Make a Mark 2018 Year in Review
2018 was exciting, exhausting, educational, trying, triumphant, exploratory and inspiring. 2018 brought us growth, but it also brought an immense amount of clarity on how to serve those organizations impacting so many.
Make a Mark was crafted to bring together innovative organizations and altruistic creators to make something truly beautiful. Over the years we have learned some techniques and methods to make this happen, but ultimately we have learned that it’s about building relationships forged from mutual respect and a shared goal of creating a better, brighter local community.
A few highlights from 2018:
- Surpassed 100 projects since our first event in 2015, hitting 132
- Held six make-a-thons across the country
- Added new chapters, now reaching 12 locations
- Added our first global location in Brussels
- Guest blogged for InVision, Creative Market and HoneyBook
- Brought design and technology to dozens of organizations who need it
- Worked with some of the kindest and most creative makers in the country
New York City
2018 started strong with the NYC Make-a-Thon on January 20th. I recall being nervous when we first decided that we would do a NYC Make-a-Thon, mostly because this would be our first event where the planning was done remotely.
However, those nerves quickly washed away upon meeting all of the organizations and makers. The talent was through the roof, the compassion and empathy were strong and the relationships that were built were significant. You can read the full recap here.
Womxn Rank, newly founded in 2017, was one of the organizations that we worked with in NYC. They are building a platform for women to anonymously report on sexism, assault, rape and harassment. They are starting with an app where women can create a community where they can ask for help, offer support and keep each other informed about safety and inclusion.
As a new initiative, Womxn Rank was struggling with creating a design narrative that captures the energy and power of their audience. A cohesive brand is what they needed, and their team of makers rose to the challenge at the NYC Make-a-Thon.
“It is a lonely, crazy, wonderful experience starting something — asking people to believe in it. Working with all of you was an opportunity to share a vision for a better world with people I admire respect and trust. From your work, we can now envision the impact and belonging we can foster. You have restored our bravery. And our own sense of belonging, too. Yesterday was such a gift. A real, magical, soul-lifting experience,” said Kari Hodges, Founder of Womxn Rank.
Baltimore Make-a-Thon
The Baltimore Make-a-Thon was led by Steph Loughran, former Make a Mark Advisory Board Member and three-time maker. This April event served 13 nonprofit organizations with projects ranging from branding and print materials to websites and videos.
Steph approached us about bringing the 12-hour event to Baltimore because she saw the need in her community to roll up her sleeves and serve. Baltimore has so much history and important issues that need to be addressed and a vibrant creative community that is willing to do the work. Check out the full recap.
At the Baltimore Make-a-Thon, we got to know PIVOT. PIVOT seeks to provide a pathway for women from prison to purpose. Their goal is to help women break the cycle of incarceration and rebuild their lives and their families.
PIVOT was looking for a website that would better communicate their vision and mission, and provide the necessary level of detail for interested visitors including potential participants, volunteers, donors, legislators and program partners.
“WORLD CHANGING NEW WEBSITE AND CREATIVE! I met amazing people and was really inspired by our team,” said Emily Thompson, Co-Founder of PIVOT.
Asheville
The Asheville Make-a-Thon was led by Julie Obenauer, Asheville resident and advocate for those suffering in her community. Julie did a beautiful job of pulling together a team for the June event allowing them to serve nine nonprofits in the greater Asheville area.
These nonprofits were tackling issues from providing diapers to parents that don’t have access, to helping veterans heal with holistic and natural means. The skills of the makers paired with the passion of these nonprofits led to purposefully crafted design and marketing. Read the full recap here.
SeekHealing joined us for the Asheville Make-a-Thon. The SeekHealing project is a new and innovative nonprofit working to address the opioid and heroin crisis through relationship building.
As a small organization, SeekHealing was looking for a new strategy and updated visual identity to convey their message in a compelling way to two different target audiences — volunteers and those who are struggling with addiction.
“I am humbled with gratitude for the gift of time and skill that our makers gave so generously to the SeekHealing project. They were able to take our complicated and multi-faceted message and transform it into a simple, beautiful, powerful, and streamlined branding system,” said Jennifer Nicolaisen, Executive Director of SeekHealing.
Chattanooga
September 29th marked the second Chattanooga Make-a-Thon. There were over 50 makers and volunteers, joining forces to help serve 14 meaningful organizations across the Chattanooga area and Tennessee as a whole.
The 14 nonprofits that we chose tackle issues including eliminating human trafficking across the state, supporting children and their families who have suffered severe abuse and improving life for women and girls. Check out the recap here.
Downside Up was formed by Theresa Nix when her son was diagnosed with Down syndrome, but she was unable to find the resources, network and support that she was searching for as a parent.
Theresa joined us for the inaugural Chattanooga Make-a-Thon in 2017, and we were excited to welcome her back in 2018 for a very special project.
