewilding. This library is available to monthly supporters and staff of Rewild Portland. To become a monthly supporter, please see our donation page.
To browse the titles in our library, go here: https://rewildportland.libib.com/
Volunteer Opportunities
Rewild Portland is a mostly volunteer-run organization. We are always looking to find more people who want to chip in and make our mission come to life. We’ve grown a lot in the last year and are seeking new and more volunteers! We have a variety of volunteer tasks, and encourage people to help where they feel most inspired. If you are interested, please attend a volunteer orientation. The volunteer orientation is a time to familiarize yourself with our organization and mission, learn about volunteer opportunities for the coming year, and meet other volunteers and the Rewild Portland staff. It’s also a great way to become more involved in the Rewild Portland community. We show our appreciation for regular volunteers by offering free classes specifically for them, as well as inviting them to come along on our member hikes.
Teaching, facilitating, and assisting at our monthly Free Skills Series
Our Free Skills Series began with just a few friends hanging out in the park. Now it involves 30–60 people (and even more projected for this coming year) coming to learn more about the month’s topic. The growth of this series is fantastic! It shows that more people are interested in rewilding, more people are hearing about the community of rewilding in Portland, and there are more opportunities for “social capital.” However, with this growth comes the challenge of relating the information in a way that retains quality. Last year Peter taught the ivy basketry Free Skills Series class by himself, with more than 50 people in attendance. That was crazy! Although it worked out, that is not our goal. We are seeking crafters, makers, teachers, and anyone who would love to help us out with our Free Skills Series. We need people who can act as greeters for new folks, assistants to teachers, teachers, and volunteers who can simply facilitate the program with us.
Outreach
We consider outreach to mean educating the public about who we are and what we do. We have four main outreach goals: documentation, tabling, flyering, and social media.
Documentation means taking pictures and video of our programs. We can then use these materials to create flyers, social media campaigns, and more.
Tabling helps us get the word out about our programs and is also an opportunity for education. Our table is full of examples of the kinds of items that we teach people how to make, acting as a sort of portable “museum” of ancestral technology. While tabling we engage the public, telling people the histories and stories of each item on the table.
Flyering is more of just the marketing aspect of our organization. We want to let people know about our programs. To do this, we put up posters and handbills in strategic locations around the Portland area. With more volunteers, this takes much less time!
Social media helps us utilize the internet to connect people to Rewild Portland. There is an irony to using digital technology to get people to use it less, but this is the state of things for most urban people. Social media assistance can be as simple as sharing our Free Skills Series on your Facebook wall. It can also mean helping us strategize a campaign.
Grant writing
We are always seeking professional grant writers to help us research and write grants.
Fundraising campaigns
Each year we run three major fundraising campaigns: a silent auction, a membership drive, and an online fundraiser. We need help putting each of these together. There are many moving parts and each campaign is different and requires a different kind of help.
Silent Auction
This event requires many phone calls and e-mails soliciting donations for the auction. We also seek out musicians to play and a speaker to give a talk on a subject related to rewilding. Helping out at the event is key!
Membership Drive
We are still in the process of reconfiguring how to make this work.
Online Fundraiser
Once a year we produce a video and do a Kickstarter-like fundraiser. While our auction and member drive are driven to bring in local folks, there are many people who want to help us from afar. This online campaign helps us reach a larger audience of support. We need help producing the video and researching places to promote it online.
Web and technical issues
The IT world is very expensive, so any help in this area is greatly appreciated.