Unite! for a Cause
A Year-End Fundraiser
About
This December, Chicago United Solidarity Project (CUSP), The Evolved Network (TEN), and Women Unite! (WU!) are joining forces to co-host Unite! for a Cause: A Year-End Fundraiser, a celebration of all we’ve accomplished in 2024 and all we’ll continue to do in the year ahead.
Details
We’ll be at Hairpin Arts Center in Logan Square (map) on Saturday, December 7 from 7–10:00 p.m. It’ll be us and 250 of our closest friends gathering together for an inspiring evening of community, celebration, and collective action. All dollars raised will support the three co-hosts and the impact we’re having across Chicago.
Street parking is available, but extremely limited. Please plan on utilizing rideshare or public transit. Hairpin Arts Center is conveniently located near the Diversey, Milwaukee, and Kimball bus stops as well as the Logan Square Blue Line (closest to the Spaulding & Milwaukee exit).
Hairpin Arts Center has a wheelchair accessible entrance and restroom.
This event is 21+
Dress code is whatever you want!
What to Expect
There’s so much to mourn. There’s so much to do. But there’s also so much to celebrate and enjoy, and that’s what we plan on doing! Guests can expect:
• Plenty of hors d’oeuvres and beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic)!
• An activation station with opportunities to support local causes!
• Music and dancing!
• Raffle prizes!
• The chance to connect and build relationships!
Show Your Support
There’s lots of ways you can support our event! We have an ambitious goal of raising $45,000. Help us get there by:
• Can’t make it? No problem. Make a donation or purchase a ticket for a community member. (Select the ‘Community Member’ option on the Eventbrite page.)
• Sponsoring our event. Learn more about sponsorship opportunities here.
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 event more accessible and also 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
Tier 1: $150
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
Tier 2: $100
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
Tier 3: $50
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.
Your Impact
All dollars raised will be distributed evenly between the three co-hosts. Collective fundraising means your dollars will have an impact across issue areas and neighborhoods. Your support will help us:
Distribute:
• 12,000 lbs of food, feeding 165 families/month
• 25,000 diapers
• 1,200 gallons of drinking water
• 16,000 lbs of pet food, feeding 350 pets/month
Build capacity of grassroots organizations via:
• Providing nearly 8,000 hours of free and sliding-scale services
• Raising $300K via annual appeals
• Securing $8M in grant funding
• Making $20,000 in direct donations
Provide 300 CPS students with:
• Introductions to new food choices
• Exposure to healthy food options (that they actually want to eat!)
• Social and emotional development through connection to food and community
• Practical skills that can be applied to hospitality sector
The Co-Hosts
CUSP celebrates difference, self-determination, and the full spectrum of ability and identity. Through meaningful relationships and aid, CUSP works toward collective liberation and interdependent communities where people can thrive.
TEN provides experiential programming through culinary and gardening equipping youth in systemically oppressed communities with transformative healing, skills and support needed to evolve into masters of their unique gifts.
WU! believes in the power of women. Through free and sliding-scale capacity building services, WU! Is growing the power and resources of BIPOC, women, and queer-led organizations across Chicago.
Check out Clips from Previous Events!
Video from WU!’s Third Anniversary Party in December 2019.
Video from WU!’s second anniversary party in 2018.