When someone has a baby who has a disability, many parents share the poem Welcome to Holland by Emily Perl Kingsley. It is about planning a trip to Italy but ending up in Holland — realizing that although it is a different place, it is still very beautiful.
Theresa and the team, using the power of social media, crowdsourced custom videos of families, including parents, children and individuals with Down syndrome reading the poem from across the world.
“Love you guys!!! Make a Mark Chattanooga has been such a huge blessing to our community!!! Thank you for all you do. We so appreciate you letting us be a part of the creative collaboration — it’s pretty magical,” said Theresa Nix, Founder of Downside Up.
San Francisco
The San Francisco Make-a-Thon took place on October 20th as 14 nonprofits received support on projects including brands, website redesigns and much more.
This event was independently organized by San Francisco Site Leaders, Camille Matonis, Sam Sloan and Alix Cohen who brought together over 50 makers and volunteers to meet the needs of these Bay Area nonprofits. Read the full recap from the event.
Academy of Friends was one of the nonprofits that we had the chance to work with this year. They annually produce the world’s premier Academy Awards Night Charity Gala as the centerpiece of its efforts to raise funds, award donations, and encourage volunteerism that benefit a diverse set of HIV/AIDS direct care and prevention education agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Their Academy Awards Night Charity Gala is the largest fundraising event that they hold each year and the funds from this event allow them to continue to support HIV/AIDS focused organizations. They were in need of a fantastic new theme and beautiful design for this event.
“The excitement was palpable and the results were outstanding. We at Academy of Friends and our beneficiaries, will be grateful throughout our fundraising season (culminating Oscar Night) for your valuable contribution to our community,” said Michael Myers, Vice-Chair of Academy of Friends.
Charlotte
After postponing the first scheduled event due to Hurricane Florence, the inaugural Charlotte Make-a-Thon finally kicked off the morning of November 17th. The Charlotte volunteers, makers and nonprofits couldn’t wait to dig in!
Charlotte Site Leaders, Nicole Reyes and Kate Micham are friends and co-workers with an unending amount of excitement to serve their city. Their passion, commitment and intentionality created a truly amazing event. Make sure you give their recap a read.
Beds for Kids works to provide beds and essential furniture to children and their families in need. Beds for Kids refurbishes and re-purposes new and gently used beds and furniture items, and empowers families with children by delivering these beds and furniture items to powerfully supplement the family’s resources as they rise out of poverty and into self-sufficiency.
At the Charlotte Make-a-Thon, they needed help creating an eye-catching and clever design for their Thousands Beds Challenge, a campaign launched to raise funds to provide 1,000 beds to children and families in the Charlotte area.
“We are grateful for the amazing work our team produced for us and their commitment to raising awareness about our mission within the community! We are honored to have been a part of Mark a Mark Charlotte 2018,” said Amanda Ross & Daniel Fogarty with Beds for Kids.
What’s to come in 2019
Make a Mark chapters are run and coordinated by dedicated and passionate volunteers in their communities who believe in the power of design, creativity and technology for the nonprofit sector. We work directly with site leaders across the globe as they bring the 12-hour make-a-thon to their communities.
As we expand, we are determined to be intentional with the decisions that we make. Our make-a-thons are designed specifically for each locality with the idea in mind that a community should help define its unique needs.
Meet our current locations:
- Asheville
- Atlanta
- Baltimore
- Boston
- Brussels
- Charlotte
- Chattanooga
- Lexington
- New York City
- Philadelphia
- Roanoke — Blacksburg
- San Francisco
- Mystery Location 13 (to be announced soon)
- Mystery Location 14 (to be announced soon)
We’re always looking for inspiring new locations and energetic site leaders to lead the charge in their communities. Interested in learning more? Visit us at Start a Chapter.
Thank you to our sponsors
We wouldn’t be able to support altruistic makers and passionate organizations across the globe without the support of our sponsors.
Mindsense is a software company that creates better tools to help people spend less time on busy work and more time on life. Their flagship product is Mail Pilot, an inventive alternative email app.
Balsamiq is a world-class wireframing tool for professional and amateur designers alike. This company believes that doing good in the world is the right thing to do, regardless if it’s good for business or not. They even offer a software donation program for nonprofits and other ‘do-gooders’ across the world.
Abstract is an awesome tool that allows design teams to work together with secure version control. Their goal is to make the collaboration process with designers a breeze. At Make a Mark, we use Abstract ourselves to simplify the design process. Read more here or try out the tool.
Whether you’re working on product design, iconography, branding or illustration, Sketch has everything you need to create your best work. Start your free trial at sketchapp.com and join a community of designers all over the world.
Real Thread provides all of the shirts for the make-a-thons across the globe. Their Fundit tool is a great way for nonprofits, designers, start up clothing lines, and others to raise funds by selling awesome t-shirts.
With the best quality stickers out there, Sticker Mule prints top-tier products for the Make a Mark events around the world. Did we mention that they also print buttons, magnets and custom packaging?
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