As a certified B-Corporation, Mad Fish Digital is committed to always finding new ways to lift others up. One of our favorite ways to do so is through Mad Fish Gives, our pro-bono partnership program. Through partnerships with nonprofits in Portland and beyond, we’re helping organizations doing good work further their goals through digital marketing.
A Mad Fish Gives partner since July 2021, Quest Center for Integrative Health provides a variety of community health services in the Portland area, specifically focusing on the HIV positive and LGBTQIA+ community. MFD has been honored to work alongside Quest as they’ve navigated how to use digital media to connect with clients, donors, and their community.
We had a chance to chat with Jonah Levine and Kate Zipse from Quest’s team to learn more about their work and what’s next!
Tell us about the work that you do at Quest Center.
Quest’s DevCom (Development and Communications) department has a wide range of responsibilities that can morph over time. Traditionally we are responsible for overseeing all of the fundraising efforts, community events, website, and social media. Fundraising at Quest takes the shape of grant writing to both community foundations and government entities (such as the Oregon Health Authority and Multnomah County to name a couple). Every October we hold an annual fundraiser at The Evergreen in SE Portland, hosted by the fabulous drag queen Poison Waters. We also create online appeals at different times of year. We recently raised $8,000 through an online appeal for our new kitchen, and we are planning another this year to raise funds for a mural on our new building.
On the communications side, we are involved in community events like Pride Parade, AIDS Walk, and our own Community Day, a day of fun, educational activities and free food and ice cream in our parking lot.
What have been some of the challenges Quest has had to overcome during the pandemic?
As with everyone else, Quest has had to overcome some significant hurdles during the pandemic. The hardest hits have been our in-person medical services such as acupuncture and nutrition. Additionally, mental health groups had to immediately cease due to the need to social distance. However, we quickly and successfully transitioned 80% of our programming to telehealth services during the height of the pandemic. Mental health services all switched over to Zoom, which provided our clients in isolation access to the care they needed.
We got creative too! – Our weekly Community Nutrition Night, which is a free meal provided to all community members, transformed into a socially distanced grocery delivery service. In the early days of the pandemic, we were able to secure Small Business Administration (SBA) loans and funding from the Oregon Health Authority, the Collins Foundation, and many other supporters that allowed us to continue to serve the community during the pandemic.
What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
Working with the people at Quest. There is such an awesome wealth of life experience found in the people there. I truly appreciate working with people who come from so many different backgrounds and never cease to give back to members of our community who experience marginalization for a plethora of reasons. It is truly impressive to me what our providers do at Quest.
It’s been especially challenging these past couple of years being so separated from everyone. In DevCom, we are innately separated from people because we are not service providers, so the pandemic only widened that separation. But when we get to hear the stories about the work being done for our community members and feel like we get to support those efforts, there are great rewards there.
What are you looking forward to most this year?
Quest Community Day! It will be held May 21st, in our parking lot. Everyone is welcome and it is totally free. There will be a plant swap, food, ice cream, games, book raffle, music, and more. It’s great because it feels like the one day we get to put on an event that is just about having fun with our community.
Anything else you want to add?
Again, shout out to Jeanette and her team for everything they have done to support Quest! A true pleasure to work with the Mad Fish crew. We have learned so much!
Work With Us
We’re so grateful to all of our past and present pro-bono partners for trusting us to be their digital marketing partner. If you know of an organization that would be a good fit for Mad Fish Gives, let’s get in touch!