Every time we survey our Members they tell us that referrals are how their organizations grow, so we focus here a lot.

Here’s how OPRIB helps make connections:

• Host networking events, so that our Members and others in the community have a specified time and place to convene with the shared goal of meeting each other. We create conversation prompts and low-effort networking themes and activities to encourage mixing. Raffles and event sponsorships not only help keep our events sustainable, they also offer businesses opportunities for more spotlight at these events.

• Create and maintain online spaces that make it easier to identify Queer and Allied organizations to buy from, donate to, or collaborate with.We’re proud of our new and improved Membership Directory and our private Discord server for our Members and Annual Sponsors. We’re also regularly featuring more member profiles on social media, where our following is steadily growing.

• Network on your behalf  — as much as possible, ORPIB is in the mix with other Entrepreneurial Support Organizations, Queer groups, and Chambers of Commerce, so that we can get to know what programs  and events are offered by others that might benefit our Members. When we’re out and about, we’re thinking about you.

Small business owners especially can feel isolated within the demands of doing it all for their burgeoning business. ORPIB offers business development resources to meet you where you are and help you and your business thrive.

• The Thrive in Business Virtual Learning program presents lunch-sized offerings to help business owners and professionals level-up at work, by offering accessible information and guidance from experts. Members are invited to participate as presenters, helping to establish them as subject matter experts and generate warm leads, and as learners, gaining valuable skills and knowledge from peers in an affirming environment.

• The ORPIB Foundation offers opportunities for our Members to serve as Mentors, while extending business development support to the greater community.

• The Foundation’s updated Incubator program — that helped launch Spoke and Word Books in 2023 — is scheduled to relaunch in early 2026.

• We’re actively seeking to connect with professionals in our network seeking leadership experience by chairing an ORPIB Committee or serving on our Board of Directors.

We elevate the concerns of the LGBTQIA+ business owner to state and local government and hold them accountable for the decisions they make.

• Our all-volunteer Advocacy Committee is engaging with Oregon state legislators, including LGBTQ+ Caucus members, to support good bills and oppose harmful bills that affect our communities.

• We’re building partnerships in advocacy spaces, like with Basic Rights Oregon and our Beyond the Pride Flag event this year, which was a business advocacy primer for the Equal Rights for All Campaign.