Summer Series:
Creating Community. Finding Hope.
Who We Are
The Summer Series is a collective fundraising effort co-led by four Chicago-based nonprofits: Chicago United Solidarity Project (CUSP), Women Unite! (WU!), Global Gardens Chicago, and Cedillo’s Fresh Produce. Together we’re raising funds, creating community, and finding hope.
What We’re Doing
Join us in June, July, and August as we co-host a series of events and fundraising opportunities that will connect our networks, deepen relationships, and grow our collective impact. Together, we hope to raise $15,000 by the end of August. All dollars raised will be distributed among the participating organizations.
What You Can Do
There are so many heavy, complex issues that demand our attention and energy. We hope that our Summer Series will connect you with incredible folks and accessible solutions so you can start building a better world. Help us do so by:
Getting tickets to our events!
Saturday, June 7
We’ll be at Global Gardens Chicago from 6–8:00 p.m. Join us for live jazz and delicious food!
Sunday, July 13
We’ll be at Cedillo’s Fresh Produce from 5–8:00 p.m. for a farm tour, an incredible meal prepared by Chef Roberto Pérez of Urban Pilón, and some post-dinner dancing!
Making a donation!
Help us hit our $15,000 goal
Becoming a sponsor!
We’ve put together a list of sponsorship levels that are perfect for folks looking for hyperlocal advertising opportunities. Learn more about sponsorship levels here.
Why We’re Doing It
Fundraising is a grind that pits nonprofits and community groups against each other. It has us fighting for resources rather than working together. It also pressures groups that rely on fundraising to make every relationship transactional, prioritizing those who can give over those who can’t.
Our Summer Series seeks to forge a new path, one that recognizes the practical need to raise funds without sacrificing the critical needs of meaningful relationships, community, and connection.
Global Gardens Chicago. Photo by Jeoffrey Guillemard for the UN Refugee Agency.
Sliding-Scale and Community Member Tickets
Our event tickets are sliding-scale, which allows folks to pay based on their available resources. The below graphic provides some recommendations to help figure out what rate makes sense for you. Through this approach we hope to make our events more accessible and push back against the capitalist underpinnings of fundraising and philanthropy.
Additionally, we are offering a ticket tier labeled “Community Member.” These tickets are for those who work in and are part of the global majority and frontline communities. They are also meant for those who may not be able to purchase tickets at any of the levels offered. If you can afford to purchase a ticket for a community member, please do so!
Pay where you fall on the sliding scale
Option 3
I am comfortably able to meet all of my basic* needs
My debt doesn’t keep me from meeting my basic needs
I am employed or do not need to work to meet my needs
I have access to financial savings
I have an expendable** income
I can always buy new items
Option 2
I may stress about meeting my basic needs but still regularly achieve them
My debt doesn’t keep me from meeting my basic needs
I am employed
I might have access to financial savings
I have some expendable income
I am able to buy some new items and I thrift others
Option 1
I frequently stress about meeting basic needs and don’t always achieve them
My debt sometimes keeps me from meeting my basic needs
I am unemployed or underemployed
I have limited or inconsistent access to savings
I have very limited expendable income
I rarely buy new items
*Basic Needs include food, housing, health care, and transportation. **Expendable Income might mean you are able to buy coffee or tea at a shop, go to the movies or a concert, buy new clothes, books, and similar items each month, etc.
Sliding-scale graphic based on work done and created by Alexis J. Cunningfolk and Britt Hawthorne.
Participating Organizations
Chicago United Solidarity Project
CUSP creates radical and regenerative systems of care to meet people’s basic needs, while building solidarity and political power across Chicago. In 2025, CUSP is on pace to distribute:
40,000 lbs of food, feeding 300 families/month
1,500 hygiene kits
36,000 diapers
20,000 lbs of pet food, feeding 400 pets/month
WU! Believes in the power of women and the key role we play in making our world a more just, compassionate place. We strive to uplift the voices of all who have been silenced.
Each year, Women Unite!:
Provides nearly 8,000 hours of free and sliding-scale services
Donates $50,000 to Chicago nonprofits
Secures nearly $8M in grant funding for our network of partners and clients
Global Gardens Chicago is committed to improving access to fresh organic vegetables for newly arrived refugee families and their neighbors.
Their one-acre farm in Albany Park is home to 58 plots for refugee families who grow produce for home consumption as well as six plots for market farmers. Collectively, the market farmers generate more than $100,000 in revenue and supplemental income each year.
As food prices continue to soar (they’re 30% higher in 2025 than they were in 2019), groups like Cedillo’s Fresh Produce become even more critical to the health and wellbeing of our city.
Founded by third-generation farmer, Juan Cedillo, Cedillo’s Fresh Produce provides free weekly CSA delivery to neighbors in Englewood, Back of the Yards, Brighton Park, McKinley Park, Bridgeport, and Little Village.