Case Study
Midwest Access Coalition
Fundraising, Communications, and Design
Photo courtesy of Midwest Action Coalition
Overview
Women Unite! assists organizations with important capacity-building services, like marketing and fundraising, so their teams can continue to focus on what they do best: serving the community. Midwest Access Coalition (MAC) is important to the fabric of our city and region, and WU! was excited for the chance to support their graphic design, communication, and writing needs over multiple campaigns and projects.
How Women Unite! Got Connected
MAC was part of WU!’s inaugural group of partner organizations. Members of this group had to meet three criteria to be included—they needed to be based in Chicago; they needed to be focused on serving and empowering women, femmes, communities of color; and they needed to have a budget of $5M or less. Out of 23 applications from across the city, MAC was one of three chosen. The partnership officially began on July 1, 2019 and continued until June 30, 2020. Over the course of the year, MAC received free services from WU!.
About Midwest Access Coalition
MAC is a practical abortion fund serving the greater Chicago community and the Midwest at large, as the region has some of the most restrictive abortion policies and politics in the nation. Many people seeking abortion access are forced to leave their localities for a safe procedure, incurring steep costs like travel, childcare, a place to stay, meals and more.
Abortion funds like MAC mitigate the prohibitive costs and hardships abortion seekers face. They envision a world “in which all people have access to safe, free, legal abortions wherever they live.” MAC funding provides financial aid to people traveling to, from and within the Midwest and assists with travel coordination, medicine, emotional support and childcare.
Who They Serve
MAC serves people seeking safe and legal abortions all over the Midwest who may not be able to afford the procedure or the associated expenses required to travel to Chicago to receive their abortion. With support from MAC, folx have traveled from as far as the Dakotas to Chicago. MAC is a volunteer-run non-profit that has served more than 1,120 people from 20 states since 2014.
“Midwest Access Coalition supports people accessing an abortion. We do that by providing transportation and accommodations and other expenses and logistical support while people are getting to and from their abortions. It’s so important that Women Unite! supports boots on the ground, smaller, grassroots organizations because there’s just not a ton of support for organizations like ours.”
—Leah Greenblum, Founder and Executive Director, MAC
MAC and Women Unite!
MAC and Women Unite! collaborated on multiple communications needs faced by the organization. In each one, Women Unite! provided graphic social assets, postcards, flyers, email templates, and other collateral to assist MAC in fundraising and overall community awareness.
Women Unite!’s Impact
Although the design services and materials provided are critical to the fundraising process, many smaller organizations like MAC don’t have the capacity for these kinds of projects. A majority of grassroots organizations must direct their hard-won funding to where it is needed most—in the community, doing the work they set out to do. WU! provided MAC with quality, professional marketing and design work so they could focus on doing what they do best—ensuring safe, legal access to abortion.
MAC and Cheese
Each year, hundreds of MAC supporters and donors gather to support reproductive rights and access to abortion services across the Midwest by crowning the best mac and cheese in Chicago. When MAC was preparing for their 6th annual fundraiser in April of 2020, WU! helped spread the word on numerous fronts.
WU! ideated and created professional-quality graphic assets including a sponsorship tier informational pamphlet (Gruyere, anyone?), social countdown posts and one-pagers about the event. Effective and high-quality design brought the important messages to life.
Zoe’s Circle
Zoe’s Circle, MAC’s giving circle, pays homage to the organization’s first client, a 16 year old who was forced to travel from Ohio to obtain a safe and legal abortion. WU! designed an informational brochure to help tell Zoe’s story and encourage donors to join Zoe’s Circle with simple, powerful design cues.
Newsletter/MAC Blast
The MAC Blast, the newsletter put out by MAC, helps keep the MAC community informed by highlighting news and information that affects their cause. WU! created email templates for the MAC blast, as well as graphic assets for social media to help keep MAC top of mind.