Help Keep Port Town Collective Creating

For six years, we have had the incredible privilege of building Port Town Collective from the ground up. What started as an idea about gathering people beautifully and intentionally has grown into a company that has allowed us to create weddings, celebrations, installations, and experiences alongside some truly extraordinary people.

We didn't build PTC with investors or a large financial safety net behind us. We built it the way so many small creative businesses are built: one client, one project, one relationship, and honestly, one leap of faith at a time. There have been very long days, plenty of late nights, mistakes we have learned from, opportunities we never dreamed would come our way, and more generosity from our creative community than we could possibly recount here.

That is part of what makes writing this so difficult.

Over the past several months, Port Town Collective has experienced a combination of financial and legal challenges that has put an extraordinary amount of pressure on our small business. Some of those matters are ongoing, and because of that, there is quite a bit we simply cannot responsibly discuss publicly right now.

We know that naturally leaves questions, but we don't believe a fundraising page or social media is the appropriate place to argue our position, make accusations, name people, or ask anyone to choose a side. Those matters have a proper place to be resolved, and we intend to respect that process.

What we can talk about is where PTC stands today, what we are trying desperately to preserve, and why we believe preserving a boutique design business like ours matters beyond simply keeping our own doors open.

Why We Are Asking for Help

We have set a goal of raising $40,000 to help stabilize Port Town Collective and give the business the working capital it needs to continue operating during this incredibly difficult season.

The funds raised will help with the very real expenses involved in keeping a small business moving: ongoing operating costs, vendor and professional obligations, staffing and contractors, insurance, technology, storage, accounting, marketing, business development, and the everyday costs associated with continuing to serve our clients and pursue new work.

More than anything, reaching this goal would give us breathing room. It would give us the ability to focus our energy on doing what we know how to do: working, creating, booking new business, taking care of our clients, supporting the people who work alongside us, and rebuilding.

We aren't asking anyone to finance a fight or take a position on something they don't fully understand. We are asking our community to help a small creative business make it through an exceptionally difficult chapter.

What You Are Actually Helping

One of the things we have learned over these six years is that Port Town Collective has never really been just about us.

Every wedding or event you see in our portfolio represents an entire community of people behind it. Florists, caterers, photographers, musicians, rental companies, stationers, bakers, transportation providers, artists, craftspeople, venues, freelancers, hospitality professionals, and other independently owned businesses have trusted us, collaborated with us, referred us, encouraged us, and helped turn our ideas into something tangible.

Those relationships mean more to us than we probably say often enough.

There is also an economic side to this work that we think is important to acknowledge. Weddings, particularly those produced by companies that intentionally work with independent vendors, can represent a significant investment directly into a local economy.

For most people, a wedding is one of the largest single expenditures they will make that has the ability to be spread across dozens of locally and independently owned businesses at once. A couple isn't simply purchasing "a wedding." Their investment may pay a local florist and their team, a family-owned catering company, a photographer, a baker, musicians, rental companies, transportation providers, craftspeople, production crews, venues, and independent creative professionals.

Those businesses, in turn, employ people locally, purchase goods and services from other businesses, and pay taxes in the communities where they operate. The same wedding also brings guests into a community who stay in hotels, eat in restaurants, shop, use transportation, visit attractions, and spend money well beyond the walls of the celebration itself.

That ripple effect matters.

When PTC books another wedding or event, the economic impact doesn't stop when a payment reaches our company. Much of that money moves right back out our doors and into the hands of the people and businesses required to bring that event to life. Keeping PTC working means allowing us to continue placing orders with local vendors, contracting independent businesses, bringing work to venues and hospitality partners, and helping create opportunities for the creative community around us.

For us, that has always been one of the most meaningful parts of this work. A successful Port Town Collective is not just two people succeeding. It is an opportunity for us to continue putting work and dollars into the hands of many other small businesses.

That is what you are helping us preserve.

There Is More to the Story

We want to acknowledge this because pretending otherwise wouldn't feel genuine.

There is more to what has happened than we can responsibly share here. We know some people will be curious, and we understand that. Someday we hope there will be an appropriate opportunity to tell more of our story, but right now our responsibility is to allow ongoing matters to be handled where they belong.

This campaign isn't about proving who was right or who was wrong. It is about making sure that one incredibly difficult season doesn't become the end of something we have spent six years building.

And we aren't ready for this to be the end.

There are still tables we haven't set, rooms we haven't transformed, couples we haven't met, venues we have not visited, artists we haven't collaborated with, and ideas sitting in notebooks that we desperately want the chance to bring to life.

We still believe deeply in Port Town Collective and in what it can become.

If Giving Isn't Possible

We also understand that asking people for money is a very big ask, and contributing financially may simply not be possible. Please know that there are so many other ways to help us.

Share this page with someone who knows our work. Recommend PTC to someone planning a wedding, celebration, corporate event, or installation. Introduce us to a venue, company, brand, or potential client. Share our work. Hire us. Send someone our way.

For a small business, one introduction can sometimes be worth more than a hundred shares, and one new opportunity can genuinely change the trajectory of a month.

Most importantly, please keep believing in us.

Writing this is humbling. There is no clever marketing language that makes asking for help particularly comfortable, so we aren't going to pretend otherwise. We would much rather be showing you the next beautiful thing we're working on than explaining that our company needs help.

But we have also learned that there are moments when pride has to get out of the way and you simply have to tell the people around you the truth.

The truth is that Port Town Collective is going through an incredibly difficult season. The other truth is that we still believe there is extraordinary work ahead of us, and we are willing to work incredibly hard to get there.

If PTC has created something meaningful for you, worked alongside you, celebrated with you, inspired you, or simply made something a little more beautiful, we would be incredibly grateful for your help getting to the other side of this.

Whether that means contributing, sharing this page, sending us a referral, hiring us, or simply reminding us to keep going, please know how much it means.

Thank you for six years of believing in this little company. We hope very much that you'll help us make sure there are many more to come.

With love and enormous gratitude,

Joshua White, CEO & Chief Curator

Port Town Collective