Vacasa Launches Home for the Holidays Campaign to Help Combat Homelessness in Portland

November 9, 2016

Portland, Ore. Nov. 9, 2016 — Vacasa, the technology-enabled vacation rental company, today launches its first annual Home for the Holidays campaign to help fight homelessness in its headquarters hometown of Portland, Oregon. The campaign will run through Thanksgiving weekend and benefit Central City Concern, a Portland-based nonprofit organization dedicated to providing pathways to self-sufficiency through active intervention in poverty and homelessness.

As part of Home for the Holidays, Vacasa asks its Oregon-based vacation rental owners to donate $100 from their Thanksgiving weekend revenue -- traditionally one of the busiest of the year. Vacasa will match each donation with a goal of raising $50,000 for Central City Concern to help provide long-term housing to displaced residents during the holidays and beyond.

“We are proud to collaborate with Central City Concern, one of Portland’s longest-standing and most trusted organizations, to make a difference in the lives of the people in our community,” says Vacasa co-founder and Chief Development Officer, Cliff Johnson. “Homelessness is a major and complex issue in Portland, and we feel fortunate to be able to give back to the community where many of us live and work.”

Founded over a Northwest Portland kitchen table in 2009, Vacasa now employs more than 300 people from its Pearl District headquarters, as well as an additional 1,100 employees across the U.S., Europe and Latin America. The majority of its Portland-based staff focuses on marketing, engineering, corporate development, customer support and more. 

“Vacasa’s support of Central City Concern means so much in the furtherance of our mission,” says Central City Concern Executive Director Ed Blackburn, M.A. “We will use the donation to support direct access to housing, integrated healthcare services, and employment and social services.”
HomeAway, an Expedia company; Elemental Technologies, an Amazon Web Services (AWS) company; JLL; and SellPDX, a Keller Williams company, also join Vacasa in support of the cause and will donate a combined $20,000 to the initiative. Employees and other interested parties may also donate through the campaign’s GoFundMe platform.

To learn more about the campaign, or to make a donation, please visit https://www.vacasa.com/home-for-the-holidays/. 

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About Vacasa

Vacasa is the fast-growing technology-enabled full-service vacation rental company. Leveraging proprietary technology, Vacasa drives revenue for homeowners and provides a seamless experience for guests. Founded in 2009 and based in Portland, Oregon, Vacasa manages a growing portfolio of more than 4,100 vacation homes in the U.S., Europe and Latin America. In seven years, Vacasa has grown from two to more than 1,400 employees, has been honored as the Oregon Better Business Bureau Large Business of the Year and was ranked ninth on the Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies list. For more information, visit https://www.vacasa.com/.