Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association

Overview

Bringing Oregon’s Cooperative Voices Together

Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association (ORECA) serves as a statewide voice for 18 electric cooperatives and a resource for the many people who interact with Oregon’s cooperative community. Website visitors include cooperative leaders, employees, legislators, industry partners and members of the public. Each may come to the site with a different question about energy, policy, community investment or the cooperative model. Building on its previous partnership with Powerful, ORECA set out to refresh its digital presence. The goals were clear: reflect its current brand, strengthen storytelling and make relevant information easier to navigate. The new website brings those priorities together while helping visitors understand who ORECA represents and why its work matters across Oregon.

Designed to Feel Distinctly ORECA

ORECA’s refreshed website gave the association a new way to tell its story with purpose. Through Powerful’s premium design process, both teams shaped the visual direction around ORECA’s communication goals, from introducing its mission to guiding visitors into the issues and initiatives it represents. The design supports that story at every stage, helping visitors understand who ORECA is, what it stands for and how its work connects electric cooperatives across Oregon.

The homepage opens with a lineworker set against an Oregon landscape alongside the message, “Supporting Electric Co-ops, Strengthening Communities.” That pairing immediately connects ORECA’s mission to the people, infrastructure and communities behind it. Its blue and yellow palette, angled graphic elements and Oregon imagery carry that identity across the page, creating a consistent visual thread as the story moves from mission to advocacy, education, industry topics and cooperative involvement.

“The Voice of Oregon’s Electric Co-ops” section builds on that introduction by showing what ORECA’s work looks like in practice. An illustrated Oregon anchors links to Power Generation, Wildfire Mitigation & Safety, Ruralite Magazine, Legislative Updates, the Political Action Committee and Get Involved. The section works as both storytelling and navigation, giving visitors a quick picture of ORECA’s scope while offering direct paths into each topic. Animation brings those elements into view as visitors move through the page, adding energy while keeping the focus on the message.

The custom illustrated footer carries that story through the final part of the experience. Mountains, forests, waterways, wildlife, wind energy, hydropower and electric infrastructure come together in one Oregon scene. Each detail reflects part of the environment and industry ORECA represents, giving the site a finish that feels closely tied to its mission. From the opening message to the final illustration, the design gives ORECA a consistent way to communicate its purpose, share its story and invite visitors to engage with the work behind it.

A Hub for the Oregon Cooperative Difference

ORECA’s work generates a steady flow of information throughout the year. Ruralite articles, advocacy resources, industry updates, meetings and educational opportunities all have a role in keeping its cooperative network informed and helping outside audiences understand the issues shaping electric cooperatives. Powerful organized these resources into clear content areas so timely information has a consistent place within the site and visitors can move directly toward what they need.

Timely storytelling is part of that resource. Powerful’s News Releases web app gives ORECA a consistent place to publish Ruralite articles and other updates as new stories become available. Each article can be organized with a headline, date, image and supporting information, creating a familiar format from one story to the next. That consistency helps ORECA continue sharing cooperative news over time while giving visitors one place to follow stories from across its network.

Upcoming events are handled in a similar way. ORECA is involved in annual meetings, legislative conferences, regional gatherings, youth programs and other opportunities that connect the cooperative community. Its Events area brings those dates together with the information visitors need, including the event name, schedule and location. Current listings include ORECA’s Annual Meeting, the NRECA Region 9 Meeting, the NRECA Legislative Conference and Electric Cooperative Youth Tour, showing just how varied the association’s calendar can be.

Consider a director from one of ORECA’s member cooperatives preparing for an upcoming meeting. They can visit the Events page, confirm the dates and location, then continue into another area of the site for information related to advocacy, safety or industry issues. What begins as a quick scheduling task can naturally lead to other resources tied to the work of the cooperative. That structure gives ORECA a central place to support ongoing member communication while keeping related information within easy reach.